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The 5 Best Smartwatches (2021): Apple Watch, Samsung, Wear OS | WIRED

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The 5 Best Smartwatches (2021): Apple Watch, Samsung, Wear OS

A good watch doesn't just display the time of day—it can elevate your outfit and make you feel good. Smartwatches can do even more, from tracking workouts and measuring heart rate to offering up notifications and access to voice assistants. While you're wearing a connected watch, you can leave your phone in your pocket and just check your wrist for urgent notifications. Here are the best ones we've tested.

Looking for a fitness tracker instead? We've got plenty of more workout-friendly options in our Best Fitness Trackers guide.

Updated July 2021: We've added advice on the upcoming Wear OS 3, as well as the Garmin Venu Sq and the Skagen Jorn. 

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  • Photograph: Apple 

    Best for iPhone Owners

    Apple Watch Series 6

    The Apple Watch is the best smartwatch money can buy. It has the best operating system, watchOS, which is slick with plenty of apps to help reduce the number of times you need to pull out your phone. The latest model is the Series 6 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which features blood oxygen monitoring to measure oxygen saturation in the blood (SpO2)—helpful for athletes training at altitude or if you have an underlying health condition. Coupled with the FDA-cleared electrocardiogram and the wealth of fitness-tracking features, it's a gadget aimed at good health.

    It now includes sleep tracking, will remind you to stand up and move during the day, and with the Noise app, you can get alerts when ambient sounds around you are loud enough to damage your hearing. Unfortunately, battery life is still mediocre (you'll need to charge it before bed to track sleep), and it still only works with iPhones. Sorry Android owners.

    Comes in 40-mm or 44-mm sizes.

    ★ Cheaper alternative: The Apple Watch SE ($269) is worth a look. It debuted alongside the Series 6 and is the model for those who balk at a $400 price and don't need an electrocardiogram, SpO2, or always-on display. Alternatively, if you can find a Series 5 for a good deal less than the price of the Series 6, go for it. The Series 3 is getting a bit old at this point, but it does the basics and is frequently on sale. Check our Apple Watch guide for more details.

  • Photograph: Samsung 

    Best for Android Owners

    Samsung Galaxy Watch3

    If you're an Android owner who wants to buy a smartwatch right now, this is the best pick for you. Really, if you want a Google Wear OS watch, our advice would be to wait until 2022, when the kinks will be ironed out of the new Wear OS 3 update (more on this below). Samsung may be ditching its Tizen operating system for now, but it has promised to support existing Galaxy watches for three years from the date of their launch, which means you can hold on to your excellent Galaxy Watch3 through August 2023. 

    It goes toe-to-toe with the Apple Watch in several metrics, from SpO2 to an FDA-cleared electrocardiogram. It can automatically track your long walks and a few other workouts, and it has the usual smartwatch tricks; you can respond to or delete notifications from your phone—even answer calls from the watch. It lasts around two days per charge if you turn off the always-on display, but a day and a half otherwise, which is enough to go a full day and track your sleep.

    It's attractive, with a fun, mechanical rotating bezel to move throughout the operating system so you don't need to touch the screen with your grubby fingers as much. The only big downside is app support. There's no native mapping app, and you won't find your favorite messaging app in Samsung's store, so it's impossible to start a new conversation from the watch. This is a big reason why Google and Samsung are now collaborating. 

    Comes in 41-mm and 45-mm sizes.

  • Photograph: Garmin

    Best Fitness Watch

    Garmin Venu Sq and Sq Music Edition

    If you're prioritizing health and fitness, read our Best Fitness Trackers guide. But the Garmin Venu Sq and Venu Sq Music Edition (8/10, WIRED Recommends) are excellent and relatively affordable watches that do more than your average tracker. The Music Edition is best paired if you have a Spotify, Amazon Music, or Deezer subscription, but both deliver accurate fitness-tracking data, with features like blood oxygen monitoring, built-in GPS, and sleep tracking. Better yet, they'll last around five to seven days on a single charge. 

    You can get basic notification alerts, such as calls, texts, and emails, and if you have an Android phone, you can respond to texts. It also includes Garmin Pay, which will work anywhere contactless payments are accepted. The downside? It's not very intuitive to use, so there's a bit of a learning curve. 


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