T-Mobile really wants to give you a FREE Samsung smartwatch before the new school year — here's the deal

Back-to-school season is in full swing, and retailers have been busy dropping great deals on student-friendly smartphones, wearables, and other Android tech. While other shoppers are focusing their attention on big box retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, there's one carrier deal that's been getting overlooked: add a line with the Watch Plus plan at T-Mobile and the carrier will hook you up with a FREE Samsung Galaxy Watch 8.

There's no trade-in required and no confusing eligibility requirements to worry about, just a straight $399 in promo credits over 24 months. The top recommendation in our guide to the best smartwatches for students in 2025, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 has only been out since late July, so don't miss this chance.

Get our favorite student smartwatch for FREE with this new T-Mobile deal

Free Galaxy Watch 8

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 40mm: $399.99 FREE with qualifying watch line at T-Mobile

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 has only been out since July 25th, but you can already get the smartwatch for free by adding a line with T-Mobile's Watch Plus plan. The plan in question starts at $15 per month and gives you unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data, plus texting and up to 5GB monthly in over 215 destinations worldwide.

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• Check out our ultimate back to school shopping guide for more shopping tips.

✅Recommended if: you want a comfortable, feature-packed Samsung watch with AI smarts and loads of health and fitness tracking features; you already use T-Mobile's wireless service.

❌Skip this deal if: you don't need an LTE smartphone; you're seeking a device with excellent battery life or a rugged fitness watch; you'd rather upgrade to the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic or Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025).

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is easily the best Android smartwatch that money can buy today, coming complete with a vibrant 1.3-inch AMOLED display, four years of guaranteed Wear OS upgrades, and an ultra-comfortable design that you can wear all day long. There's dual-band GPS and NFC support, plus you get all of the latest health and fitness tracking technology, including 13 HR LEDs and AI-powered features like Energy Score and Running Coach.

Furthermore, the Exynos W1000 processor performs like a champ, and there's plenty of RAM for all of your back-to-school needs. After all, there's a reason we had such high praise for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 in our 4.5/5-star review.

So yes, there's lots of good stuff about the Galaxy Watch 8, but what about the bad? Well, for starters, the 2025 watch continues Samsung's pattern of dropping flagship wearables with mediocre or even poor battery life.

Our reviewer needed to charge the Galaxy Watch 8 for 30 minutes twice a day to get all-day usage and sleep tracking, which feels a little unacceptable when you consider some of the best smartwatches for battery life can last up to two weeks on a single charge. Fortunately, the watch's fast charging capabilities make up for some of the inconvenience.

The Galaxy Watch 8 also has a bit of a big sibling problem, as both the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) are considerably better (albeit chunkier) devices that don't cast that much more than the base model. That said, if you want a sleek, lightweight smartwatch for free before the new semester hits, this T-Mobile deal is tailormade for you.