Best Smartwatches with Long Battery Life – Tested & Approved

The first instinct when a smartwatch review comes up is to write about new features. The screen is a tiny bit bigger, the display brighter, and its fitness or health tracking capabilities are better. Not today, not in this post. The best smartwatch with long battery life can’t be about incremental updates. Ironically enough in this case, these feature improvements are exactly what consumes battery energy, leaving them prematurely discharged and useless until a charging outlet can be located.

Smartwatches become wristbands when they’re out of juice. Wearers tire of this and return them, perhaps for a simple long-lasting Fitbit Charge 6, a device built to operate an entire week. Technically, this is a health tracker, not a smartwatch. To restore the tarnished reputation some smartwatches have earned—you know who you are—we’ve decided to turn the normal approach to wearable reviews on its head. Today, we’re all about battery longevity, with features coming in a close second.

It’s all good, our expert wearables testers will be ranking health tracking accuracy and vibrant displays, plus app consistency and personal assistant functions, but battery life is going to be the deciding factor in all of the upcoming reviews.

How We Prioritized Battery Life Rankings

Compromises are necessary when owning a smartwatch. The full color display drains small batteries quickly. Then there’s the possibility of an always on screen, which users choose because they want to see the time or fitness data when their hands are otherwise occupied. What about background processor tasks? Apps are tracking heart rates and looking at GPS info. Apps compete for clock cycles, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity snatches up the last available bit of leftover energy, and the screen darkens as the juice pours out.

The user method of lengthening the lifespan of an energy-hungry smartwatch is to turn certain features off. Turn that always on display off, opting instead for a smart display when your wrist flips up to your face. Turn off constant notifications from rarely accessed apps, and limit cellular data (on LTE compatible models) so that your phone pairing takes priority. All well and good, right? But what if a consumer doesn’t want to limit their smartwatch? It’s a fair request, to be honest.

With these determined souls in mind, we ran all of our tests on default settings, keeping notifications on for texts and alerts. Our reviewers were ordered to showcase the out-of-the-box smartwatch user experience, and that’s exactly what they did, following our instructions to the letter. A watch that performed well with standard settings earned a higher ranking than one that required user intervention to achieve acceptable battery life.

All that said, it’s time to (Get the obvious puns out of the way) get this review moving, starting with the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

The 6 Smartwatches with Longest Battery Life (Never Run Out Again)

Apple Watch Ultra 2 Smartwatch

The titanium-bound black case surrounding the Apple Watch Ultra 2 long-life lithium-ion battery is sleek and stylish, giving the smart timepiece a modern yet rugged aesthetic that stands up well to the occasional bumps and scrapes of normal life. Is it the best smartwatch with long battery life capabilities? Let’s look deeper, starting with the Low Power Mode that restricts certain onboard processes.

Low Power Mode limits the number of heart rate updates and GPS checks, doing the same to its 802.11n Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity so that precious energy can be reclaimed via a battery management setting within the onboard S9 SiP processor. It’s a dual-core processor, reaching out to limit juice draining suspects. With a 3000 nit Retina LTPO2 OLED display chief among those culprits, always on functionality becomes restricted.

Endurance tech check – A slew of power eating perpetrators exist among the features of the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The water resistant 49mm case is big enough to showcase that Retina display, yet the watch weighs little more than 61.4 grams. For that size, there’s a temperature sensor, accurate heart rate monitor, compass, water temperature sensor, and more. Then there are buttons aplenty, all perfectly blended against the 14.4mm deep titanium case.

The health and fitness metrics monitored by those sensors are instantly sent to an iPhone, fresh and accurate, creating algorithm informed insights. In the pool or striding down a busy sidewalk in preparation for a local 5K fun run, we felt confident that the immense number of fitness tracking apps would have the pounds melting off our slack bodies. Done with sweaty activities for the day, Apple Pay took care of electrolyte restoring drinks while onboard Siri called up some info about the local nightlife.

With a 36 hour regular battery lifespan, power consumption drops further when low power mode is active, earning the smartwatch a 72 hour battery life. Some functions are restricted when that mode is active. Recharges fast, 80% ready for workout action after only one hour.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

A 45mm face dominates the titanium chassis of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Its screen—perhaps the biggest juice guzzler—is designed to display 16 million colors via its Samsung perfected AMOLED screen. Under the hood, a zippy dual-core CPU monitors an impressive range of health and fitness trackers. Taking a deep breath, they are as follows: A barometer, optical heart rate sensor, bioelectric impedance analysis sensor (Body fat and skeletal mass measurements), and accelerometer and gyro. Good as they are for monitoring countless bodily metrics, that’s a lot of electrical activity to manage.

A 590mAh battery is installed in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Reviewers agreed, this is one of the largest battery capacities currently fitted inside a wearable device. It maximizes power life by using hardware and software optimizations to make the most out of that battery capacity. And yes, there’s the ever-present Low Power Mode, dimming the AMOLED, reducing background activities, and intelligently reducing sensor polling rates to the bare minimum.  

Endurance tech check – Seeing as how we’re wearing a Samsung device for this review, out and about to count calories on Route Workout or laying in bed to test out the improved sleep tracking, we were quick to accept the rugged build quality of this wearable device. Its near indestructible titanium case is supported by clear scratch resistant Sapphire crystal, easily repelling the sort of impacts that would shatter conventional watch face glass.

It’s much the same case inside the slim MIL-STD-810H durability rated, IP68 dust and moisture protected smartwatch enclosure. A pinch to the seamlessly engineered rotating bezel pulls handy Wear OS apps to the front of the display, responsive and prepped to load Google Maps, the Play Store, or some other fun application. Watch YouTube video tips on swimming, then dive in with the 5ATM smartwatch recording every stroke, all while tracking your heart rate and other important health metrics.

Back with battery longevity, the 590mAh rechargeable power supply and software monitored hardware optimizations in this Bluetooth and 802.11a/g/n/ac connected wearable help the 10.5mm device stay active for around 80 hours. That’s over three whole days of health tracking and Wear OS usage, assuming the Always-On Display (AOD) is turned OFF. 

Garmin Fenix E Smartwatch

We thought long and hard about including a model without tight Wear OS integration. The operating system bridges the gap between proprietary smartwatch apps and the huge Google built app collection, including scores of desirable third-party ones that are indispensable to many. Slipping into our loaner Garmin Fenix E, though, its 47mm outdoorsman watch face had our adventuring mindset calling out for attention.

Even without Wear OS onboard, the watch comes packed with potentially power intensive features. A pulse oxygen sensor monitors respiratory health, keeping track of wearer breathing issues when rock climbing or scrambling over rough trails. Then there’s the crisp AMOLED screen, throwing out tiny colored GPS map data and hill topography when lighting conditions are poor. Better than most devices in this class, Garmin smartwatches rely on enhanced GPS tracking—Compatibility with competing satellite navigation system, GLONASS, is also incorporated—to keep hikers pinpointed, far away from possible drop offs and nasty surprises.

Endurance tech check – Perhaps we’re stating the obvious, safely sheltered in our warm offices, but there are no charging outlets in the wilderness. A best-in-class wearable like the Garmin Fenix E, built out of titanium and further toughened by a Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coating, demands an endurance-designed battery. Otherwise, the built-in LED flashlight will quickly drain power and leave the smartwatch dead until the wearer returns to their hostel.

Other notable features we’d like to point out include the per-second wrist heart rate sensor and a built-in speaker and microphone combo, necessary if a hiker’s hands are precariously occupied by a climb up a steep hill. Use this latter feature for issuing offline commands. Our resident group hiker used this facility to set alarms and perform evening tasks in his tent when setting up camp at an off-the-grid location, far from LTE towers. 

Capable of tracking fitness in any environment, of measuring heart rate and oxygen levels while paddling or swimming or running, the Garmin wearable delivers 16 days of typical use, although that figure drop to 6 days when AOD is active. There’s also a Battery Saver Watch Mode, restricting certain features and upping battery life to 21 days. That’s three weeks of wilderness adventuring.

Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Smartwatch

It’s not cheap, but then neither are Garmin wearables, but the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro does enter the lower fold of our best smartwatch with long battery life post because of its talent for avoiding constant visits to a recharging outlet. Premium looks grace the smart timepiece, giving the device a stylish aesthetic that doesn’t fall short of our high bar for smartwatch design and build quality. Before talking about that long lasting power source, however, we’re going to perform a little on-wrist testing, calling in our review guru editor this time.

The interface felt responsive, the 10.9mm thick case—built from titanium and Sapphire glass—wrapped around a 1.43 inch AMOLED color display. That’s 466 by 466 pixels of 326 ppi resolution on the 46mm model, by the way. Assuming this larger wearable were to go on a man’s wrist, then the smaller 42mm version would be reserved for ladies with a slender wrist. But, and this is important, the smaller chassis does slice battery life in half, but more on that later.

Endurance tech check – Apart from the smaller physical dimensions, the AMOLED screen drops to 1.32 inches on the smaller version. Further differentiating the two items, the smaller ‘Ceramic’ smartwatch is encased in an attractive nanocrystalline ceramic material, whereas the larger 46mm edition is protected by a titanium alloy case. Moving on, there’s an accurate ECG sensor, depth sensor, temperature sensor, optical heart sensor, and the usual motion sensitive accelerometer and gyroscope. Clearly, the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro is as well equipped for workouts and health tracking as any other device in this review. 

What’s not on hand—or wrist— to use is Wear OS. Huawei devices use HarmonyOS, which is currently in its fourth iteration and not as proven an operating system as the more popular Google option. It’s difficult to picture any operating system, other than iOS, having the third-party power found on the Play Store. At any rate, minor quibbles aside, the 5ATM swimming and IP69K temperature, dust, and waterproofing infused into the device means exceptional outdoor adventuring and outdoor activities, plus there’s a speaker and microphone duo provided, keeping our commands coming while we pushed through the pain barrier on a gym elliptical.

Now for the juice-y figures. The battery life on this smartwatch is 14 days for regular use, dropping to five days when AOD is used. That’s for the 46mm version. The 42mm edition drops that figure to seven days regular and three days with AOD. Turning off NFC or reducing Bluetooth notifications will, of course, further conserve the battery.

TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra Smartwatch

The review team in our office isn’t as demanding as some, but that doesn’t mean we’ll tolerate substandard devices. We accept only the best. Entering as a budget-friendly candidate, a smartwatch that this time offers Wear OS compatibility, we’ve decided that the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra, although not as celebrated as other popular brands, fulfills our mandate. It delivers impressive wearable features at an entirely affordable price point. Wondering about advanced GPS and Glonass tracking? They’re there as well.

First up, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra has a powerhouse engine sitting behind its 1.4 inch AMOLED screen. It’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 5.0. These are workhorse electronic parts, but they’re also built to sip energy, not slurp it all up in one gulp. Completing that stellar hardware configuration, a blood oxygen SpO2 sensor and highly accurate heart rate sensor kept monitoring vital statistics, informing the smartwatch software of cardio activity and respiratory issues, too.

Endurance tech check – We liked the ‘Dual-layer Display’ on this device. If the normal full colored, super-crisp screen consumed too much battery energy, the watch could be switched to an intelligent energy conservation screen that displayed as an almost LCD like monochrome display, built to reduce battery drain. Even in this monochrome mode, all essential health and fitness activity was available to showcase and inform our nominated tracker of certain basics, such as the time, steps taken, date, etc. 

We’d normally suspect a bias towards electronic design when looking at the above features, but that’s simply not true. The TicWatch Pro 3 is made out of a durable alloy, rated to MIL-STD-810G standards and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. One marketing executive in the office said he wouldn’t be surprised if the manufacturers used a ‘can take a knock and keep right on ticking’ tagline, but we forgave him and didn’t terminate his position, this time.

A healthy 72 hours—that’s three days—of wilderness operation is possible when the smartwatch is placed in Smart Mode. That respectable figure jumps up to 45 days when the watch is put in Essential Mode, its monochrome display highlighting key information like analog-style time and date, heart rate and battery remaining data. Even considering the less recognizable brand, that’s a lot of smartwatch for the price.

Garmin Enduro 3 Smartwatch

The battery-extending clue is in the name. Admittedly, it’s also probably a nod to the smart timepiece’s target user base. So endurance athletes are likely to find themselves strapping on this 51x51x15.7mm AMOLED smartwatch and using its Power Sapphire protected screen to consult Satiq enhanced multiband GPS maps when taking part in their latest Iron Man competition. A twist on the smooth-lock titanium strengthened bezel takes the distance athlete back to the heart rate interface, which is briefly consulted before they jump into freezing cold water to start the next stage of the race.

Our review team doesn’t contain any Iron Man winners, but we’ve all done a few 5K runs for charity. We know from experience that this is quite possibly the best smartwatch with long battery life that an ultra-marathon runner can own. The heart rate sensor is paired with a pulse oxygen sensor, informing you of respiratory health when a race hits high altitudes with thin air. Garmin even fits their own ECG App, intent on seeing the wearer crush their competition. Elsewhere, not quite feeling the Iron Man spirit, our reviewers dropped out of their jog to shop watch faces on the Connect IQ Store.

Endurance tech check – Everyday users aren’t left out. If our tired testers wanted to listen to music, Spotify slipped in front of the topoactive maps and turn-by-turn guidance screen. If we wanted to stop at a store to pick up an energy drink for the run, contact-less Garmin Pay was happy enough to cooperate. There was also the option to slip into a stock trader app, as we hear executives enjoy marathons as well. But health and hikes are heavily favored. It’s because of this, the urge to dive deep into outlet-deprived wilderness zones, that Garmin Enduro 3 owners rank battery endurance every bit as highly as bodily stamina.

That’s the cue to explore device charge longevity. A massive 320 hour smartwatch lifespan—in GPS mode—lives inside a lightweight 63g case, keeping the watch active so that outdoor enthusiasts can stay on track for days on end. If that’s not long enough, you’re planning on becoming the next Bear Grylls survivalist, then the solar charging feature increases that already lengthy battery lifespan to 90 days. Built-in LED flashlight and all, the VO2 max capable Enduro 3 stubbornly works to measure cardiorespiratory fitness and workout stamina, providing all the wrist-mounted motivation you could ever need for your toughest strength training activities.

While most smartwatches will eventually blink out when you’re scaling a mountain or part way through a swim across the English Channel, this device lives up to its name. Endurance in battery life and endurance in recreational life, it runs the gamut of Garmin’s best outdoorsman Apps—Climbpro and Pacepro technology included—while keeping you GPS connected and health-focused. This watch refuses to quit, just like any stamina-trained ultra marathon runner.

Buy a Smartwatch that Outlasts the Rest

It’s tough to find a workout and outdoor training smartwatch better than the Garmin Enduro 3. It’s the best at what it does. Even so—especially given the high price tag—this might just be buyer’s overkill. Unless you’re an Iron Man contestant in training, it’s not the best smartwatch for long battery life for regular mortals. If you’re about to climb Mount Everest or spend a month in a survivalist contest, so be it, that’s the watch to beat. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 strikes a perfect balance between performance and battery life, the number of well-reviewed Apps and medically accurate sensors simply serving to reinforce that point.

If the Apple ecosystem isn’t your ‘cup of tea,’ as the English like to say, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is bound to put users at ease. Its vibrant AMOLED screen up top, 590mAh battery below, intelligent low power mode tying everything together, the Android smartwatch goes toe-to-toe with Apples’ finest. As for budget buyers who want to join  the smartwatch set, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra is a remarkably feature-rich wearable for the price. We’d also put the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro up there, except its slightly buggy HarmonyOS didn’t come across nearly as well developed as Wear OS or the Apple app ecosystem.

Any of the Garmin battery savers should hit the mark with hikers. We city types split our time between the office and the gym, heading home after a light sweat has broken out on our foreheads. For our testers and regular smartwatch owners, we want to keep pace with long daily routines and not be forced to hook up our brand new wearable every time the sun sets. Several days, at least, of on-wrist operation is the Holy Grail, with an always on display radiating the time and fitness goals, heart rate and Wi-Fi notifications. 

If the always on feature is too much to ask for, the device should intelligently pop its watch face to life at the twist of a wrist. At any rate, done and dusted, these battery beasts are the way to go. Keep your eye on the trail—or at least the next coffee shop—and your long-lasting smartwatch will take care of the rest.