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Smartwatches and fitness trackers have come a long way in terms of offering features for female users since they were first introduced. This can include adding cycle tracking, or even offering smaller device sizes to better fit those with smaller wrists.
Right now, the best smartwatch for women is the Apple Watch Series 11. The latest model of the Apple Watch boasts improved battery life over its predecessor and is available in two different sizes, making it one of Apple's most comfortable wearables. It only works with iPhone, though, so if you're an Android user, you're better off going for something else.
Jane is our Senior Fitness Editor, and has been testing and writing about fitness tech for the past 10 years. Her go-to running watch right now is the Garmin Forerunner 570, and she tracks just about everything there is to track on her Oura Ring 4.
The best smartwatches for women right now
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Best smartwatch for women overall
The Apple Watch 11 is the best Apple Watch yet. It’s not a major upgrade over the Apple Watch 10 in terms of features, but it does finally crack the 18-hour battery life mark.
While the Apple Watch 11 looks the same as the Apple Watch 10 on the surface, the little watch is twice as tough. Apple has made the protective glass of the screen much tougher, meaning the Apple Watch 11 can withstand more knocks.
The Apple Watch 11 ships with watchOS 26, which means it features Apple's latest Workout Buddy, an AI workout coach, a sleep score, and the first-of-its-kind high blood pressure alert feature (hypertension).
On board, there are more workout modes than you can imagine, as well as the ability to track your sleep, vitals, and cycle from your wrist. The Series 11 also gets a bump from LTE to 5G, giving it better cellular range than ever before.
That's why it's the best smartwatch for women (and for most people) if you have an iPhone.
- Read our full Apple Watch 11 review
Best smartwatch for women for Android
The Galaxy Watch 8 is Samsung's newest smartwatch model, and it offers a handful of new features and wellness tools not currently found on the Galaxy Watch 7, the most notable being Google's Gemini AI voice assistant built in.
While the older model is slated to eventually get this feature via firmware (the Pixel Watch 3, too), at present, Samsung's latest and the Pixel Watch 4 are the only smartwatches that ships with Gemini preloaded.
Gemini is by far the most useful on-wrist AI assistant I've tested, capable of handling a range of tasks and reliable when it comes to providing useful responses to inquiries like, "Can my 20-pound chihuahua mix eat blueberries, and if so, how many?”
There are also a handful of new holistic and fitness features on the Galaxy Watch 8 of varying usefulness. Cardiovascular Load and Samsung's new personalized running coach both impressed me during testing. The former lets you know how your lifestyle may be impacting your overall heart health, and the latter builds a full-blown multi-week training plan based on a simple 12-minute run test and your running goals.
The Galaxy Watch 8 strikes the balance of sleek and sporty, while two display sizes and a large collection of interchangeable bands offer ample customization. But the reason it really stands out as one of the best smartwatches for women is its integration with the fertility-tracking app, Natural Cycles.
Famously, the Oura Ring works with Natural Cycles, but the data syncs from one app to the other and you need a subscription to both to make it work. Samsung's implementation is different.
Natural Cycles' algorithm powers the menstrual tracking and fertility data in the Samsung Health app. So, you buy the watch and get access to some of Natural Cycles' key features without taking an additional subscription.
- Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 review
Best smartwatch for women for fitness
The Garmin Venu 4 has received some huge upgrades, making it well worth considering if you’re looking to upgrade your smartwatch. It comes with a price hike compared to its predecessor, the Garmin Venu 3, but it has a redesigned case, more accurate GPS, and more advanced health and fitness tracking features on board.
he Venu 4 has some of Garmin’s most premium health and training features, as well as a bunch of new ones built in, including the new sleep consistency and sleep alignment features, lifestyle logging, and health status.
From a safety perspective, the Venu 4 has a flashlight, which can change color as you're running at night, adding visibility to your workouts. It can be turned on by holding the back button down for a couple of seconds, and you can change the brightness by swiping up and down on the watch.
During testing, I was blown away by the design of this watch. It looks beautiful. The all-metal casing, rather than just the metal bezel on the Venu 3, gives the newer watch a more premium feel on the wrist. The watch has a bright, AMOLED touchscreen, as well as two physical buttons to allow you to navigate around the watch while wearing gloves or with sweaty hands.
- Read our full Garmin Venu 4 review
Best smartwatch for women for health tracking
The Fitbit Sense 2 is the company's premium smartwatch that comes with more advanced health and wellness features than the Versa line. Not only does it have an FDA-cleared ECG sensor and blood oxygen reading, but the Sense has the ability to measure electrodermal activity and skin temperature, too.
An update to the stress-detecting EDA (electrodermal activity) sensor plays a large role in the device’s success: now called cEDA ('c' for continuous,) the sensor monitors stress levels or heightened responses throughout the day, prompting the user to take action on mood monitoring with Body Response notifications.
During testing, we were impressed by the Sense 2's long battery life and attractive design, as well as the huge number of health tracking options. The Sense 2 works with both iOS and Android, and comes with onboard GPS, Alexa, and more.
- Read our full Fitbit Sense 2 review
Best budget smartwatch for women
The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is excellent for those looking for a great fitness tracker on a budget. It $230 cheaper than the Apple Watch 11 with 20 times better battery life and effectively identical functionality.
It has a plethora of premium fitness features, too, including blood oxygen readouts, skin temperature monitoring, a lactate threshold test, vertical oscillation, and so, so many more. It can also track your sleep and 'BioCharge', which is essentially like a readiness score you’d get on from Fitbit or Oura.
It's aimed at beginners, making the Amazfit Active 3 Premium incredibly user-friendly and jargon-free. Every feature is explained thoroughly in the Zepp companion app. It's also been designed with women in mind, making it smaller than some other smartwatches or fitness trackers.
With this being said, it doesn't offer a huge amount of "feminine" style options, and only comes in black, navy, and white. It's not quite as aesthetically pleasing as Garmin or Apple watches, and doesn't look necessarily feminine on the wrist. This could be solved with just a few more colourways, however.
On the watch itself, you can: start a workout, see workout history, BioCharge, stress level, blood oxygen, activity, Zepp coach, and heart rate. Other useful, non-fitness features built into the watch include: maps (you can download offline maps, too), sleep, PAI, HRV, and meditation.
If you're looking for your first fitness tracker but don't want to shell out for one, I would definitely recommend the Amazfit Active 3 Premium. It had health insights on par with those you'd get from an Apple Watch, and does everything you could possibly want and more.
Although I wish it came in a few more colors, I'm happy to trade aesthetics for saving money and having better features.
- Read our full Amazfit Active 3 Premium review
Ok, I know this isn't a smartwatch, but I'd be remiss to speak about female health tracking tech without mentioning the Oura ring. It's one of the best when it comes to tracking your cycle (it worked out I was pregnant before I did), and it looks like a piece of jewellery, so you won't be tempted to remove it when you're going out with friends.
From a tracking perspective, Oura helps you keep an eye on your recovery and sleep, but also the impact of the day's stress on your body. But Oura's real edge over the competition is the companion smartphone app. Alongside the new ring, the app was redesigned to make it easier to see daily insights, long-term trends and an overall picture of your health. But it keeps the impressive analysis that made it the top smart ring in our best smart rings guide.
While the overall experience with the Oura Ring 4 is still miles ahead of its competitors, there's one major downside; the monthly subscription. You need to pay $5.99 to use the ring, which is a substantial ask when you've already paid at least $350 for the hardware. It's definitely a commitment, but if you're looking to get a better understanding of your overall health, it's my top pick.
Read our Oura Ring 4 review
How we test the best smartwatches for women
Whenever an attractive smartwatch for women is released, we fully charge it up, then strap it on our wrist for about a week or so to test out all the features.
We gauge how it feels on our wrist throughout our day-to-day, as well as how easy (or not) the interface is to navigate when we need to read notifications, set timers or change other settings.
Next, we look at its fitness features, such as heart rate readings, blood oxygen readings, step counts and, when applicable, GPS. How accurate are all these readings? Does the smartwatch offer female-specific features for menstrual cycle or pregnancy tracking?
Finally we consider battery life claims and compare it to our actual use. Some features like continuous GPS use, playing music or enabling an always-on display chew up juice faster than others. We understand that not all smartwatches last two weeks — we just want our experience to match up with the expectations set by the company.
How to choose the best smartwatch for women
Among the best smartwatches for women, you have a bounty of options to match your needs and style. That said, if you have an iPhone, you’ll probably appreciate the ecosystem experience of the Apple Watch 11.
The same goes for those with Samsung smartphones, your best choice is a Samsung-made Galaxy Watch, but if fitness tracking or working out is your priority, a Fitbit or Garmin wearable might be better for reaching your goals. Plus, both those companies offer diverse design options.
When picking any smartwatch, you’ll also want to get one that fits your wrist comfortably. Those with smaller wrists may find larger smartwatches bulky and cumbersome. All of the smartwatches above have 40mm or smaller size options, though the 38mm Garmin Lily is by far the most compact. The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is also a great choice, with a 1.3-inch screen.
Some of the best smartwatches for women look like high-tech fitness trackers, while others look like traditional timepieces, too. If you want something sporty, stick to sleek materials with fewer embellishments. If you want something you can wear on nicer occasions, look for bezels or other eye-catching accents.
