The Best Smartwatches for iPhone

Watches not only tell time but also act as a fashion piece. Smartwatches take that a step further with health tracking features, phone notifications, and access to voice assistant – plus they still tell the time. Smartwatches have come a long way since the original smartwatches of 2012; they come in all shapes, sizes, and price points. The best smartwatches offer many features that allow users to easily access a wealth of information on their wrists and integrate with phone apps seamlessly.

After the drama in December 2023, the future of this generation of Apple Watches was uncertain, but on the 27th, Apple was allowed to temporarily resume sales of the Apple Watch in the United States. So, for now, users can pick up the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra, but depending on how the case is carried out, this can change in the future.

Key Factors For Choosing The Best Smartwatch For iPhone

While choosing the best smartwatch for the iPhone might seem easy with the Apple Watch lineup, there are many options out there that might work better for people than an Apple Watch. Buyers should keep these factors in mind when purchasing a new smartwatch:

• Compatibility: This goes beyond smartphone compatibility. Something to keep an eye out for is what apps the watch works with. Apple Watches are seamlessly integrated with the Apple ecosystem, but other smartwatches that use WearOS might have more limitations.
• Features: Smartwatches typically have a similar set of feature sets, like heart rate tracking and step counting, but more niche features like sleep tracking and GPS can be more beneficial to some users over others. Deciding what features make the perfect smartwatch ahead of time will make it easier to narrow down the search results.
• Battery Life: How long a smartwatch lasts is vital for deciding if it is a perfect smartwatch. Not every smartwatch needs to stay charged for eight days, but having a watch that needs to be charged daily can get pretty annoying.

Best Smartwatches For iPhone

The Apple Watch Series has been the go-to smartwatch for iPhones for quite some time now. Even though the Series 9 doesn’t look that different from the Series 8, the fine-tuning and upgrades that did happen easily make the Apple Watch Series 9 the best overall smartwatch for iPhones. The 2,000-nit display is a remarkable upgrade over the Series 8, which had a 1,000-nit display, and amazingly enough, it had minimal effect on the battery life.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is an excellent choice for people who want fantastic performance, thanks to the S9 chip, pretty decent battery life, and a robust set of health tracking features. This watch firmly sits in the middle of the Apple Watch lineup, with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Apple Watch SE on either side.

Apple has been making a very commendable effort to be carbon-neutral by 2030. To help with that, the Aluminum version of the Series 9 watch with the sports loop band is made with recycled materials, making them carbon-neutral. This is a relatively small step in a long process, but with more and more tech companies getting on this drive, it should hopefully make a pretty big difference.

For people looking to get the most performance and rugged use out of their smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is absolutely the perfect choice. This is a big bulky watch, but with the excellent performance it provides, the size is excused. Using the same S9 processor that is in the Apple Watch Series 9, this watch has a 3,000 nit display that is beautiful and easy to see even in the harshest of direct light and has an average battery life of 55 hours.

At this price point, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is quite the investment, but for swimmers, runners, and general outdoor activity enthusiasts, it is well worth it. This watch can be submerged up to 330 feet, which is about 200 feet deeper than recreational scuba divers go. Underwater, the more significant form factor with the tactile buttons is very appreciated because the touch screen can get finicky to use underwater.

People with the previous Apple Watch Ultra will probably not need to upgrade to the second generation. There are some slight spec bumps, like the new S9 processor, but it might be worth holding out for another release before upgrading.

The Apple Watch SE is the perfect option for iPhone users who don’t want to spend too much money but still want access to Apple Watch features and excellent performance. Although, at this point, the S8 processor is a generation behind, it still provides fast and snappy response times. Moving through different apps is a breeze with the SE.

This watch also comes with an impressive set of health sensors. Even though it is less than the Series 9 and Ultra 2, it is in line for this price point. The new motion sensors provide crash detection, which is a very nice addition to the fall detection on previous models. As far as exercise tracking goes, the SE is perfect for people who want to start keeping track of their runs, and even though users won’t be scuba diving with this watch for swimming laps in a pool, it is more than capable.

With its smaller size and lower price point, the Apple Watch SE is also an excellent choice for kids or older family members. For kids, it can be used as a standalone device, so they can text and call without needing a phone. For older adults, it’s not super intrusive with a bunch of bells and whistles, but the health tracking and fall detection features add a nice peace of mind.

Compared to Apple Watches, the Fitbit Charge 6 is pretty limited, but it does offer excellent fitness tracking in a small form factor that is not as cumbersome to wear as most smartwatches. Despite being less powerful than flagship smartwatches, the Charge 6 offers a snappy experience that is easy to navigate around. Plus, thanks to the return of the physical home button, which was taken off the Charge 5 for some reason, it is easy to go back to the clock face after scrolling through apps.

The Charge 6 is an excellent smartwatch for people who want a fitness tracker with useful smart features. It is also a perfect choice for anyone who hates to charge their watch every day as this watch can go seven days without needing to be recharged, which is insane. The tiny but bright 1.04-inch AMOLED display is incredibly easy to read, regardless of the surrounding lighting.

For Android users, Fitbit has added the ability to use Google Wallet for contactless payment. Unfortunately, there is still no support for Apple Pay. With Google now owning Fitbit, the odds of that happening are pretty low.

The Garmin Venu 2 is a smartwatch that’s perfect for avid runners and fitness buffs looking for a robust fitness tracker but doesn’t quite have enough budget to get an Apple Watch Ultra 2. While not as robust as the Ultra 2, it is built with enough durability to be worn regardless of the activity, including pool swimming. Thanks to the internal storage, users can store up to 650 songs on this watch, so for those runs where carrying a phone is a hassle, people can still listen to music.

The super bright 1.3-inch AMOLED display shows users a wealth of information from this watch, like their daily calendar, heart rate, water intake, stress level, and phone notifications. The Garmin app is a little convoluted at times, but after getting used to the layout, the amount of information it offers gives a lot of insight for runners looking to perfect their runs.

Not everyone wants a smartwatch that looks like an Apple Watch with a bright display and a design that looks like a smartwatch. The Withings Steel HR is an excellent blend of smartwatch features and the classy looks of an analog watch. The small OLED display on the top of the watch face shows stats like heart rate, steps, and even phone notifications. This is by no means a fitness tracker to the level of the Fitbit Charge 6, but it is excellent for tracking steps and keeping an eye on heart rate.

The Steel HR comes in six colorways, and the bands can be easily swapped out for whatever look and material works best for the user. Plus, it comes in two different sizes. Finding a normal watch at this price point is hard enough, let alone a smartwatch.

If charging a smartwatch daily is a turn-off, don’t worry about charging the Steel HR. Thanks to the lower power draw of the small OLED screen and efficient health tracking sensors, this watch can go up to 25 days without needing to be recharged. In Game Rant’s search for the best smartwatches for iPhone users, this is easily one the most extended battery life options out there. Of course, people will have to give up many smart features and performance for such excellent battery life.

Like the Withings Steel HR, the Garmin Vivomove Sport is a smartwatch that doesn’t instantly look like a smartwatch. But the Vivomove Sport steps more into the fitness tracker world compared to the Steel HR. It has a wealth of health-tracking sensors that provide stats like stress levels, body battery, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and hydration levels.

While not the most comprehensive fitness tracker or fully featured smartwatch, the Vivomove Sport is a great way to get into smartwatches while still looking fashionable at quite an affordable price. The small OLED display is not aggressively bright, but even in direct sunlight, it is easy to read health stats or check a message.

With such a small screen, the battery life of this watch is pretty impressive compared to fully-fledged smartwatches. A single charge lasts up to five days. Of course, that is shorter than the 25 days of the Steel HR, but there are way more health trackers running on the Vivomove Sport.

What Smartwatch Is The Right Choice?

Part of the reason smartwatches are so popular currently is because of the Apple Watch lineup. Apple Watches have paved the way for smartwatches of all shapes and sizes to become popular. So, the choice for the best smartwatch for iPhone users should be easy: go with an Apple Watch of some kind. Apple Watches will indeed have the most seamless integration with iPhones, but not everyone needs the power of an Apple Watch on their wrist.

Smartwatches like the Fitbit Charge 6 and the Withings Steel HR are perfect examples of smartwatches that offer excellent smart features while not being overbearing. Plus, both have a reasonably affordable price point. Deciding what features work best for each use case will help narrow down the results when browsing through pages and pages of smartwatches.

The lower power-demanding smartwatches also tend to have longer battery life, but for those people who want the best of both worlds and can afford to stretch their budget a bit, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 can get a couple of days worth of power and still offer some of the highest performance available from a smartwatch.

Finding the balance between price and performance will lead to the best results most of the time. Regardless of what smartwatch people decide to pick up for their iPhone, make sure the watch has the compatibility, features, and battery life desired, and it will be the perfect smartwatch.

FAQ

Q: Do all smartwatches connect to iPhones?

While most smartwatches at this point are compatible with iPhones at this point, it is not a guarantee that all the features will be fully accessible for WearOS smartwatches on iPhones.

Q: Does Fitbit work with iPhone?

All of Fitbit’s lineup is fully compatible with iPhones and Android devices. As long as the phones are on iOS 15 or Android 9, the Fitbit app can be installed and Fitbit devices can be setup.