The need for connectivity and support in modern life has never been stronger. Your work requires you to be punctual and well prepared, your body needs you to maintain a level of fitness and wellbeing, and your friends, family, and colleagues demand you be in touch whenever you’re required.
Women looking for assistance in their busy lifestyles, look no further. Companies from around the world have engineered wearable technology that helps with almost every aspect of life. But what is the best smartwatch for women? What is the device that caters to all the needs a female has? What watch helps improve health and keeps you focused? We’re not just looking for the best fitness tracker for women, but the best smartwatch as a whole. We’ve compiled the best of the best for you to have a look through.
Best Smartwatch for Women in 2019
The Rundown
Our Top Pick – Fossil Gen 5 Julianna Smartwatch, a stylish and multi-faceted device that rightfully tops our list.
Best for iPhone – Apple Watch Series 5, Apple outdo themselves with their new brushed titanium watch with always-on mode
Best for Android – Samsung Galaxy Watch (Rose Gold), a fantastic companion to Android with a real-watch look.
Most Stylish – Michael Kors Sofie Heart Rate Rose Gold-Tone Smartwatch, pave-encrusted bezel and exceptional attention to detail make this the style icon’s choice.
Best for Heart Rate –Withings Steel HR Hybrid Smartwatch, a beautiful classic watch-face with an intuitive digital display and excellent heart-rate capabilities.
Best for Staying Active – Galaxy Watch Active (Rose Gold), this more lightweight spin on the Galaxy Watch tops the list of fitness watches.
Best for Battery Life – Huawei Watch GT 2, Huawei provides expert functionality with an unbelievable battery life.
Best for Female Health – Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit provides fitness benefits and an extremely valuable female health tracking ability.
Most Affordable – Amazfit Bip, one of the best cheap smartwatches on the market for women.
Most Classy – Skagen Falster 2 Rose-Tone Smartwatch, Skagen combine looks with ability in this beautiful smartwatch.
Fossil Gen 5 Julianna Smartwatch
OS: WearOS | Display: Round AMOLED | Battery Life: up to 2 days | Charging method: Magnetic Charging Cable | IP rating: Water-resistant to 30m | Connectivity: Bluetooth | Colors: Smoke, Blush, Gold
From $219.00 on Amazon.com
This Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch claims to take the issues of other smartwatches and fixes them, and it must be said that they succeed. Google Pay, untethered GPS, and heart rate tracking are all yours. The snapdragon processor ensures a smooth and enjoyable user experience.
The design is flawless, with a minimalistic and attractive look. A classic rounded watch style allows the device to transition seamlessly from a formal timepiece to an innovative and useful fitness tracker. It tops the list simply because we feel it’s a perfect choice for any woman looking for a generally fantastic smartwatch.
Why we love it: this watch oozes class and includes Google Pay and an untethered GPs, making it the best in our list of smartwatches for women.
PROS
- Google Assistant
- Google Pay
- Beautiful analog design
- Standalone GPS
CONS
- Lack of OS support
- Bulky rounded bezel
- Interface overly complicated
Apple Watch Series 5
OS: watchOS | Display: LTPO OLED capacitive touchscreen | Battery Life: up to 18 hours | Charging method: Wireless charging | IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m | Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE | Colors: Space Black, Silver, Gold
From $384.00 on Amazon.com
The latest wearable device from the biggest tech company in the world tops the list of best Apple smartwatch. The fifth iteration of the Apple Watch used the fantastic basis of the fourth and added an ‘always on’ mode and a brushed titanium exterior. These improvements mean that the device is even more attractive and easy to use.
The beautiful Apple device also includes a range of third-party apps, fitness features, and one model even includes cellular connection. The connectivity between this and the iPhone is (predictably) fantastic, so if you have an Apple phone, this is well worth the money.
The Apple Watch’s modern design suits any look or style, and with period cycle tracking and phone function integration, it includes a great deal of what a woman is looking for in a smartwatch.
Why we love it: the latest Apple Watch improves on a near faultless device with beautiful design, accurate heart rate tracking and top notch connectivity.
PROS
- Cellular version available
- Brushed titanium bezel
- Brilliant Apple support
- Always-on mode
CONS
- Expensive
- Similar to iPhone 4
- Fairly expensive
Samsung Galaxy Watch (Rose Gold)
OS: TizenOS | Display: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen | Battery Life: up to 72 hours | Charging method: USB Charging Cable | IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m | Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE | Colors: Silver, Midnight Black, Rose Gold
From $159.98 on Amazon.com
Samsung defines the meaning of style with this beautiful device with a ‘real watch’ look and a great deal of technological usability. A stainless steel rotating bezel with Gorilla Glass screen protection ensures your Samsung device can stand anything you throw at it.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch is renowned for its connectivity with Android devices and phones. The Tizen OS is a fantastic software that synchronizes with Android operating systems via the Gear app.
Combine all this with better battery life than the Apple Watch series, amazing cellular function, a voice assistant that provides an informative daily health report, Samsung Pay and many other fantastic fitness and smart features.
Why we love it: this Galaxy Watch has all the style of a classic analog timepiece, with fantastic Android connectivity making it one of the best Samsung watches around.
PROS
- Sizable app selection
- Standalone music storage
- Incredible cellular functionality
- ‘My Day’ innovative organizational watchface
CONS
- Lackluster voice assistant
- Always-on display depletes the battery
- Uninspired build quality
Michael Kors Sofie Heart Rate Rose Gold-Tone Smartwatch
OS: WearOS | Display: AMOLED | Battery Life: up to 1 day | Charging method: Magnetic charging cable | IP rating: Water-resistant to 30m | Connectivity: Bluetooth | Colors: Rose Gold
From $215.00 on Amazon.com
Michael Kors progresses from its Access Bradshaw design with the slimmer and overtly more impressive Michael Kors Sofie. The design is undeniably attractive and enticing with a pave-encrusted bezel and beautiful brand engraving on the wrist clasp and side button.
Powered by WearOS, this stylish device also comes with fantastic heart-rate tracking and GPS. It also receives texts, calls, and social media notifications, ensuring that you don’t have to delve into your handbag to see who’s trying to reach you on a night out.
Smartwatches sometimes struggle to combine style with usability, but this can’t be said for the Michael Kors Access Sofie smartwatch. It’s a fantastic gadget that looks stunning.
Why we love it: this attractive watch has an incredibly unique style, and also comes with social media alerts and heart-rate tracking.
PROS
- Google Pay
- Pave-encrusted bezel
- GPS built-in
- Improvement from the Bradshaw
CONS
- Dated design
- The company not big in tech
- Could be seen as tacky
Withings Steel HR Hybrid Smartwatch
OS: Proprietary OS | Display: Classic/OLED | Battery Life: up to 25 days | Charging method: USB Charging Dock | IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m | Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE | Colors: Blue & Rose Gold, White & Champagne, Black & Slate Grey
From $143.96 on Amazon.com
Lying on the much more classic end of the hybrid scale comes the Withings HR smartwatch (formerly Nokia HR). The watch’s face is almost entirely analog with only a small digital screen providing most of the fitness analytics. This means that the battery is incredibly powerful, with around a month of battery off of one full charge.
The Withings Health Mate app that comes with it is a fantastic companion. Simple yet powerful, it provides you with all the insight you need and helps make up for the lack of a touchscreen smartwatch interface.
The heart rate functionality is a stand-out feature for the Withings Steel HR. With 24/7 optical heart rate monitoring combining with its near unbeatable battery life to give you an overarching insight into your hearts activity over a long period of time.
Its comfortable feel is one of the reasons it tops the heart tracking list. The curved back to the watch face allows it to sit comfortably on the wrist and provide continuous heart rate tracking without hindrance or discomfort.
Why we love it: this classy timepiece is the perfect analog timepiece with a digital heart tracking twist.
PROS
- Beautiful analog display
- Call and text notifications
- Continuous heart rate tracking
- Sleep stage tracking
CONS
- No female health tracking
- Lacks customization
- Lack of music storage
Galaxy Watch Active (Rose Gold)
OS: Tizen OS | Display: Super AMOLED | Battery Life: up to 60 hours | Charging method: Charging Dock/Wireless | IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m | Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE | Colors: Cloud Silver, Aqua Black and Pink Gold
From $179.99 on Amazon.com
The Active iteration of the Galaxy Watch makes fitness tracking even more straightforward. For a start, Samsung has slimmed down the Galaxy Watch’s design, meaning Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is less weighty and feels a lot better on the wrist of both bigger and more slender people, making it fantastic for women.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is also much cheaper than the original model, allowing those that want to track calories burned and distance traveled a more affordable option. Some may see these changes as detracting from what made the original special, but we see it as Samsung giving the market much more choice over what they want.
When it comes to staying active, the smartwatch is superior. Its onboard GPS and music storage mean it replaces your phone when you’re exercising. The list of sports supported by the watch is almost endless, with a particular focus on gym exercises like pull-ups and leg raises. You can also string together a group of exercises into an overall workout through the watch. So if you are a fitness nerdette, you can build your own workout plan from your wrist.
Why we love it: the beautiful interface of the Galaxy Watch with a lighter feel makes it the best running watch on the list.
PROS
- More compact design
- Less weighty
- Great fitness app
- Much cheaper
CONS
- Less dynamic design
- Smaller display
- Less battery life
Huawei Watch GT 2
OS: Proprietary OS | Display: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen | Battery Life: up to 14 days | Charging method: Magnetic charging thimble | IP rating: Water-resistant to 50m | Connectivity: Bluetooth, LTE | Colors: Silver, Black
From $199.99 on Amazon.com
The Huawei Watch GT represents a huge push into the smartwatch market from the Chinese giant. It is also an improvement on the original GT in a few different ways. The screen of the watch has been upgraded to 3D Glass, which creates a sleek design with no chunky bezel.
Fitness-wise, the GT 2 can also track your heart rate underwater whilst swimming, already improving the massive fitness abilities of the GT Watch series.
Battery life is the reason prospective buyers will get their money out. This watch has it in droves; the Huawei-designed Kirin A1 chipset has intelligent power-saving technology integrated within it. This provides the Huawei watch with a gigantic 14-day battery life. The potential of this battery life is huge, allowing you a tremendous amount of time without having to put the fitness watch on a charge.
Why we love it: this watch harbors an innovative chipset with huge battery life and sophisticated interface.
PROS
- Huge battery life
- 3D Glass bezel
- 4GB of storage
- 15 sports modes
CONS
- OS light on features
- Software still needs refining
- Lacks non-fitness features
Fitbit Versa 2
Compatibility: Android/iOS | Display: Touchscreen AMOLED | Band sizes: 140 – 220mm | Battery Life: up to 7 days | Charging method: Magnetic charging cable | IP rating: Water resistant to 50m | Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Colors: Stone, Black, Bordeaux, Petal, Navy & Pink Woven, Smoke Woven
From $149.95 on Amazon.com
Fitbit may only have one smartwatch on this list, but it may be the most important one when it comes to women (that’s why it topped our best Fitbit for Women review). Its fitness tracking is excellent, with accurate heart rate monitoring, high water-resistant capabilities, and in-depth sleep tracking modes as well (as you’d expect from the fitness device company). The sleekness of the design also makes it a great choice for the ladies, borrowing the Apple Watches ‘squircle’ design without feeling clunky or overbearing.
It is the female health tracking where this watch separates itself as the front-runner for taking care of yourself. The intricately designed health mode allows you to log periods, record any abnormal symptoms, and get a deeper understanding of your ovulation cycle. Fitness is not just running on a treadmill; it’s taking the time to know how your body is functioning truly.
Smart notifications are included, allowing you to see texts, calls, and social media alerts as and when they come in. There’s not much to fault Fitbit’s latest smartwatch.
Why we love it: this Fitbit does provide the user with everything they need to plan their fitness and their health.
PROS
- In-depth female health tracking
- Attractive design
- Access to apps like Spotify, Uber and Starbucks
- Swim and shower proof
CONS
- No built-in GPS
- Minimal progression from original Versa
- On board Alexa lacks info and insight
Amazfit Bip
OS: Proprietary OS | Display: Transflective color display | Battery Life: 45 days | Charging method: Charging cradle | IP rating: Water-resistant to 1.5m | Connectivity: Bluetooth | Colors: Red, Green, White, Black
From $79.99 on Amazon.com
When it comes to value, companies try to cram as many smart features into the design as possible. This can be a bad thing a lot of the time, but this is not the case with the Amazfit Bip. Optical heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and even a built-in GPS are all features available to you for a price that Apple and Garmin wouldn’t even dream of for their more advanced models.
The Amazfit Bip has a simple design similar to Fitbit and Apple devices; the battery life is incredibly impressive. It also has a 32g weight meaning it doesn’t drag you down when running or out enjoying yourself. As smartwatches for women go, the interface is simple, and the watch comes with several customizable watch faces, allowing for you to make it your own.
Why we love it: combining the affordability of this watch with its features and battery life makes for a real contender of a watch.
PROS
- Fantastic affordability
- Built-in GPS
- Fantastic battery life
- Heart rate tracking
CONS
- Uninspiring design
- Flimsy plastic casing
- Not a popular brand
Skagen Falster 2 Rose-Tone Smartwatch
OS: WearOS | Display: AMOLED | Battery Life: up to 2 days | Charging method: Wireless Charger | IP rating: Water-resistant to 3m | Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE | Colors: Silver, Black
From $123.97 on Amazon.com
Skagen combines a classy strap style with a beautifully modern watch face in this classy smartwatch. This combination provides the user with fantastic features such as Google Assistant, activity tracking and Google Pay in a beautiful timepiece with a steel-mesh strap.
The three buttons on the side are an ingenious inclusion. The middle button is a rotating bezel that is used to scroll and open up your apps menu. The two additional ones are customizable, allowing you quick access to Google Pay, an exercise mode or whatever you desire.
Running on WearOS, its interface is smooth and untroublesome. This also means you have access to the Google Play Store that harbors a wealth of third-party apps. It has an attractive, lightweight feel; it’s evident that Skagen has thought long and hard about how to bring style and technology together in remarkable synergy.
Why we love it: this watch breathes a beautiful style and a noticeably smooth interface.
PROS
- WearOS
- Attractive steel mesh strap
- Google Pay
- Smart notifications
CONS
- Battery life an issue
- Outdated processor
- Not great value
Guide to Choosing The Best Smartwatch for Women
How We Choose
Describe the research process you used to create this guide. Mention metrics specific to female wearers such as small wrists, lightweight, size, and thickness of watch, strap and case material, female health-tracking, breathing/guided meditation, guided exercises program, etc. For example, Fitbit has a lot of female-friendly health features.
When going about researching and deciding on our list for the best smartwatch for women, we made sure that each watch fit several criteria. A hands-on review approach has been taken with each watch to ensure they perform at a certain level before even being considered.
Special considerations for choosing women’s smartwatches:
- Style: the style of the smartwatches has been a prominent feature in the review process. You will notice that there are a few devices from designer brands. But also the more stylish watches from the famous developers have been chosen over unattractive watches.
- Size and Fit: Watches with lightweight hardware and a slim strap size have been prioritized. Some brands have addressed the need for smaller wrist sizes for women, these brands have been favored over those that do not cater to female requirements.
- Female health: activity tracker watches are a great help to female health, but they can only go so far. Features like female health tracking have been included (like that of the Fitbit Versa 2), as well as health options that are often utilized by females, such as yoga, guided meditation and stress management features.
Features to look out for
Fitness features
Fitness features need accuracy as well as usability when it comes to a woman’s smartwatch. The user needs automation for ease of use. This is why things like Fitbit SmartTrack technology are so practical, as they require no real turning on from the user and relay accurate readouts.
Smart notifications
Real-time notifications on smartwatches for women can make them a helpful thing to wear. Phone calls and texts are important, and you don’t want to miss them just because you are having your morning run. You want the device you wear to alert you when something has happened, quickly and easily. If it can allow you to respond from right there on your wrist, then that’s even better.
Device compatibility
Compatibility with iPhone and Android is a must. There’s no excuse for companies not to let you connect with your smartphone and smart device quickly and easily. However, what you may find is that certain smartphones or devices are not compatible with watch features or sometimes even watches themselves. Most iOS’s (assuming they’ve been updated in the last few years) will connect easily. WearOS (due to the large number of supported devices) will sometimes struggle to connect. Though you can check if your phone or device is supported by visiting this handy website.
Mobile app
Companion mobile apps are imperative. Firstly, a smartwatch or tracker can only store so much data before it has to offload it and free up memory. Mobile connection also allows for easy logging of exercise and activity.
Mobile apps should also allow you to manage your device as well; this is where the Samsung Gear app Galaxy Wearable is a standout performer. It will enable you to manage clock settings, software updates, and even help you to locate your smart device when it is lost.
Battery life
A long battery life allows the user to go about their life not having to charge their watch every few hours. Though the Apple Watch is very powerful, we can see that its battery isn’t the best. Fortunately for Apple, its amazing features outweigh the power of its charge.
When looking at smartwatches for women, you want to be sure that it’s going to last you an adequate amount of time so you can utilize its features without having to worry about the watch running out of battery.
Final Thoughts
There you have it: a comprehensive list of women’s smartwatches that will satisfy your needs for style, functionality and performance. We have also covered other wearables for women such as best women’s Fitbit, be sure to check it out if you are looking for something more focused on fitness tracking.