Because the Apple Watch isn't right for everyone
If you’re an iPhone owner hunting for a smartwatch, the Apple Watch is the best choice for most users. And with the current range encompassing the Series 10, Ultra 2, and SE 2, there’s more choice than ever. Yet, they’re not the only smartwatches to consider if you have an iPhone.
Regardless of your chosen model, Apple’s smartwatches are generally more expensive than options from Garmin, Huawei, Fitbit, and others. Then, there’s the battery issue. For many, the 1-2 days of battery life isn’t enough – and many rivals perform much better.
Add all this to any reservations about the brand’s square smartwatch design, and there are plenty of reasons for iPhone users to look for an Apple Watch alternative.
Wareable’s reviewers have tested every option. Remember that you won’t find anything from Google, Samsung, or other Wear OS vendors here—they’re limited to Android phones and won’t work with iPhones.
Best smartwatches in brief:
Best smartwatch for iPhone users: Apple Watch Series 10
Best budget smartwatch for iPhone users: Apple Watch SE
Best sports watch for iPhone users: Apple Watch Ultra 2
Best Apple Watch alternative: Garmin Venu 3
Best budget Apple Watch alternative: Huawei Fit 3
Best for features: Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro
Best for outdoors: Garmin Fenix 8
Best Apple Watch alternative for design: Withings Scanwatch 2
Bonus budget alternative for iPhone users: Amazfit Active
Apple Watch Series 10

The Apple Watch Series 10 is – as you would imagine – an excellent smartwatch for iPhone users.
While Apple is known for its incremental year-on-year changes, the 2024 iteration marks a significant leap forward, offering thinner, lighter, and larger watches with more expansive, brighter displays.
While aluminum remains the standard, Apple has switched the premium material from stainless steel to titanium and carbon neutral, a welcome change based on our testing. Other enhancements include a louder speaker, a depth and water temperature sensor, a new S10 chip, and slightly faster charging.
Beyond the hardware, the Series 10’s real strength is in the rich ecosystem Apple has built up over the last decade of smartwatch entries. Features like Double Tap gestures, Low Power Mode, ECG readings, cycle tracking, and a robust app store make it a comprehensive smartwatch.
The watchOS 11 update also adds sleep apnea detection, the Vitals app, and advanced training insights, further solidifying its position as the premier smartwatch.
However, the Series 10’s remains hamstrung by its ‘single-day’ battery life. Even though the Series 10 will typically last 25-30 hours in moderate and heavy use, there’s still a daily question of when and where you’ll next charge it up. After a while, it can feel choresome.
Additionally, the increased case sizes (42mm/46mm, increased from 41mm/45mm) may not suit everyone, especially those with smaller wrists.
Still, if you can look past those shortcomings, the Series 10 is a compelling package – and a perfect option for those new to Apple smartwatches or upgrading from an older model (Series 6 and below).
Pros
- Easier to use
- Lovely finishes
- Sleep apnea detection
Cons
- Battery life is still a day
- Huge display is a lot on the wrist
Apple Watch SE (2nd generation)
Best budget watch for iPhone users

The Apple Watch SE (second generation) is still the best option for iPhone users seeking an affordable Apple Watch, though it is likely to be updated in 2025 after being skipped over at Apple’s last smartwatch refresh.
The package is still fairly comprehensive for the asking price, and powerful enough for the latest watchOS 11 software. However, the hardware compromises are clear and easy to understand.
You sacrifice the thinner design, edge-to-edge screen, always-on display, and advanced features like Double Tap, ECG, and temperature sensing.
However, you still get all the incredible sports tracking and activity monitoring features of the more expensive Apple Watch models and all the benefits of the incredible App Store. This helps elevate the device above its competitors.
Apple has included the S8 chip in this second-gen version of the SE, too, and it ensures the experience is just as zippy (and will likely continue to be) as with the Series 8. This will also future-proof the SE, ensuring it can comfortably run plenty of future watchOS upgrades.
- Read our full Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) review
Pros
- Tracking is very accurate
- S8 chip provides very smooth experience
- Superb value
Cons
- Battery life hasn't progressed
- Design is starting to look a little old
- No always-on display
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Best sports watch for iPhone users

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 features several enhancements without deviating from the 2022 debut design – other than it’s now carbon neutral, with 95% recycled titanium when paired with one of the new straps. For 2024, we also got a new black titanium finish.
It boasts a 33% increase in screen brightness, and the S9 SiP chip delivers a four-core Neural Engine, which enables the brilliant Double Tap gesture control feature and faster Siri response times.
A year has passed since its release, but this remains an incredible smartwatch that solves much of the Series 10’s battery life anxiety. Battery life surpasses Apple’s 36-hour promise, and we found it generally lasted into a third day with average use.
Sports tracking remains potent, with top dual-frequency GPS accuracy and incredibly feature-rich running and cycling modes – and we found VO2 max accuracy to be spot on, too. The compass app has been given some new features, and TOPO mapping is a great addition alongside all the new tricks of watchOS 11.
It’s still the best version of the Apple Watch, but owners of the first-gen Ultra won’t have too many reasons to upgrade.
- Read our full Apple Watch Ultra 2 review
Pros
- Great screen
- Supreme GPS accuracy
- Gestures are cool AF
- Carbon neutral
Cons
- Wellness feels a tad stale
- Short on prosumer metrics
- New carbon neutral bands slightly dull
Garmin Venu 3
Best Apple Watch alternative

The Garmin Venu 3 is a direct rival to the Apple Watch Series 10, aimed especially at sports and health enthusiasts. It’s a serious Apple Watch alternative.
It’s available in two sizes (45mm and 41mm) with options for varied colors and features like the Sleep Coach and an automatic nap detection mechanism, personalizing sleep requirements based on numerous metrics.
At its core, the Venu 3 is two things: a sporty fitness tracker and a wellness smartwatch.
Considering it’s a Garmin, it produces quite low-level data for running and cycling, but there are neat insights for activities like HIIT and golf (with 40,000 courses built-in). Just be aware that Garmin has omitted its top-tier Multi-Band mode here, despite some enhanced GNSS functionality and the inclusion of its latest Elevate V5 heart rate sensor.
In-depth metrics such as the new sleep coach, Morning Report and HRV Status, Body Battery, stress tracking, respiration rate, and heart rate, make it a very considered holistic wearable. It also includes ECG to spot-check heart rhythms for Afib, if you’re in the right region.
Battery life (for the 45mm model) also stretches to 10-14 days, far surpassing what the Apple Watch is capable of.
For all that, it’s no surprise it’s also very expensive—$449.99/£449.99. If that’s too rich for your taste, the Vivoactive 5 is also an option for a fraction of the price.
Pros
- Wellness features finally feel useful
- Top HR accuracy
- Lovely screen
Cons
- Really pricey
- Sports tracking offers basic metrics only
- Some sleep accuracy niggles
Huawei Watch Fit 3
Best budget Apple Watch alternative

Credit: Wareable
The Huawei Watch Fit 3 blew us away, as a strong fitness-orientated budget smartwatch. The Fit 3 ushered in a totally new look for Huawei’s entry-level range — with a design that unashamedly apes the Apple Watch.
But it also delivers. Accurate GPS, heaps of sports tracking modes, and a glorious AMOLED screen make for a fantastic all-rounder, that belies its $170/£129 price tag. It’s not the cheapest smartwatch you can buy, but it’s pretty much the best at this price. Although the Amazfit Active (below), which benefits from a revamped Zepp Health app, is a great alternative.
We ran and trained with the Fit 3, and it never let us down. And the heart rate accuracy was solid too — although if you are training by heart rate in real time, we’d always advise using a chest strap.
It suffers from a lack of app store, music streaming or payment services. But for more casual athletes, looking for a great value iOS-compatible smartwatch, the Fit 3 gets so much right.
Read our full Huawei Watch Fit 3 review
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro
Best Apple Watch alternative for features

The Watch GT 5 Pro is a quality all-rounder smartwatch, providing typically brilliant Huawei hardware and a sports tracking experience that can match a smartwatch like the Apple Watch Series 10 in plenty of areas.
Though the GT 5 Pro’s 41mm and 46mm designs aren’t typical, classic smartwatch ones – Huawei saves those for its Watch 4 and Watch 4 Pro (below) – the latest premium entry into the GT series is one of our favorite designs of 2024.
We love the lightweight titanium used for the bold, octagonal bezel, and those who want to save a bit of cash can also consider the stainless steel Huawei Watch GT 5.
It doesn’t feature the same bells and whistles as the GT 5 Pro, though – ones that make it a great fit for golfers, divers, trail runners, and any user who craves thorough and accurate sports tracking.
Sleep tracking is also consistent and helpful enough to glean insights from. Plus, the new snoring and breathing monitoring features add another layer to the health metrics – though we wish the Huawei Health app did a better job presenting the most pertinent findings.
The lack of a robust ecosystem, especially in areas like apps and payments, is noticeable and remains a significant drawback to Apple Watch devices. It can’t be understated how you’re essentially getting a fitness tracker in a smartwatch body here.
Yet, the trade-off for that compromise is much-improved battery life. If you want 14 days of battery you will need to forego features like the always-on display, but we were able to consistently achieve 6-7 days in a very power-intensive setup. That makes it a worthy Apple Watch alternative.
- Read our Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro review
Pros
- Premium and unique design
- Accurate HR and GPS
- Solid AOD battery life
Cons
- No apps or payments
- Basic health insights
- Quite pricey upgrade from GT 5
Garmin Fenix 8
Best outdoors alternative

The Garmin Fenix 8 is the latest and greatest entry into the popular sports watch range. It brings the best of the brand’s tracking smarts and rugged design specs into one premium package.
The range comprises solar-powered and AMOLED editions, with the latter the same display tech found in the Apple Watch range. There are also multiple case size variations, display glass choices, and finishes to choose between.
The Fenix 8 is defined by its insane array of sports tracking modes, top-notch analytics, mapping on the wrist, training estimates, and recovery insights. It’s incredibly comprehensive and a superb fit for mega-active users—backed up by class-leading AMOLED battery efficiency.
Even with the always-on display enabled, the Fenix 8 consistently lasts seven days, and power-saving modes can help you stretch that to multiple weeks. It’s in a different league to the Apple Watch in this regard and goes into another stratosphere if you choose the solar-powered model.
The only areas where the Fenix 8 tracking falters slightly are in the presentation of stress and the accuracy of sleep assessments – but even Apple isn’t much better in this regard. It’s also fairly limited as a smartwatch. You get support for integrations like Spotify, but there’s no LTE support or full-fledged app store support like you’ll get with Apple.
But, in short, the Fenix 8 is the closest we’ve seen to a no-compromise sports watch – even if it comes with a price tag that eclipses most rivals. As a cheaper alternative, don’t rule out the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro or Epix Pro, either – both of which you can now find great discounts on.
- Check out our Garmin Fenix 8 review
Pros
- Great AMOLED battery life
- Class-leading mapping and navigation support
- A more thoughtful approach to strength training
Cons
- It's a lot more expensive than the Fenix 7 Pro
- Core performance not too dissimilar to previous Fenix
- Heart rate tracking during exercise still not flawless
Withings ScanWatch 2
Best Apple Watch alternative for design

If your eye has been caught by the advanced health-tracking capabilities of the Apple Watch Series 10, then the ScanWatch 2 is a fine alternative.
The key difference is that the ScanWatch 2 is an analog watch that hides its smarts away. There is a small screen: a monochrome OLED panel that shows basic stats and notifications, positioned on the dial.
In terms of features, strong heart rate tracking, sleep monitoring and ECG for the detection of Afib round out a health-focused smartwatch, with good accuracy and plenty of insights.
What’s more, ScanWatch 2 will look for breathing issues during sleep, and detect high/low heart rates.
And it will still track workouts, and even GPS if you take your phone along with you.
We did find a few issues. Automatic workout detection is poor, and sleep accuracy lagged the likes of Oura and Whoop. And of course, you don’t get things like payments or apps.
But the 30-day battery life is also the antithesis of a single day on Apple Watch.
If you don’t want a computer on the wrist, the ScanWatch 2 is a powerful and discreet health smartwatch.
Pros
- Solid and sleek design
- Top battery life
- Breathing and temp data
Cons
- Insights slightly lagging rivals
- Sleep data not best in class
- Rogue workout detection
Amazfit Active
Another budget alternative for iPhone users

If cost is your main issue with the Apple Watch – and the cheaper Watch SE – then the Amazfit Active is the place to go.
We booted out the bargain Bip from this list in favor of the Active, which comes in at around $149/£129. For that it offers excellent GPS-tracked outdoor workouts, with solid heart rate tracking (as long as you wear it nice and tight).
Sleep duration is a little over-estimated, but consistently tracked with tons of data. And the Zepp Health app is a great place to review your health and sleep data.
Amazfit has added a new Readiness feature, which apes the likes of Oura and Whoop to produce an insightful, single score on how well your body has recovered for the day.
Finally, the battery will last nearly two weeks – a stat to be smug about to your Apple-toting friends.
While not a looker and made of plastic, the Active still manages to be slim, light, and comfortable. And the full AMOLED display offers good usability, in a package that certainly belies its price tag.
Pros
- Great battery life
- Solid GPS and sports features
- Slim and light
Cons
- Budget OS
- A little fiddly to use
- Some HR issues
Key considerations when choosing an iPhone-ready watch
1. Battery life
The Apple Watch’s Achilles heel is battery life, and Apple only promises 18 hours between charges (although we usually get 36). But you might be surprised to know that it’s a relative outlier.
Most smartwatches now offer a week or more away from the charger, which is a huge draw away from Apple’s smartwatch. However, if you’re willing to spend, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will last around 2-3 days.
2. Price
Apple Watch pricing starts at $269/£299 for the SE (2nd gen) and $399/£419 for the Series 10. And the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 comes in at a whopping $799/£849.
Alternatives are available for less than $99/£99 albeit with serious sacrifices in terms of features and screen tech. However, quality Apple Watch alternatives are available for under $200/£200, should you want to keep costs down.
3. Apps and iOS
The Apple Watch is one of the few smartwatches with a burgeoning App Store, and no rival in this aspect that will work with the iPhone. So by opting for an Apple Watch alternative, you might miss out on your favorite third party services, such as Spotify, Google Maps, or your favorite workout-tracking app. That also extends to features like Apple Pay or LTE, which Apple does better than its rivals.