How to connect iphone to smart watch

The best smartwatch for iPhone is always going to be an Apple Watch. However, that doesn't mean it's the only great option.

Apple Watches are created and designed specifically to work seamlessly with iPhones. And, all the functionalities they have offer be available and everything will work without a hitch. But, you should also know that some of the best smartwatches are worth considering as well.

These wearables are, after all, created and designed specifically to work with iPhones, which means all the functionalities they have will be available and everything will work seamlessly. However, that doesn't mean it's the only good option for fitness-minded iPhone users.

The best Wear OS watches, for example, work reasonably well with iPhones, even if you do miss out on some functionalities you'd get when paired with Android phones. As do some of Samsung's range of Tizen-powered watches, all of the Fitbit smartwatches, and other hybrid wearables. And, we expect them to work just as well with the upcoming iPhone 14.

So, while Apple's own wearables pair up well with iPhones as you'd expect, there are still plenty of other great options. Although, if you do want an Apple Watch, we recommend holding off until the release of the Apple Watch 8, in case it makes sense for you to get the latest model.

We try to test and review every smartwatch that hits the market, no matter the price point. So, we're just the experts to help you find the ideal smartwatch to pair with your iPhone. Take a look at our top picks below, with Apple Watch Series 7 sitting at the top spot as the best smartwatch for iPhones overall. 

The best smartwatch for iPhones 2022

The best smartwatch for iPhones overall

Specifications

OS: watchOS 8

Compatibility: iOS

Display: 1.69 / 1.9" OLED

Processor: Apple S7

Onboard storage: 32GB

Battery: 18 hours

Charging method: Wireless

IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE

Reasons to buy

+

Brighter, larger screen

Reasons to avoid

-

Workouts are varied, but basic

The Apple Watch 7 is a flagship smartwatch and one that takes some real steps beyond the Apple Watch 6, most notably through its larger screen. The screen is roughly 20% bigger in fact, but thanks to smaller bezels the overall size of the smartwatch is similar. That extra space can make all the difference when interacting with the wearable, and this model also sports faster charging, which helps make up for its middling battery life.

We didn't find the Watch 7 to offer that design, battery life, and fitness overhaul to inspire an upgrade, as many other things about the Apple Watch 7 are similar to the Apple Watch 6. However, on test, the Watch 7 is a terrific smartwatch in its own right. Sporting lots of features (even if we’ve seen them before), a stylish design, speedy performance, and tight integration with the iPhone, this is a top choice for iPhone owners.

Read the full Apple Watch 7 review

Apple's budget watch that gives you the best value

Specifications

OS: watchOS 7

Compatibility: iOS

Display: 1.78" OLED

Processor: Apple S5

Band sizes: Varies based on watch size

Onboard storage: 32GB

Battery: 18 hours

Charging method: Wireless

IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE

Reasons to buy

+

Smart design

Reasons to avoid

-

No always-on display

The Apple Watch SE is the relatively recently released and affordable model of the Apple Watch. You really don't miss out on much by spending less. Yes, the always-on display feature is missing, which is a shame. However, we didn't find that to be a deal-breaker.

On test, its performance is speedy and far superior to the Apple Watch 4 and earlier. You still get extensive tracking features including heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and GPS, as well as the usual bevy of workout tools. We found that they work just as well as on the flagship models and pretty accurate too, even if they're not quite on a par with dedicated fitness devices like the Garmin range.  Still, as an attractive combination of good looks, good features, and a keen price, you can't go wrong with the Apple Watch SE.

Read the full Apple Watch SE review

Last year's flagship is not a bargain - if you can find one

Specifications

OS: watchOS 7

Compatibility: iOS

Display: 1.78" OLED

Processor: Apple S6

Band sizes: Varies based on watch size

Onboard storage: 32GB

Battery: 18 hours

Charging method: Wireless

IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE

Reasons to buy

+

Great color additions

Reasons to avoid

-

Lacks a headline upgrade

The Apple Watch 6 launched alongside the Apple Watch SE, and while the SE is relatively affordable, the Apple Watch 6 was for a while the company’s top model. It might not have been a huge upgrade on the Apple Watch 5. However, it did come with several handy new features and needed improvements, such as blood oxygen monitoring, improved battery life and screen, and an upgraded chipset. While Apple does not recommend using its health tracking features such as the ECG, heart rate alerts, and the blood oxygen monitor as medical tools, we still found them to be useful for helping to keep track of any pre-existing conditions you might have. 

It’s also available in some fetching new shades, and is the first Apple Watch to ship with sleep tracking – though this feature is now available on older models too. It’s not perhaps the most exciting upgrade then, but it is one of the best smartwatches for iPhone, and one of the best smartwatches period.

Read the full Apple Watch 6 review

An older, budget-friendly flagship if don't need the latest features

Specifications

OS: watchOS 7

Compatibility: iOS

Display: 1.65" OLED

Processor: Apple S3

Band sizes: Varies based on watch size

Onboard storage: 16GB

Battery: 1 to 2 days

Charging method: Wireless

IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE

Reasons to buy

+

Good battery life

Reasons to avoid

-

Only iPhone compatible

The Apple Watch 3 was once 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, 5 and 6, 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.

On test, it proved to be 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. Plus, this benefits from still being sold direct from Apple at the time of writing, while the Apple Watch 4 and 5 aren’t.

Read our full Apple Watch 3 review

The best Wear OS and Tizen watches for iPhones

There are some great compatible options that run either Google’s Wear OS or Samsung’s Tizen software. As you might expect, Tizen is only found on Samsung smartwatches (with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 using One UI Watch 3 and not compatible with the iPhone) but they are all excellent, offering attractive circular designs, top specs and good battery life. Wear OS is used by several manufacturers including Fossil and TicWatch, two brands who tend to make the best of Google’s platform.

The best Apple Watch alternative for iPhone

Specifications

OS: Tizen OS

Compatibility: Android, iOS

Display: 1.2" or 1.4" 360 x 360 Super AMOLED

Processor: Dual-core 1.15GHz

Band sizes: 22mm or 20mm

Onboard storage: 8GB

Battery duration: 3 days on 45mm / less on 41mm

Charging method: Wireless

IP rating: IP68

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE (for extra)

Reasons to buy

+

Great rotating bezel

Reasons to avoid

-

Battery life suffers

No longer the latest Galaxy Watch, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 remains the best non-Apple smartwatch as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 isn't compatible. If you don’t like the aesthetic of the Apple Watch and prefer a circular watch then this is the one to get. The Galaxy Watch 3 comes in two sizes depending on your tastes and wrist size, with the smaller available in bronze or silver, and the larger in silver or black. Both are packed with fitness features like GPS, and top tier smartwatch functions. 

More importantly for fitness-minded users, we found that it brings a lot of fitness-focused features from the Active line to this main series, making it a much better proposition as a flagship. You can also get a 4G model so you could still take calls and receive messages if you were out without your phone. But pairing any version of the Watch 3 with an iPhone means you’ll lose out on some of the functionality that you’d get paired with an Android device. 

Read the full Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 review

A more affordable Apple Watch alternative

Specifications

Compatibility: Android, iOS

Display: 1.2-inch 390 x 390 AMOLED

Processor: Quad-core 1.2GHz

Band sizes: 22mm straps

Onboard storage: 4GB

Battery duration: Two days

Charging method: Proprietary

IP rating: IP68

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS

Reasons to buy

+

Lightweight design

Reasons to avoid

-

Lacks high-end features

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, a powerful 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. If you’re looking for a gym companion, it would be hard to find a better non-Apple Watch option.

Read the full Fossil Sport review

A great Apple Watch alternative for sports-minded users

Specifications

OS: Tizen OS

Compatibility: Android, iOS

Display: 1.4" 360 x 360 Super AMOLED

Processor: Dual-core 1.15GHz

Band sizes: 20mm

Onboard storage: 4GB

Battery duration: Around 2 days

Charging method: Wireless

IP rating: 50m

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Reasons to buy

+

Top performance 

Reasons to avoid

-

Quite expensive 

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 isn't that big of an upgrade from its predecessor, adding only digital rotating dial, bigger version, currently inactive ECG, and LTE option while also upping its price of entry. However, the digital haptic dial control proved to be terrific during our testing, and the two-day battery life it inherited is still much better than anything Apple has offered so far.

It’s also 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 

Affordable Wear OS watch with solid health tracking

Specifications

OS: Wear OS

Compatibility: Android 4.3+, iOS 9.0

Display: 1.3" 360 x 360 High Density Display

Processor: Snapdragon Wear 4100 Platform and Mobvoi dual processor system

Onboard storage: 8GB

Battery duration: Around 48h

Charging method: Magnetic connecting pin

IP rating: IP68

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5

Reasons to buy

+

Large display

Reasons to avoid

-

Casing feels cheap

If you haven't heard of TicWatch before, that's likely because the smartwatch industry is still dominated by giants like the Apple, Samsung, and Garmin. But, if you're looking for affordable options that won't scrimp on features, then the TicWatch E3 might just be the best smartwatch for iPhones you've been waiting for.

On test, we found it to be quite a capable contender, boasting not just a smooth performance, but also a great feature set. That's especially if you're looking for those general health and wellness functionalities like measuring stress, ambient sound, and sleep tracking. 

To be clear, there are compromises here – we didn't find its design eye-catching or its screen particularly enjoyable to use. However, to a lot of people, those don't matter so long as all the vital features are present and accounted for. If you're one of them, you'll definitely love this affordable option.

Read the full TicWatch E3 review

Other smartwatch alternatives for iPhone

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:

The best Fitbit smartwatch for iPhone and Android

Specifications

OS: Fitbit OS

Compatibility: Android, iOS

Display: 1.58" 336 x 3336 AMOLED

Processor: Dual-core 1.0GHz

Onboard storage: 4GB

Battery duration: Up to 6 days

Charging method: Proprietary charger

IP rating: 50M water resistant

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Reasons to buy

+

Beautiful display

Reasons to avoid

-

Poor design choices

The latest attempt at a smartwatch from Fitbit, the Fitbit Versa 3 looks at the Fitbit Versa 2 and improves upon it. It finally has built-in GPS and there's still that gorgeous always-on display. We found its heart rate monitor to be more accurate than before as well, making it a more attractive option for the exercise enthusiast. 

Fitbit OS remains not as fully fledged as the Wear OS or Apple Watch devices in this list as there are still a fairly limited amount of apps available to you, but if you want to have a watch as a fashion piece that also focuses on fitness, the Fitbit Versa 3 is still a good option. Alexa is on board along with Google Assistant, and a six day battery life is very appealing, although it does require you to switch off the always-on display.

Read the full Fitbit Versa 3 review

Rugged smartwatch for serious runners and triathlon athletes

Specifications

OS: Forerunner 735 software

Compatibility: iOS / Android

Display: 1.23-inch IPS

Processor: Unknown

Onboard storage: 80 hours activity data

Battery: 14 hours in GPS mode

Charging method: Proprietary wired

IP rating: 5ATM

Connectivity: Bluetooth, GPS

Reasons to buy

+

Great looking

Reasons to avoid

-

Thick-ish bezel

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. This multi-sport GPS smartwatch has been designed with triathletes in mind, so features such as an optical heart rate sensor and reams of deep data insights into your performance abound. 

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. And, we found this watch to be an accurate and easy-to-use tracker of those metrics during testing. Because it is meant for competition and endurance, it also comes with a slim design and long battery life. But, it also makes for a great daily timepiece, showing up some of its more 'dedicated' smartwatch rivals.

Read the full Garmin Forerunner 735XT review

A sports-focused smartwatch for iPhone users

Specifications

OS: Garmin OS

Compatibility: Android, iOS

Display: 0.9-inch MIP

Processor: N/A

Onboard storage: 32GB

Battery: up to 65 days on 45mm

Charging method: USB

IP rating: 100m

Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+

Reasons to buy

+

Advanced training tools

Reasons to avoid

-

Doesn't display maps well

The Garmin Instinct 2 takes the best features of its predecessor and stuffs them in a whole new package that gives the Instinct line a less somber, more fun spin. Expect, therefore, the super tough case, which is just the ticket for adventure-minded users whose devices always end up taking a beating, and the high-contrast dual-screen display to be back, only dressed in jazzier colors and a slimmer outfit.

This sports-centric smart watch comes with all the advanced fitness training tools and custom workout suggestions as well. We found its wide range of activities, plus multi-sports mode, and advanced tools for running, cycling, swimming to be practically unmatched. So, even if its screen proved to be lacking for mapping on test, it's a small sacrifice for all the other features you're getting. We found the battery life to be remarkable as well – up to 28 days if you're utilizing the smartwatch function – so it definitely makes up for that in a massive way.

Read our full Garmin Instinct 2 review

A great hybrid smartwatch for iPhones

Specifications

OS: N/A

Compatibility: iOS 14+, Android 8.0+

Display: PMOLED screen

Processor: Unknown

Onboard storage: Unknown

Battery: 30 days

Charging method: Magnetic charging pad

IP rating: 10ATM (100m)

Connectivity: Bluetooth Low Energy

Reasons to buy

+

Looks like a classic analog divers watch

Reasons to avoid

-

No voice assistant

Hybrid smartwatches are the perfect compromise for folks who want that smartwatch technology but still value traditional watches. Withings ScanWatch Horizon may have flipped the script, putting fitness in the backseat. However, on test, it's proven itself to deliver when it comes to its heart, blood oxygen, breathing, and ECG monitors. 

We loved its some powerful heart and health-tracking capabilities during our tests, but we also appreciated its incredible battery life of about a month. If you're the type to forget charging your devices, this longevity will be a boon to you.

Its retro look and feel is also great for folks who find the complexities of using a smartwatch to be tiresome, its basic controls useful but also refreshingly simple and effortless to use. On the other hand, this is also a big, heavy smartwatch that might not appeal to some people.

Read the full Withings ScanWatch Horizon review

How to choose the best smartwatch for iPhones for you

The best smartwatch for iPhone is still an Apple Watch, but since there are several iPhone models, there's still a matter of choosing the right one for your needs and budget. Take a look at the features, as the flagship models have more advanced ones than the budget ones.

If a WatchOS option isn't possible, then consider a Wear OS watch. There are some great compatible options that run either Google’s Wear OS or Samsung’s Tizen software. Wear OS based smartwatches can also look rather stylish compared to Apple Watches, so if style is your priority over functionality, you may want to snap one up. 

Fitbits and hybrid wearables from the likes of Withings are excellent smartwatches for iPhone users as well so be sure to consider those. That's especially if you're on a budget. All of Fitbit's smartwatches are incredibly affordable.

If you are going for a non-Apple Watch option, know that just like with Apple Watches, the flagship models will have more functionalities. However, make sure to be certain of the functionality you're getting when pairing one with your iPhone. Our reviews should help you with that, but take a look at a smartwatch's specs and list of features as well. 

How we test smartwatches for iPhone

Our smartwatch process typically involves using the device as if it were our own personal wearable. That's the best way for us to fully test it and see how if fares in the real world. We do a comprehensive sweep of its features, functionalities, performance, battery life, and ease of use, doing so over multiple days. 

Of course, since we also want to know how it performs and which features are available when it's paired with an iPhone, we make sure to squeeze that in our testing as well. Once we've collected all the data and information we need, we take all of it and compare it to the smartwatch's price, finding out if it's a great value for our readers before making a recommendation.

With a Master’s Degree in journalism from Cardiff University, Matt started his digital journalism career at Men’s Health and stayed on for over two years, where he earned his stripes in health and fitness reporting. Since then, his byline has appeared in a wide variety of publications and sites including Runner's World, Women's Health, Men's Fitness, LiveScience and Fit&Well on everything from exercise, to nutrition, to mental health, alongside covering extreme sports for Red Bull. 

Stretching is Matt’s top fitness tip. He originally discovered exercise through martial arts, holding a black belt in Karate, and trained for many years in kickboxing. During COVID he also fell in love with yoga, as it combined martial-arts style stretching with a bit of personal space.

When he’s not training or writing about health and fitness, he can be found reading doorstop-thick fantasy books with lots of fictional maps in them.