So you want to know the best smartwatch for your iPhone? The great news is that there are a lot of choices right now packed full of interesting features while also sporting luxurious designs that will ensure your wrist always looks fashionable.
The bad news is you're going to have a very hard decision to make choosing the best smartwatch to use with your iPhone. Things have moved quickly in the smartwatch space since the release of the original Apple Watch in 2015.
We've had an updated version called the Apple Watch 2 that was quickly discarded in favor of the Apple Watch 3. Then there’s the Apple Watch 4 that comes sporting an edge-to-edge display, new sizes and an ECG heart monitor.
Most recently there's the Apple Watch 5 which has been introduced with an always-on display. All of the available Apple Watches are listed below, plus on top of that there's a plethora of other smartwatches that also play nice with your iPhone including Google's own Wear OS choices and Samsung smartwatches too.
To help you decide, we've made a guide to explain which watches will work with your iOS device. We've also recommended our favorite watches and highlighted why each is a great companion for your iPhone.
- Our definitive wristwear ranking: check out the best smartwatch list
What watch should you use with your iPhone?
Although Wear OS and Samsung’s Tizen - a rival OS to Apple and Google - watches work with iPhones, the best watches right now are the Apple Watch 5 and Apple Watch 4.
Both of these devices are tailored for the iPhone experience, with watchOS working perfectly with iOS, so it makes sense to buy one of these. There's also the Apple Watch 3 and Apple Watch 2, which we'll explain more about down below.
You can get a selection of both Tizen and Wear OS watches that work with the iPhone too, and we've put together the list below to show you the best for battery life, features and style on the market right now.
For all the options below, you'll need an iPhone 5S or later that's running iOS 12 software to ensure you'll get all of the benefits of owning a smartwatch.
Best Apple Watch: what are the choices?
Looking for the very best Apple Watch on the market? It probably won't be a huge surprise to learn that it's the newest one. The Apple Watch 5 is the device that offers the best selection of features within Apple's range, but it's not a cheap option.
It's currently the most expensive Apple Watch, and the biggest upgrade for that is the fact you'll get an always-on display.
This doesn't drain your battery life as much as you may expect as the watch will dim its screen to offer you notifications on your wrist at all times rather than you having to raise it and wake it up to see your stats.
WatchOS 6 is available on the watch, so you can downloads apps directly to your wrist and it comes with a compass feature for the very first time.
If you own an Apple Watch 4, there's not much reason to upgrade here but if you own an older Apple Watch or you're looking to get your first smartwatch this may be a solid option for you.
Read the full Apple Watch 5 review
The introduction of the Apple Watch 5 may have seen the Apple Watch 4 drop in terms of pure excitement, but it's not cheaper than ever and it's not all that disimilar to the latest device.
This was the first smartwatch from the company to increase the display size to a 1.78-inch OLED. That looks great on your wrist, and the device comes in either 44mm or 40mm versions.
We particularly liked that the speaker is louder, plus the ECG monitor tech was a big upgrade at the time too.
You won't get the benefits of an always-on display, but if you want to save a bit of money you may want to look at the Apple Watch 4 over the latest addition to the range.
Read our full Apple Watch 4 review
- Certain on the Series 4? Before you buy, try our ultimate Apple Watch guide
The Apple Watch 3 was of course the best smartwatch to use with an iPhone... but it's not the best anymore. Even though you can now buy the Apple Watch 4 and 5, this is still a fantastic smartwatch.
The Series 3 has a bright, high-quality screen, built-in GPS, waterproofing, optical heart rate monitoring and well over a day of battery life, plus all the things that make the Apple Watch 2 great, like a stylish design, water resistance and enough fitness features to cater to most users.
It’s a great all-rounder then, with style and substance, suited to both the office and the gym. There’s even an LTE model – though at a higher price. And of course, being an Apple Watch, it works perfectly with iPhone.
Read our full Apple Watch 3 review
Image Credit: TechRadar
There's a lot going for the Apple Watch 2. It's water-resistant, which means it's more durable than many of the other devices on this list and you won't have to worry about getting it wet in the rain when you're out for a jog.
With GPS onboard and watchOS 5 software running on it, if you own an iPhone this is a great choice, and a touch more affordable than the Apple Watch 3 or 4.
Apple itself has stopped selling it, so the Watch 2 is now hard to find and often if you do spot it at a third-party retailer it'll be around the same price or sometimes even more expensive than the watch just above this one.
Read our full Apple Watch 2 review
- Know you want an Apple Watch? Here's our guide on how to buy an Apple Watch
Wear OS and Tizen watches
A variety of other devices work with your iPhone too. We've listed them below including watches that are running both Wear OS and Tizen software.
Earlier this year, Google renamed its Android Wear platform to Wear OS and said a good amount of the most recent devices running the software will be toting the new name in the coming months.
It's all an effort from Google to make it clear these watches run just as well on iPhone, and you don't need to own an Android device to have one of these on your wrist.
There's also Tizen as well, which Samsung uses for its smartwatches and that plays nice with iPhone now as well. Below you'll find a selection of our favorite Wear OS and Tizen watches.
The latest Samsung watch is our favorite money can buy right now, but it's not our favorite to recommend alongside an iPhone. We found the Galaxy Watch to work best with Samsung phones, but if you own an iPhone it'll still work really well and will offer top-end fitness features alongside its premium look.
We particularly like the design of the larger Galaxy Watch, but you have the choice of either a 46mm or 42mm build. Each will sit large on your wrist but also offer a big, bright display.
Opt for the LTE version and you'll be able to get phone calls and notifications when you're on the move too. The rotating bezel around the outside is one of the main highlights, and the 46mm version also comes with four days of battery life from a single charge.
It may not be the best smartwatch to work with your iPhone, but it is still a fantastic choice if you like the design and look of the Galaxy Watch from Samsung.
Read the full Samsung Galaxy Watch review
Our favorite Wear OS watch right now is the Fossil Sport, which is cheaper than a lot of the watches you've read about above.
It features the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 chipset that offers enough power to run any of the apps you'll find in Wear OS, and in our experience we found the whole interface to be notably smooth.
It'll last for around two days from a single charge, and the design here feels premium on the wrist when you consider how much it costs compared to other Wear OS watches.
There isn't much uniqueness to the Fossil Sport, but it's good at pretty much everything you'd expect a smartwatch to do and it'll work with your iPhone too.
Read the full Fossil Sport review
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is a fine Tizen smartwatch with great battery life and solid performance.
Its circular display might attract you compared to the Apple Watch’s squarish look, and the Active 2 has a clever digital bezel to navigate menus. Its fitness features are just as good as Apple’s but you’ll have to use the Samsung Health app for iOS instead of Apple Health.
It’s waterproof and can track tons of different workouts including outdoor runs using GPS. There’s even a 4G option. Just bear in mind that while it works with an iPhone, it won’t be as smooth an experience as an Apple Watch.
Read the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 review
The TicWatch E2 is one of the more affordable devices on this list, and it's worth noting that this isn't the most premium looking device. That said, it's still a fantastic Wear OS watch.
It offers solid battery life as well as built-in GPS, an accurate heart rate sensor and sleep tracking as well.
The latest Wear OS software is running on the watch too, but you won't be able to get contactless payments as there's no NFC on this watch.
Read the full TicWatch E2 review
Our favorite Wear OS watch is the TicWatch Pro, which you can use easily with your iPhone. TicWatch is a little known brand so far, but this watch comes with two different displays that helps it stand out from the rest of the crowd.
There's a transparent LCD display at the top with a full color OLED panel below it. That means you can get a full Wear OS watch experience with the TicWatch Pro, but when the battery dies off you can then still get some details like heart rate, date and time through the secondary display.
That's a great feature - but there's lots else to love here including GPS, NFC for Google Pay and the Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset we've seen in almost all the Wear OS watches on this list.
The best part is the lower price than a lot of other top-end smartwatches, which makes this one of the best Wear OS choices to use alongside your iPhone.
Read the full TicWatch Pro review
Other alternatives
There are quite a few devices you can use with your iPhone including some running Fitbit OS and others that you may not even refer directly to as a smartwatch. Read on about them all below:
A third attempt at the smartwatch from Fitbit has seen the brand create one of its best devices in years. The Fitbit Versa 2 is slimmer and smaller on your wrist than an Apple Watch and offers a lot of great fitness features including swim tracking as well as HIIT coaching.
The Versa 2 is also cheaper than Fitbit's other watch called the Ionic (which you'll find coming up in this list) making it an attractive option for your wallet as well as your wrist.
Fitbit OS isn't as fully fledged as the Wear OS or Apple Watch devices above in this list as there are still a limited amount of apps available to you, but if you want to have a watch as a fashion piece and focus on the fitness elements you'll enjoy the Versa 2.
It allows you to listen to music on the move, plus you have Fitbit Pay so you can do contactless payments if your bank supports it. Our main gripe with the Versa 2 is the lack of GPS, but if you plan to exercise with your phone in your pocket or strapped to your arm it won’t be an issue.
Read the full Fitbit Versa 2 review
Fitbit’s answer to the Apple Watch’s fitness threat piles all of its best fitness-tracking features into a highly functional smart timepiece.
There’s GPS, continued heart rate tracking, excellent multi-day battery life and the ability to track multiple activities.
That being said, the Fitbit Ionic runs off the bespoke Fitbit OS so it doesn’t offer the full fat smartwatch features of watchOS or Wear OS.
There’s also a shortage of apps available right now, you can download around 300 songs and connect Bluetooth headphones for phone-free exercise. Also, the design’s a bit controversial and very much has the look of a first-gen smartphone.
Read the full Fitbit Ionic review
If you’re seeking a powerful fitness companion rather than a wearable extension of your smartphone, they don’t come much better than the Garmin Forerunner 735XT.
The multi-sport GPS watch, designed with triathletes in mind, features an optical heart rate sensor and reams of deep data insights into your performance.
Runners, for example, will glean metrics like ground contact time, balance, stride length, vertical ratio and much more. There’s a VO2 max estimator, race predictor and recovery adviser too.
Read the full Garmin Forerunner 735XT review
Image Credit: Withings
This hybrid watch used to be called the Nokia Steel HR, but it has now been rebranded as the Withings Steel HR.
It features a built-in digital display that’ll show your heart rate in real time, as well as step progress and limited smartphone notifications. It has the neat analogue dial showing process towards a daily movement goal and can automatically track activities like running and swimming.
There’s no GPS so you can’t expect hyper-accurate distance tracking, but the Steel HR is still a fantastic, stylish watch with great battery life that you can wear around the clock.
Read the full Withings Steel HR review
Looking for a smart running watch?
You should also check out our extensive range of devices to help you run - in our cunningly named best running watches round up - as many of these offer incredibly battery life as well as smart notifications from your wrist.
For instance, the Garmin Forerunner 935 will last almost 10 days on a single charge while running every day, allow you to take or reject calls and control your music - plus it's one of the most gifted exercise companions we've seen.
So if you're thinking of getting fitter - check out the burgeoning world of running devices to help you out.
November 21, 2019 at 11:10AM
James Peckham
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