- Travel Products
- Style
- Accessories
We gathered the most stylish and functional smartwatches for every woman.
By
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Stefanie-Waldek-7eed18a8c9734cb28c5d887eb583f816.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (1)")
Updated on April 6, 2023
Fact checked by
Nick Blackmer
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/untitled-5582-Edit-5e63c1b3e90249569193982f58e0eb95.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (2)")
Fact checked byNick Blackmer
Nick Blackmer is a librarian, fact checker, and researcher with more than 25 years’ experience in consumer-oriented content.
Travel + Leisure Fact Checking Process
Jump to a SectionIn This Article
We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more.
These days, watches can do a lot more than just tell time. Smartwatches are high-tech, wearable devices that function like "light" versions of smartphones — with the added benefit of monitoring your fitness and health. With so many types of smartwatches on the market, there are a number of factors to consider before you purchase one. You'll want to think about what you'd like to use your smartwatch for, whether health or productivity. You'll also want to consider compatibility with your smartphone, as most smartwatches require a connection to your device, either via Bluetooth or an app. While smartwatches started out as bulky, unsightly devices, they've been streamlined into much more aesthetically pleasing forms, which makes them great for everyday use, whether in casual or business settings. Our top pick is the Apple Watch Series 8, which has the best range of fitness tracking and productivity apps for the average user. Our Top Picks Best Overall: Best for Samsung: Best for Google: Best Hybrid: Best for Health: Best Budget: Best for Small Wrists: Why We Love It It has a wide variety of apps, from fitness to travel. What to Consider It's only compatible with iPhones, otherwise it must be used as a standalone smartwatch. The Apple Watch is perhaps one of the most recognizable smartwatches on the market. With a broad range of applications, it’s ideal for all-around use, whether you’re looking to check and write texts or emails, use Apple Pay for payment, or even display your mobile boarding pass for a flight. It also has a fair number of health and fitness-related functions, including tracking your steps, monitoring your heart rate and blood oxygen levels, and detecting falls. Though the rounded rectangular watch face is a bit large, it makes usability easier, particularly for composing messages. If you’d prefer a smaller watch face, however, opt for the 41-millimeter version instead of the 45. As for style, the Apple Watch comes in several aluminum and stainless steel finishes and offers a range of strap choices. We also love that its faces are highly customizable, allowing you to pick different designs and showcase different apps to tailor your watch to your specific use. Keep in mind that the Apple Watch is only compatible with iOS devices, including iPhone. The Details: 41- or 45-millimeter display | 18-hour battery life | GPS | Water resistant up to 50 meters| Aluminum Why We Love It It has a classic circular face that looks like a traditional watch, plus a relatively long battery life. What to Consider It's only compatible with Androids, and some features require Galaxy phones. If you have a Samsung smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is your best option, given its compatibility with that brand’s devices (along with other Android phones that run Android 8.0 or later). Unlike the Apple Watch, it has a round face that makes it look more like a traditional timepiece, yet it still has all of the features you’d want in a smartwatch. You can track your fitness and sleep, get notifications from your phone, answer calls, and use Samsung Pay for contactless payments. The Details: 40- or 44-millimeter display | 24-hour battery life | GPS | Water resistant up to 50 meters| Silicone Why We Love It It's compatible with Fitbit and comes with six months of Fitbit Premium. What to Consider The round screen limits the amount of text that can be displayed. Google Pixel aficionados will appreciate this smartwatch that matches their phone’s ecosystem (and any Android device running Android 8.0 or later). It has all the standard smartwatch features — phone notifications, fitness tracking, and Google Pay — but you can also use it to control smart devices in your home, such as your Nest thermostat. The Google Pixel Watch also has Fitbit compatibility via the app, and currently comes with a six-month Fitbit Premium membership. With a round face and four color options, we think it looks pretty stylish, too. The Details: 41-millimeter display | 24-hour battery life | GPS | Water resistant up to 50 meters | Fluoroelastomer The 10 Best Running Shoes of 2024, Tested and Reviewed Why We Love It Despite its analog face, this smartwatch still has numerous health and fitness features. What to Consider There's no cellular option, and the display is very small for phone operations. For those who strongly dislike the look of smartwatches but are still interested in some high-tech features, a hybrid watch combines the best of both worlds. Our pick is the Withings ScanWatch with an extremely elegant analog clock face and slim watch case. The device still monitors health and tracks steps, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and heart rate, but doesn’t have many other features beyond this, save for phone notifications. This device is compatible across operating systems and the reduction in features gives this hybrid model a huge benefit over standard smartwatches in terms of battery life. Whereas most smartwatches run for about a day before dying, the battery on the Withings ScanWatch can keep the device going for up to 30 days. The Details: 38- or 42-millimeter display | 30-day battery life | GPS | Water resistant up to 50 meters | Fluoroelastomer and stainless steel Why We Love It Its features are designed to focus on what's going on in your brain and body, from monitoring stress levels to your menstrual cycle. What to Consider Some of the best features are only available to Fitbit Premium subscribers. Fitbit has long been a major player in the fitness tracking game, originally designed to track steps. However, its devices have improved significantly over the last few years, making them some of the best health-tracking devices in the smartwatch market. Fitbit Sense is ideal for tracking not only fitness (thanks to its 20 sports modes), but also physical and emotional health. It has all the standard heart monitors, but it also checks stress levels and your skin temperature, which can potentially be used to alert you to an illness. This device is best paired with a Fitbit Premium membership which unlocks some of its best tracking features, like mindfulness sessions and recommended workouts. The Details: 40.5-millimeter display | Six-day battery life | GPS | Water resistant up to 50 meters | Silicone Why We Love It It has top-notch fitness and health tracking for an affordable smartwatch. What to Consider It's not the newest model, but that's what makes it affordable. For a more budget-friendly smartwatch, the trick is to opt for an older model. Our pick is the Fitbit Versa 3 which made its debut in 2021. It's very similar to the Fitbit Sense, but it does lack a few of the tracking features, including stress monitoring and some of the more advanced heart-related functions. Still, it's an excellent fitness smartwatch, and it even has an onboard GPS for tracking runs or hikes. It is also limited in some of its productivity functions, which primarily include phone calls, and notifications for messaging apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Slack. The Details: 40.5-millimeter display | Six-day battery life | GPS | Water resistant up to 50 meters | Silicone The 6 Best Portable Wi-Fi Hotspots of 2024 Why We Love It Though it's a true smartwatch and not a hybrid, it looks just like an analog watch. What to Consider There's no GPS or cellular version, and the display is monochromatic. One downside to smartwatches is that they typically have large faces, which isn't ideal for those with more petite wrists. But that's resolved in the Garmin Lily, which is designed specifically for women with its trim 34-millimeter face. Not only smaller in size, it also has a more traditional look that could even be mistaken for an analog watch. As for features, it has the standard assortment of trackers: sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, and fitness. However, this watch does need to be paired with a smartphone for any GPS functionality. Stylistically, there's a sports model with a silicone band and a traditional model with a leather band. Garmin makes excellent watches for men, as well. The Details: 34-millimeter display | Five-day battery life | Water resistant up to 50 meters | Silicone Most smartwatches share the same basic functions: telling time, tracking your steps, and notifying you about phone calls and text messages. But certain watches have additional features that make them better for specific purposes, which is why you want to consider the most important uses for your lifestyle. For instance, on the fitness front, some watches are capable of measuring your blood oxygen, heart rate, heart rhythm, sleep quality, stress levels, and body composition. Many smartwatches even track pregnancies for those who are interested in advanced health capabilities. Or if you'd like to use your smartwatch for checking email or sending texts, you might want a larger watch face that makes it easier to do so. There are two types of smartwatches: those that have their own cellular connection and those that pair with your smartphone to use its cellular data. While going over your phone plan’s cellular data limits may be a concern for the latter, for the former, you'll have to pay extra for a watch’s own cellular service. However, this allows you to use the device without being connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth. On a related note, if you're pairing your device with your smartphone, you'll need to make sure the devices are compatible. (Unsurprisingly, Apple watches are only compatible with iPhones, while Samsung and Google devices are only compatible with Androids.) There's also the consideration of GPS. Some smartwatches have their own GPS, which means they can be used to track your location (say, on a run) without being tethered to a smartphone. But others don't have GPS and must be paired with a GPS-enabled phone in order to track your location. Frequently Asked Questions How do smartwatches work? Smartwatches are devices that do more than just tell time. They are outfitted with sensors to track your health and fitness; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and/or cellular capabilities; and apps for entertainment or productivity. What can smartwatches do? Each smartwatch model has different functions, but common features include telling time; notifying you of phone calls, text messages, and emails; and tracking fitness and health (including step counts and heart rates). You can also use some smartwatches for travel (via mobile boarding passes and trip alerts), payment (via digital wallets), and entertainment (via music apps). How do I get scratches out of a smartwatch? For shallow scratches on certain types of surfaces, you may be able to buff them out using a cloth and toothpaste (not gel, but traditional with a tinge of grit). You can also try using a pencil eraser or car wax to fill in the scratch, reducing its visibility. For deeper scrapes, you're likely out of luck. Consider buying a screen protector for your smartwatch to avoid scratches. Stefanie Waldek is a freelance travel writer with nearly a decade of experience in both writing about and wearing smartwatches. For this article, she evaluated her own experience with smartwatches and read dozens of customer reviews. The 15 Best Laptop Cases For Your Traveling and Commuting Love a great deal? Sign up for our T+L Recommends newsletter and we'll send you our favorite travel products each week.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/tl-best-stylish-smartwatches-for-women-tout-b14d2b9177f04f5fa962495fc8cb889e.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (3)")
Best Hybrid
Withings ScanWatch Hybrid Smartwatch
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/withings-scanwatch-hybrid-smartwatchactivity-tracker-e1152c53a9b841d4801ecb620ccf8817.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (7)"){kind=tracking}
Tips for Buying Stylish Smartwatches
Know how you want to use it
Consider the operating system
Why Trust Travel + Leisure
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/apple-watch-series-8-with-starlight-sport-band-bb2594f641624a34a18bb91aeb05a1ee.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (4)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/samsung-galaxy-watch-5-e7462b4957ef425d9ebc75db67b2f1ab.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (5)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/google-pixel-watch-d0cfc433bc0a4d0e96a7cbdd11486751.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (6)"){kind=tracking}
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/fitbit-sense-a7b8524aac084a5fa47e72b76f1b7b53.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (8)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/fitbit-versa-3-dd2947491abe44bbb7426f1bbba3f252.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (9)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GarminLilySmartwatch-779712d7d0bd4737a2b97df8d75e2a02.jpg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (10)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/TaylorFoxHeadshot-7375be27aedf4b0ea0e0189a4befe7d0.jpeg "The Best Smartwatches for Women Do Much More Than Tell Time (11)")
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Tell us why!
