Which Smartwatch Has The Best Battery Life? A Guide…
If you want massive battery life on your smartwatch, you’ll have to avoid Apple Watch and Wear OS and look elsewhere…
Apple Watch is the most popular wearable on the planet. But like the majority of Wear OS-powered wearables (that’s Google’s one FYI), battery life is fairly bad – you’ll get around one full day on most Apple Watch and Wear OS devices. And for many, that just isn’t good enough.
Case in point: I am currently using the OPPO Watch. It’s a great wearable and it looks and functions brilliantly, thanks to its Wear OS software. But the battery life is not great; I’m getting 16-18 hours between charges which is about par for the course with a Wear OS device.
Although many users hold out hope that Google’s oft-rumored Pixel Watch might fix this with a renewed focus on battery life.
Conversely, the smartwatch I used before this – the Huawei Watch GT2 Pro – would last around 7 days between charges. And the reason for this disparity? The Huawei Watch GT2 Pro does not run on Wear OS, so it has fewer functions/abilities and it doesn’t sync as heavily with your phone, saving masses of battery life.
If battery life is more important to you than seamless integration with your phone and built-in support for iPhone and Android apps, then you’re best off looking outside of Google and Apple’s pool of wearables. Fortunately, you have a ton of options to choose from – from brands like Huawei, Samsung, FitBit, and Pebble to name just a few…
OK, But What Smartwatch Has The Best Battery Life?
Rather than point out or list specific models, I’m going to focus on brands here. Why? Simple: you can get arbitrary lists of wearables with great battery life on hundreds of sites. On top of this, I’m not going to pretend I have tested ALL of the smartwatches mentioned in this post (as some blogs do).
In addition, smartwatches are very subjective. Not everyone will like the same design or size. For this reason, I’m focussing on the best smartwatch brands for battery life which points you in the right direction and gives you plenty of options – all of the brands listed make multiple models. This way, you know where to look and it then becomes a case of finding a model you like.
Best Smartwatch Brands For Battery Life
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- Garmin (7 to 14 Days) – if you want the absolute best fitness tracking wearable, Garmin is one of the best in the business. It makes a huge range of activity trackers and smartwatches that range in price from $89 to $799.99.
- FitBit (10 to 14 Days) – FitBit is one of the most well-known brands in the fitness tracking niche. It makes a huge range of wearable products, from fitness tracking bands to actual smartwatches. FitBit devices are very accurate and have great connectivity, as well as very impressive battery life – around 10 to 14 days, depending on the model you go for – VIEW RANGE
- Samsung (Up To 4 Days) – Samsung makes a decent range of smartwatches. Powered by Tizen OS, Samsung’s fitness features are actually better than what you get in Wear OS. You also tend to get far more battery life with Samsung’s Tizen OS-powered wearables than Apple Watch and Wear OS devices – VIEW RANGE
- Huawei (Up To 7 Days) – Like Samsung, Huawei’s range of wearables runs on the company’s own software, not Wear OS. For this reason, you need to run a dedicated app on your phone for connectivity. You get plenty of detailed data from the watches and battery life is incredible at 7 days between charges – VIEW RANGE
- Withings (25 Days) – Withings makes what are termed “hybrid watches”; they look like traditional watches but pack in smartwatch features like activity tracking and heart rate monitoring. For many, a Withings smartwatch will be the perfect solution, as it will connect to your phone, track your fitness, monitor your heart, and the battery will last for up to a month between charges – VIEW RANGE
- Fossil (4-6 Months) – Fossil is a classic watch brand. The company makes a range of Wear OS devices as well as hybrid smartwatches too. If you want the best possible battery life, go with one of Fossil’s hybrid smartwatches. You’ll get around 4 to 6 months of battery life between charges, as well as full support for fitness tracking and heart monitoring – VIEW RANGE
- Pebble (10 Days) – Pebble was one of the first smartwatch brands to really capture the hearts and minds of consumers on mass. Without Pebble, we probably wouldn’t have the Apple Watch or any of Google’s Wear OS devices. The company has been all over the place during the last few years, but its smartwatches are still some of the best on the market for functionality and battery life. You’ll get 10+ days on most of its models, as well as all the fitness and health monitoring you need.
iPhone & Android Support
With any of the brands listed above, you get full support for both iPhone and Android. You will get better, more seamless integration with an Apple Watch on iPhone and a Wear OS device on Android, for obvious reasons, but the downside to this is battery life – the more features and syncing you have the worse the battery life is.
Most people, including myself, tend to use wearables and smartwatches for fitness tracking and things like monitoring your heart rate and daily steps. If that sounds like you, all of the brands listed above have great options. I really like Samsung’s Tizen OS-powered smartwatches; they look stunning and they have a lot of functionality without sacrificing too much battery life.
FitBit, Pebble, and Withings are all still way out in front when it comes to battery life, however, with battery performance ranging from 10 days to 25 days, in the case of Withings’ hybrid smartwatches (pictured above). For me, a hybrid smartwatch is the way to go: you get a classic-looking wristwatch with all the core functionality you want from a smartwatch. And Withings makes some really gorgeous-looking watches (and they’re fairly well priced too).
What is A Hybrid Smartwatch?
A hybrid smartwatch is a smartwatch that looks like a traditional timepiece but it is packed with smartwatch features – things like fitness tracking, heart monitoring, and step counting. On your wrist, you’d never know it was a smartwatch; hybrid watches look identical to standard watches. All the functionality and sensors are hidden away inside the watch’s chassis.
With a hybrid smartwatch, you’ll install an app on your phone and connect it to your watch. Inside this app, you’ll be able to view all your data – things like steps, heart rate, and metrics from workouts. A hybrid smartwatch does not have a digital display like Apple Watch or a Wear OS device; instead, it uses mechanical hands to display the time.
Fossil and Withings both make excellent hybrid smartwatch devices. Me, I do prefer the look of Withings’ watches though. If you’re more into classically designed watches, but want smartwatch functionality, a hybrid watch from either Withings or Fossil will be right up your street. Both brands have loads of different designs and styles for men and women, meaning whatever your style or wrist size, you’ll be able to find something that is perfect for your exact needs.
Hybrid Smartwatch Benefits
- Style & Design – A hybrid smartwatch looks just like a traditional watch, so if you’re not a fan of the way most smartwatches look, or you don’t like digital, touchscreen displays, a hybrid watch solves both of these problems. You get a traditional, stylish-looking watch with smartwatch functionality baked in.
- Battery Life – Because hybrid smartwatches don’t have OLED displays, or interact operating systems or apps like Apple Watch and Wear OS devices, you’re basically just running sensors. And sensors do not require a lot of power. Most hybrid smartwatches will last anywhere from a month to six months on a single charge, meaning you never have to worry about battery life.
- Ease of Use – Once you’ve paired your hybrid smartwatch to your phone via the accompanying app, you’re good to go. The app will do everything for you. All you have to do is keep the watch on your wrist and it will feed data to your phone, ensuring all your activity and heart rate readings are tracked.
- No Notifications – I like getting notifications on my smartwatch, as it means I can screen texts, calls, and emails before taking my phone out. Plenty of people, however, do not like notifications on their wrists, and for these types of people, a hybrid smartwatch is perfect because you do not get any notifications on the display. Some models do have vibration alerts, however, which you can switch on to notify you when you have a new message or IM.
Which Smartwatch Has The Best Battery Life: Wrapping Up…
As you’ve probably gathered from all of the above, if you want a smartwatch with the best possible battery life, you’re best off going with a hybrid smartwatch. With a hybrid smartwatch, you’ll get months of battery life, a classically designed watch, and plenty of smartwatch features. And you have loads of really great options from Withings and Fossil in this context.
If you want a true smartwatch device, meaning on that has a digital and/or OLED display, you’re best off with one of Samsung’s Tizen OS-powered wearable devices – they look the best, have decent battery life, and have better fitness tracking than Google’s Wear OS wearables.
If you’re super-serious about tracking your runs and exercise, I’d go with a Garmin watch.
For battery life, a digital display, and 10+ day battery life, Pebble smartwatches are definitely worth a look – although they are now pretty tricky to find online.
Me personally? I really dig Withings and Fossil’s hybrid smartwatches. They both possess great fitness tracking abilities and they look like smart, classic wristwatches which, for many, will be a huge unique selling point. Or, if you just want a fitness-focused wearable, go with any of FitBit’s wearables. You’ll get insanely accurate tracking and data and excellent battery life – anywhere from 10 to 20 days between charges.