1. At a glance
3. Best overall
4. Best design
5. Best ultra premium
6. Best value
7. Best last-gen
8. Best style
9. Best lifestyle watch
If you're an Android user on the hunt for a new wearable, you can't do much better than get the best Wear OS watch out of the many great options detailed below. This category has expanded well beyond the realm of popular names like Google and Samsung, with countless brands now incorporating the software into their watches.
Now that the highly-anticipated Pixel Watch is already old news and about to get its successor very soon, there are more options than ever before. Wear OS continues to make big strides in terms of features and functionality as well. So, even if you don't know where to start, we've tested some of the best Wear OS watches out there to help you make the right choice. Whether you want the latest and greatest or don't mind saving some cash by going for a slightly older model, there are quite a few Wear OS smartwatches available out there.
At a glance
Best overall
Although it's not too different from its predecessor, Samsung's newest Galaxy Watch 6 does come with some improvements, including a bigger display and slightly better hardware. And of course, it also packs in all the sensors you could want in your wearable as well.
Best design
Even though its sequal is just around the corner, the first-gen Google Pixel Watch continues to be a gorgeous wearable. It's available in Bluetooth or LTE options. There's only one size, but it looks and feels extremely premium, with unmatched haptics.
Best ultra-premium
Sure, Samsung has brought back its iconic rotating bezel with the new Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, but the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro still remains the premium smartwatch to beat. Among its highlights are a titanium case and amazing battery life.
Best value
The Mobvoi Ticwatch E3 may not be as fancy as Samsung's and Google's offerings, but it provides plenty of value. You get stuff like GPS, HRM, NFC, and Google Assistant, as well as a variety of health and activity trackers in a well-made product.
Best previous-gen
Yes, it's two generations old at this point, but don't disregard the Galaxy Watch 4 & Watch 4 Classic just yet. This sturdy Wear OS smartwatch has the same chip as the Watch 5 and shares a lot more in common with its older sibling, that too for a much cheaper price.
Best style
Skagen's Falster Gen 6 doesn't have the best battery life, but it looks fantastic on any wrist. This Wear OS smartwatch boasts a sleek and attractive design and doesn't skimp out on fitness features either, giving you all the basics such as SpO2 and heart rate monitoring in a gorgeous design.
Best lifestyle watch
As the name suggests, the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition focuses on health and gives you daily, weekly, and monthly stats based on the plethora of fitness data collected by its sensors. You also get a speaker onboard and a built-in mic. How cool is that?
Best overall
Launched recently, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 doesn't offer a lot of improvements over its predecessor. In fact, our Galaxy Watch 6 reviewer noted that it's largely an iterative update over the Galaxy Watch 5. However, there's still a lot to like about Samsung's newest smartwatch and for many prospective buyers, that'll be reason enough to make the upgrade.
So, what are these new additions? Comparing Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5, the newest-generation model comes with a marginally better SoC and extra RAM, which give it a slight performance boost over the last-generation smartwatch. You also get bigger displays, even though the case is now a bit thinner. Then there's all the usual good stuff like a truckload of sensors, 10W charging, two size options, and a bunch of different band styles and colors to pick from. All these goodies make the Galaxy Watch 6 the best Android smartwatch you can get in the market today.
However, the Galaxy Watch 6 does have a few shortcomings as well. First off, it still comes with the same set of sensors as the previous model did. The internal storage is also the same, and the GPS accuracy could use some improvements. But what's the worst is the battery life estimates, which fall short of expectations. For example, GPS-tracked activities can drain almost 25 percent of the smartwatch's battery, while sleep-tracking takes up 20 to 30 percent of the battery. This means you'll probably need to juice up this thing multiple times a day in case you're a heavy user.
Best design
Google finally released the Pixel Watch in late 2022 and we're excited for the future of Wear OS. Google plans to give its watch annual software updates, and then other brands can implement those updates at their own pace. But given the slow pace of Wear OS 3 arriving on non-Samsung watches, you basically will want a Pixel Watch if you want the quickest access to the newest Android watch software. Oh, and if you don't mind waiting a bit, the next-generation Pixel Watch 2 is about to launch very soon.
As for the watch itself, our Pixel Watch review outlines all the ways that it lived up to our expectations. It's very comfortable to wear, and its rounded display gives it a sleek look we appreciate. It has "subtle and satisfying" haptics for notifications, a Material You look behind the UI, and familiar Wear OS tools such as Tiles and complications. It lasts for a reasonable 24 hours per charge and performs quite well despite its older chipset. When it comes to the best Wear OS watch, you have to consider the Pixel Watch vs. Galaxy Watch 5 above any other options. The Pixel Watch arguably looks more stylish, has double the storage, benefits from its rotating crown for navigation, and uses Fitbit Premium integration to track your health. But the Galaxy Watch 5 is more affordable, has more health sensors, lasts about a day longer per charge, has a newer chipset, and sports military-grade fall and water protection.
Best ultra premium
Most Wear OS watches will last a day at most with features like continuous heart rate active. But the massive Galaxy Watch 5 Pro genuinely lasts three days with all health sensors and sleep tracking active, and it has the same speedy charging as the standard Galaxy Watch 5. The only issue with it, as our Galaxy Watch 5 Pro review explains, is that the extra battery capacity corresponds with a very thick and heavy design that not everyone will enjoy. Interestingly, a comparison between the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs. Galaxy Watch 6 Classic shows that the recently launched model is even thicker and heavier, probably due to its stainless-steel case and rotating bezel.
With the same size display as the Galaxy Watch 5 44mm, the Pro model is a lot more expensive and doesn't have too many upgrades over the base model, aside from the battery. Its Titanium case should handle whatever damage you encounter, and the Pro design also has an elevated case that protects the display from scratches.
Along with the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra (another pick on this list), the Pro is a watch that you'll buy specifically because of how long it lasts per charge. It doesn't have the rotating bezel that has made its return with the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. Instead, it relies on the digital touch bezel of other Galaxy Watches. If you'd prefer that, you may want to downgrade/upgrade based on your budget.
Best value
Our TicWatch E3 review lays out all the simple perks of this model. For starters, it has a large and bright 1.3" HD display, encompassed by a rather large and bulky bezel that you'll either love or hate, depending on your preferences. Fortunately, the watch is compatible with 20mm interchangeable bands, so swapping it out for a new one is never going to be an issue. It offers IP68 water resistance and is suitable for pool swimming. Thanks to the Wear 4100 chip and 1GB of RAM, we found "little to no delay in opening apps or loading up the Play Store on the watch," while the battery life lasts 1.5 days even with 24-hour HRM and SpO2 tracking, AOD, and sleep tracking. Or you can use Essential mode, which uses tilt-to-wake and still tracks heart rate and sleep and extend your battery life to a full 20 days per charge (in our tests).
You get more than your share of features on the health and fitness side of things. The Mobvoi TicWatch E3 offers onboard GPS, activity tracking, heart-rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and more. There are a few extra perks, such as Google Assistant and Google Pay. These are all fantastic additions, but the short battery life is a drawback. This is not unheard of for Wear OS watches, though. If you can live with that and the chunky bezel, this is an incredible value that's hard to beat.
Best last-gen
The Galaxy Watch 5 is still a great Wear OS watch, but it doesn't come with that many upgrades over the Galaxy Watch 4, which also runs Wear OS 3 and has the same Exynos W920 SoC, along with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of storage as its successor. Now that it's frequently on sale for much less than its launch price, even more so after the recent launch of the Galaxy Watch 6 series, the Galaxy Watch 4 continues to be worth buying if you're looking to save money without compromising on quality.
In our Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 review, we praised the performance, design, health features, and battery life, but had a complicated view of its Wear OS integration that stuck pretty close to the Tizen template. But Samsung has made plenty of upgrades since then, and it now runs the same One UI 4.5 Watch OS as the Galaxy Watch 5, complete with Google Assistant support. It may not have a temperature sensor like the Galaxy Watch 5, but that's still inactive on the newer model, and it otherwise has the same tools: A 3-in-1 BioActive sensor measures optical heart rate, electrical heart (ECG), blood pressure, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) for a holistic look at your health, including body water and fat percentage, skeletal muscle mass, basal metabolic rate, and more. Plus, the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic kept the rotating bezel that Samsung popularized with the older models — something totally abandoned by the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro design — only to be brought back with 2023's Galaxy Watch 6 Classic.
Best style
Skagen has a knack for delivering stylish wearables, and the Scandanavian-inspired Falster Gen 6 design is no exception. It comes in a sleek 41mm stainless steel case and works with all 20mm bands. The 1.28-inch AMOLED display is accompanied by two push buttons on the side and a rotating home button. Thankfully, the updated Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor doesn't just offer smooth performance; it also ensures the Skagen Falster Gen 6 will eventually get upgraded to Wear OS 3, if not newer version(s).
Our Skagen Falster Gen 6 review broke down the many perks that come with this Fossil spin-off. We like the Fossil Wellness app that showcases data from automatic sleep tracking and the new SpO2 sensor, with the results broken down into daily, weekly, and monthly stats. Thanks to the processor, we found that it has "smooth navigation and relatively quick app startups," even with the older Wear OS 2.3. And the watch can go from zero to 80 percent charged in just about 30 minutes, which somewhat compensates for the strict one-day battery life.
Best lifestyle watch
Are you interested in finding a wearable that blends stunning design elements with a solid set of smartwatch perks? If so, the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition may be what you're searching for. This release from Fossil offers improved performance, as well as fast charging speeds, accurate health tracking, and more. It's very similar to the original Fossil Gen 6, but with a new 44mm case and stainless-steel finish that's very attractive.
One of the most notable improvements to the Fossil Gen 6 is that it's equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100+ chipset, so performance is smooth and seamless. Additionally, the 1.7GHz co-processor allows the smartwatch to use always-on health metrics without negatively affecting performance or draining the battery life. You'll get more detailed heart rate readings, more precise sleep tracking, and better health statistics all around.
While the Fossil Gen 6 is an excellent lifestyle smartwatch, there's one thorn in this wearable's side that has yet to go away: battery life. Our reviewer said he had to charge his watch once or twice a day, which is only bearable because its charging speed is extremely fast, hitting 80 percent in 30 minutes. Also, Google is working on making Google Assistant available on Wear OS 3 watches with Qualcomm chips, so you're stuck with Alexa for the time being.
Choosing the best Wear OS watch for you
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As you can see, Wear OS covers quite a bit of ground in the wearable market. While it might be slightly different from the Wear OS experience you're used to, the latest and greatest Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is the best option simply because it offers just about everything from an assortment of health sensors to Google Assistant support, all in a nice design. And since it's backed by Google, that'll be helpful for Samsung to get new software updates just as quickly as Google's own Pixel Watch.
Speaking of which, you can pick the Pixel Watch instead, which is what we'd suggest if you want something a bit more stylish or care about Fitbit integration. But that'll cost you a bit more and lacks a larger display option than 1.2 inches. You might be able to get some discounts now that the Pixel Watch 2 is about to launch, but if not, Samsung is the way to go!
