11 best fitness trackers 2025: Apple, Garmin, Oura, WHOOP, FitBit and more tested (2025)

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Whether you’re looking to level up your fitness routine in 2025, or you want a trusty sidekick to monitor your health habits, investing in one of the best fitness or sports watches can help you stay motivated and smash your goals.

Don't just take our word for it – studies have shown that the best fitness trackers can improve both your motivation levels and daily activity. Beyond standard activity tracking, today’s new-gen models can do it all, from taking calls and playing music to monitoring your heart rate, tracking sleep and keeping tabs on your stress levels.

But how do you find the right one for you? Wearable tech is uber-personal, so it’s important to choose something that’s relevant to your lifestyle. If you’re not going to use fancy features such as built-in GPS, for instance, what’s the point in shelling out for it?

To give you a helping hand, our expert editors strapped on the best of the best fitness watches to find the ones worth your time.

How to choose a fitness tracker

Overwhelmed by all the choice? Fret not – we've listed all the specs alongside each device, to help you decide whether it's worth buying for you. These are the main ones to keep an eye out for.

Fitness tracking

You should demand fitness tracking from your fitness tracker? Go figure. But it’s not quite that simple. The least you should expect from modern devices is accurate data on your number of steps, distance covered, total sleep and heart rate, as well as your estimated calorie burn.Some fitness watches will go further and offer an in-depth look at your sleep, including how long you spend in light, heavy and rapid eye movement (REM) phases, and a few can show which heart rate zone you were in at different points during your workout.

Water resistance

The popularity of open water swimming rivalled that of banana bread during lockdown, and the health trend has lasted a lot longer than its carb-y counterpart.If you want to record your swimming sessions, you’ll need a fitness watch that's water resistant. If you prefer a swimming pool to a lake or the sea, and want a bit more data on your time in the water, some models can track your distance covered and how many lengths you swim, while others can automatically detect which stroke you're using.

Battery life

Many fitness trackers nowadays will last a few days on a full charge but models rammed with smart features, such as the Apple Series 8, will need charging more frequently.For those of you who are a tad forgetful, many models have power-saving algorithms and can last for an entire day after charging for just five minutes. Not bad!

Smartphone notifications

An untimely notification can throw a spanner in the works of any good workout, with the irresistible urge to check your phone turning a short break between hip thrusts into a social media scrolling session. Thankfully, many sports watches can sync with smartphones, displaying calls and messages as they arrive. This way, you’re saved from falling into an Instagram hole.

Apps

Fitness trackers will sync to a smartphone to display your key health stats on an app. While some will just provide an easy-to-read alternative to your fitness watch's screen, others will offer additional features such as being able to log what you eat.The Fitbit products featured in this list come with 12 months of free access to Fitbit Premium, which usually costs £7.99 a month. The brand describes it as a resource that can provide guided programmes and workout regimes to help you 'stay active, sleep well, manage stress and more.'

Each and every tracker featured in this guide was thoroughly tested by a member of the Women’s Health team for at least a month, often significantly longer. We wore them daily to assess comfort, battery life, design, and real-world accuracy across sleep, steps, heart rate, GPS, and workouts, from strength sessions to long runs to Pilates.

We also explored the accompanying apps to evaluate ease of use, data insights, and overall value. Our goal? To find the best wearables for women looking to boost their fitness, track recovery, or simply stay on top of their health, whatever their lifestyle or training goals.

The Apple Watch Series 10 is the best all-rounder for anyone in the Apple ecosystem. The watch does all the necessary fitness tracking and health monitoring as well as everyday conveniences, like answering calls, access to your diary and replying to texts, in a way few competitors can match. The battery life is a drawback and I don’t make use of the sleep tracking as I charge mine overnight, although they have upgraded it to charge up to 80% in 30 minutes. Fitness wise it tracks everything from strength training to yoga and open-water swimming. If you’re a runner, you’ll appreciate how well it integrates with Strava and Runna, syncing training plans directly to the watch face.

The Apple Watch stands out from most competitors when it comes to design. With a choice of sleek metallic finishes or more casual, sporty straps, it’s a smartwatch that isn’t bulky or clunky look of many others. The Vitals app provides a snapshot of key health metrics—like heart rate, respiratory rate, and wrist temperature—offering better insights into overall well-being. There’s also a feature which detects potential signs of sleep apnea, something that could be genuinely life-changing for many! It’s definitely on the expensive side but if you’re go-to brand for all other tech is Apple, this is the watch for you.

Read more: Apple Watch 10 review

The Fitbit Charge 6 refines the popular mid-range tracker with subtle but still impactful upgrades. It retains the compact, swim‑proof design (50 m water‑resistant) with a vibrant 1.04‑inch AMOLED touchscreen, comfortable silicone band, and now a responsive side‑button for easier navigation, even with wet hands.

Under the hood sits a full suite of health and fitness sensors: GPS, heart‑rate (PPG), ECG, SpO₂, EDA stress detection, 40+ workout modes, sleep staging and Smart Wake alarms . Sleep tracking is consistently reliable and detailed, on par with more premium trackers we’ve tried. Battery life hovers around 5–7 days, with heavier use (GPS, always‑on display) reducing that somewhat. Crucially, Fitbit’s integration into Google has unlocked first‑time features for the Charge series, such as Google Maps, Google Wallet, and YouTube Music.

Drawbacks include inconsistent GPS performance (particularly if worn too loosely or snugly), a small screen not ideal for long workouts, and core data locked behind a Fitbit Premium subscription. For serious athletes or runners, a dedicated sports watch remains preferable, to be honest. In saying that, the Charge 6 is arguably Fitbit’s best all‑round tracker to date: compact, feature‑rich, and enhanced by Google apps. It's ideal for everyday users seeking robust health tracking without the bulk or cost of a full-fledged smartwatch.

Read more: Fitbit Charge 6 review

Looking for a fitness tracker with all the bells and whistles of a sports watch, but without the hefty price tag? This latest release from Huawei is what you’ve been looking for. With a free accompanying health app and bucketloads of functions, it might just be the best value tracker on the market.

First, let’s talk about the design. We’re all thinking it, so let’s just say it. Yes, it does look remarkably like the Apple models it’s rivalling – it just happens to be significantly cheaper. It’s also super lightweight, with an incredibly durable scratch-resistant high spec screen and a comparatively long-lasting battery life. Seven days, if you don’t work it too hard, to be precise,

Onto the fitness side. I didn’t love it announcing at an ear-splitting volume how slow I was at running when I took it out for its first spin, especially when it was so hard to work out how to change the settings. In fact, the UX in generally less intuitive than I’d like. But the sheer range of workouts you can track makes up for this, plus the heart rate accuracy is good and the recovery data it provides is comprehensive.

That said, it still feels like the cycle tracking was tricky to find at first, making it feel like an afterthought. Plus the mood-tracking isn’t particularly accurate – I got told I was in a bad mood when I was asleep, for example.

But all in all, this is an excellent option for anyone who wants a hard-working smart watch on their wrist, that isn’t going to be too painful on the wallet.

For anyone, like me, who is serious about recovery, the Whoop 5 isn’t just a fitness tracker, it’s a 24/7 health coach that helps you balance rest, recovery and activity levels. Unlike traditional wearables, there’s no screen, which means the battery life is impressively long at up to 14 days.

Sleek and lightweight, it’s easy to forget you’re wearing it. My main critique of the previous WHOOP was that all the bands were ugly, so I appreciate the addition of this stylish leather belt I feel comfortable wearing to events as well as the gym. Although, the real magic happens in the app, where heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and sleep data are distilled into simple scores for strain, recovery, and sleep that help me better plan my day. It also gives me detailed menstrual cycle insights, giving me accurate information about where I am in my cycle.

Whoop’s insights feel helpfully actionable which makes it easier to make real, lasting change. If your recovery is low, it’ll suggest taking it easy. High? Push harder. The Sleep Coach even recommends ideal bedtimes and wake times based on your goals. On the rare occasions I have a weeknight drink the impact on my scores is so scary it puts me off completely.

But there are trade-offs. There’s no GPS and no display, which means when I run I tend to wear a smartwatch as well, which is a lot of kit. Plus, you’ll need a monthly subscription (from £16) to access any data, meaning it’s an ongoing cost.

Read more: WHOOP review

FitBits are the classic fitness tracking strap that have somewhat of a glow up since they first launched as small black straps. Now their software has been installed on new-owner Google’s Pixel Watch 3 is a treat for the eyes: a performance and health-based tracker that looks good too. With a streamlined design that’s chunky enough to be cool but not so sporty you have to take it off for work, it’s a great daily watch and tracker.

When worn 24/7, the Google watch tracks your load, stress and sleep to give a comprehensive view of your health, energy and goals, with a daily ‘readiness score’ and ‘cardio load’ target. I found the readiness score to compare well with how I was feeling and what I know about my body, and the cardio loads accurate for assessing how hard I worked while running. However, as is the problem with other watches, muscle strain isn’t measured, so hardcore weight lifting workouts would be logged as minimally strenuous on the app, not reflecting the true intensity of my sessions.

You can set up health monitors like ireegular heart rhythm notifications and ECG readings too, as well as track your period to notice any symptoms across the month (I haven’t quite worked out whether the watch changes your readiness and load goals in line with where you are in your cycle).

The watch is otherwise simple to use, with easy access to workouts and insights.

Samsung tech has become one of the leaders in the field of fitness and wellness tracking recently. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is the most robust of all, a large-screened, titanium, water and heat-resistance tracker.

For that reason, the watch fares best for endurance athletes. The dual GPS system makes for precise tracking of long runs, and the Multisport function allows you to track multiple workout styles back-to-back, perfect for triathletes logging swims, cycles and runs. The personalised AI coach is also brilliant for helping you push yourself within your own means. Unlike most watches, I felt the calorie and energy impact of my weight training was pretty accurate too.

While the wellness tracking is great, including an ‘energy score’ that combines your heart rate, sleep and stress to give a detailed picture of your recovery and an accurate period tracker, I couldn’t access the data. That’s because the watch was too bulky for me to sleep in or wear around the clock. Even for someone with bigger wrists than me, I think it would be quite uncomfortable to wear to bed.

For £600, it’s an expensive watch to only be wearing during workouts. But for those who don’t mind the bulky style, it’s a great quality watch that’s really useable – particularly if you’re serious about your training.

The Polar Pacer Pro fitness watch is a great choice for runners and fitness enthusiasts, offering a sleek and comfortable design that stands out from other brand options.

The watch offers an enormous amount of running-specific features that can make a major difference in the way you train. From health tracking data like accurate heart rate tracking, sleep monitoring, step count and general activity tracking to more in depth programs and functions like swimming metrics, training targets, training load planning and fuel planning for longer runs while the integration with various wellness apps further enhance its functionality.

It also boasts an impressive battery life, and the extensive sport profiles make it a solid companion for tracking workouts and monitoring progress. Plus, the free app provides easy access to data without extra costs.

As I mentioned regarding the Polar Vantage 3, the Polar Flow app feels a bit dated and isn’t the most intuitive to use, which may frustrate some users. The watch’s screen, while functional, isn’t as high quality as other Polar models, and navigating through menus can be somewhat tedious. Despite these minor drawbacks, the watch offers good value for money, making it a strong choice for those looking to track runs, create training plans and monitor recovery effectively.

Designed with runners in mind, the latest addition to Garmin’s popular Forerunner series keeps a detailed record of your pace, distance, time and speed. Stats are displayed on the bright screen, which can be customised to show the data that matters most to you – a real standout feature.

As is customary for Forerunners, this tracker is controlled using a series of buttons along the edge of the watch face. The absence of a touchscreen may alarm some, but our expert found the buttons responsive, making it easy to scroll through data mid-workout.

Running aside, the Forerunner will track your daily activity levels including step count and distance travelled, as well as monitoring your sleep stats. It will also record the likes of swimming sessions, HIIT and Pilates.

However, with the data on offer and the affordable price point, we’d most recommend this to entry-level runners looking to ramp up their training.

If you consider yourself an outdoor enthusiast, this watch is a worthy investment that could even keep you safer when off the beaten trail. Offering a high-quality screen, excellent navigation systems, and the ability to download offline maps, it’s ideal for activities like trail running, hiking, and skiing.

Its super durable build and water resistance make it well-suited for rugged adventures, while the long battery life ensures reliability on extended trips. You can even use the super bright LED screen as a flashlight should you be caught out after dark.

Despite its tough design, it remains comfortable for daily wear, and features so many health tracking apps I’d be here all day if I even tried (some include sleep tracking, wrist ECGs, SpO2 and nightly skin temps).

The training data is really where this watch stands out, forget paying for a trainer you can create a really serious training plan, monitor your progress, recovery and growth all at your wrist. Make training targets, plan your peak performance season and receive a weekly summary to review for the week ahead.

The app, while functional, feels dated and can be buggy at times. Additionally, the watch’s size may feel clunky on smaller wrists, particularly for women, and while it offers sleep tracking, wearing it overnight isn’t the most comfortable. That said, for those seeking a reliable, adventure-ready watch with strong navigation features, durability and long battery life, this is a fantastic option.

There's no accessory more common to see in the Women's Health office than an Oura Ring. Our ecommerce editor, health editor, and fitness director are all longtime fans of the device, and can often be heard swapping sleep scores over their desks in the morning.

Read more: Oura Ring 4 review

What sets this new model apart from its contemporaries is its sleek hybrid design, which combines all the essential sporting functionality with a classic watch face, hands and strap. It’s also (importantly) comfy to wear during exercise.

It’s aimed at the more casual exerciser who wants the benefits of a smartwatch, but loves an analogue look. Just swipe on the watch face to locate the LED touchscreen where you’ll find easy-to-read notifications for texts, calls and calendar reminders.

But don’t think that means this isn’t up to Garmin’s usual standard. It tracks your heart rate, sleep, menstrual cycle and hydration, as well as measuring blood oxygen, stress levels and breaths per minute. Plus, it has the added safety benefits of incident detection and live location tracking.

In other words, it’s a powerful piece of equipment – it just likes to look a little more unassuming.