What are the best smartwatches for health tracking in 2024?

When it comes to doing smartwatches, few, if any, do it as well as Apple. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the current pinnacle of Apple’s smartwatch lineup, ahead of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch SE. It offers plenty of health tracking features alongside one of the most seamless smartwatch experiences around. 

It’s built to withstand tough conditions, with a rugged titanium case suitable for outdoor adventures, and even scuba diving and water sports. It has an exceptionally bright Retina display, the biggest battery of any Apple watch (typically a major weakness) and plenty of customisation options. Crucially, it’s a fully-fledged smartwatch, so making calls, sending texts, and using apps is all possible as well. 

In health terms, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 offers ECG readings to detect atrial fibrillation, heart health notifications, sleep tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, and tracks your temperature overnight. It can even notify you if your cardio fitness levels seem on the low side. There are also plenty of sports and activity tracking options, including advanced tracking for running and cycling, thanks to the accurate GPS that’s built-in. 

It doesn’t come cheap, with an RRP starting from £799. Battery life, typically around 36 hours, is still on the low side. But it’s a supremely polished smartwatch with excellent health-tracking credentials.

Fitbit’s latest fitness tracker will give you all the essential health and fitness tracking metrics you would expect, for a considerably lower price tag than anything else on this list. With an RRP of £139.99, and sometimes on sale for under £110, you’re getting one of Fitbit’s newest devices. 

It shares many of the same features as the Fitbit Sense 2, with a few new additions. An upgraded PPG sensor allows you to accurately track heart rate and blood oxygen levels, and take an ECG. You can also track skin temperature variation, sleep, stress, and over 40 different activity types. You can also access insights such as your Daily Readiness Score and Cardio Fitness Score, to get an idea of your overall fitness levels. Built-in GPS makes tracking outdoor activities such as running and cycling extremely easy, and you can leave your phone at home if you want to. 

The Charge 6 can also work with Google Maps and give you directions on your wrist, and it lets you control YouTube Music playback as well – both new additions with this fitness tracker.  

Clearly, it won’t give you all the tools and features of a smartwatch. This is more suited to someone who wants to focus on health and fitness, isn’t too worried about apps and other smartwatch features, and doesn’t want to spend a lot.

Samsung has been producing excellent smartwatches for several years now, and its latest version, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, is the new best Samsung smartwatch. As well as having a bigger screen than its predecessor, the Watch 6 has a stunning AMOLED display, and a slightly better battery – although at “up to” 40 hours, it’s still not brilliant. 

That quibble aside, you’re getting an excellent all-round health tracking device, with features including sleep tracking and coaching, activity tracking and heart rate monitoring (including ECG). There are a couple of other interesting extras, such as body composition estimates using bioelectrical impedance analysis, and even blood pressure monitoring.  

For some, being able to keep track of your blood pressure will be enough on its own to justify this watch. But it’s only available if you have a compatible Samsung phone, which is a little disappointing. That said, there are very few rival devices that offer this metric, or body composition analysis. Which makes this one of the best smartwatches for health tracking currently available.

There aren't many fitness trackers or smartwatches that offer blood pressure monitoring – with the Samsung Galaxy watch range arguably the best known. But the major drawback with those watches is that in order to actually use the blood pressure monitoring feature, you also need to own a Samsung smartphone. For anyone who wants to monitor their blood pressure, but doesn't own a Samsung phone, the ASUS VivoWatch 6 could be the solution. 

Offering plenty of health and fitness tracking features, the blood pressure monitoring feature uses a dual sensor – one on the back of the watch, and one on the side – to deliver greater accuracy than a single sensor would. It also offers ECG and body composition metrics, in addition to the usual steps, calories, sleep, and heart rate metrics you would expect to find. 

Senior Tech Writer and Reviewer Steven Shaw was given the ASUS VivoWatch 6 to review. He had the following thoughts: "The big pitch on the VivoWatch 6 is its ability to measure ECG, body composition and blood pressure through your fingertip. To be clear, ECG is a common measurement on smartwatches (albeit usually done via your wrist). Body composition and blood pressure are much rarer."

"Blood pressure readings are based on something called Pulse Transit Time. You'll also need a standard blood pressure cuff to calibrate your readings. I did wonder why, if you already have a blood pressure cuff, would you then want to rely on a watch for readings? I think the main thing is you will get regular readings from the watch without any hassle. I found the readings to be generally in line with the cuff I used for calibration."

"If you're a non-Samsung phone owner who wants to monitor their blood pressure on your wrist, the ASUS VivoWatch 6 is arguably the best – or possibly only – option out there." 

Read the full ASUS VivoWatch 6 review

If the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best smartwatch for health tracking overall, the Apple Watch SE will still likely be the best Apple Watch for most people. Sure, it has a slightly older and slower processor, the screen isn’t as bright, and you can’t go scuba diving with it. But it still offers a complete smartwatch experience, every bit as slick and polished as the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and at a fraction of the cost, with an RRP starting from £219. 

You do lose out on the blood oxygen and ECG monitoring that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 both provide. But you do still get heart rate monitoring, including high and low heart rate notifications, irregular rhythm warnings, and low cardio fitness alerts. There’s also menstrual cycle tracking, as well as the usual sleep and activity metrics you’d expect to find.  

Ok, so it doesn’t have as many tools as some of the smartwatches on this list. But it strikes a superb balance between affordability and features, and for many iPhone users, will provide all the health tracking functions they could wish for.

While many smartwatches focus on apps and connectivity, Garmin devices focus shamelessly on health and fitness. The Garmin Venu 3 isn’t as comprehensive a smartwatch like some of the others on this list. But, if you’re not fussed about those sorts of features, then for our money, the Venu 3 is one of the best health and fitness tracking devices currently available, and one of the best Garmin watches as well.

It has a stunning AMOLED screen which is beautiful to look at. There are more than 30 different sports modes the watch can automatically track, as well as animated workouts that you can follow on screen. These include strength, yoga and high-intensity interval training (HIIT).  There are several running-based metrics to help you set a new personal best. There’s even a wheelchair mode to track pushes rather than steps. But while fitness is an obvious strength for this device, the Venu 3 is no slouch on the health tracking front either. 

With tools such as sleep, heart rate, heart-rate variability and stress tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, blood oxygen, and skin temperature monitoring, the Venu 3 offers loads of health metrics. A two-minute health snapshot tool can provide a quick summary of a variety of health metrics. Other useful tools include the Morning Report, Body Battery and guidance on recovery time after a workout. There’s even a Jet Lag adviser to help you recover from long-distance travel.  

14-day battery life puts the icing on the cake, as it blows most of the competition out of the water. It’s a great watch if you’re prepared to lose some smartwatch functionality.

If you’re an Android phone user, but don’t have a Samsung device, then the Google Pixel Watch 2 is a great option to help you track your health. It’s a beautiful design, with a rounded glass screen that covers a sharp AMOLED display. There’s also an upgraded heart rate sensor, and a sweat detector that helps monitor your stress levels. Sleep tracking, activity tracking, and features such as Pace Training and Heart Zone Training make this a formidable health-tracking smartwatch. 

As with many of these devices, the Pixel watch 2 can provide an ECG to help detect atrial fibrillation, as well as warning you if your heart rate seems abnormally high or low. Blood oxygen levels and skin temperature are also tracked, along with detailed sleep tracking. There’s also menstrual health tracking, to help log periods and spot patterns in your cycle. 

Battery life has been improved, and the Pixel Watch 2 offers around 24 hours between charges. GPS is accurate and reliable, while it also has Google Assistant to help provide a full smartwatch experience. 

Read our full Google Pixel Watch 2 review

Fitbit is one of the best-known brands in the world of health and fitness tracking, and the Fitbit Sense 2 is its current flagship device. It’s got a wide range of features to help keep track of your health, while being a relatively easy device to use, with an excellent companion app. 

Stress and sleep tracking, as well as blood oxygen, heart rate, ECG, skin temperature, breathing, and menstrual health tracking are all available, while built-in GPS helps ensure accurate tracking of any runs, walks or bike rides you may go on. There are other activity tracking modes available, as well as generally keeping track of your steps, distance covered, and estimating your calorie burn. 

The Fitbit app will help you make sense of all the data the Sense 2 is recording, while Fitbit Premium will give you access to additional sleep insights, your Daily Readiness Score (to help you decide how active to be each day) and workout and nutrition advice. You have to pay for Fitbit Premium, but you get six months to try it before it starts costing you anything.  

It’s not as advanced in its smartwatch capabilities as some devices – but that’s just fine if you want something that’s simple to use.

If you’re looking for a more traditional watch design, but still want plenty of health tracking features, then the Withings ScanWatch 2 is our pick. Withings pioneered the concept of a hybrid smartwatch, and this latest model packs more features in than ever before. 

An upgraded PPG sensor makes tracking heart rate, blood oxygen levels and respiratory rate more accurate than before. It’s also unique in that, while most smartwatches will monitor your temperature at night, the ScanWatch 2 can do this 24/7. Withings says that this allows for more easily identifying temperature variations, to help indicate the onset of illness – sometimes before symptoms appear. 

The watch also offers “medical-grade” ECG readings and atrial fibrillation detection, heart-rate variability, and all the usual activity, sleep and calorie tracking you’d hope to find in a decent smartwatch. 

Steven Shaw tested the device for What's The Best. In his ScanWatch 2 review, he wrote:

"There's a lot that I really like about the ScanWatch 2. It's a simple, clean design that looks like a classic timepiece. If looks matter in your choice of watch, this one will appeal."

"The new headline feature is the TempTech24/7 module, which tracks changes in your body temperature all day, every day. Withings claims this as a world first, as most smartwatches and trackers that offer temperature tracking, only do so at night." 

"Primarily, I'd say this is a health tracker, more than it is a smartwatch or fitness tracker. And with that in mind, I'd say it's most suited to anyone who is mainly interested in monitoring their health and wellbeing." 

Read the full Withings ScanWatch 2 review

If you’re happy to spend a bit more to get one of the best all-round health and fitness smartwatches on the market, then the Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2 Sapphire Edition may be what you’re looking for. Its RRP from £829.99 puts it in the same bracket as the Apple Watch Ultra 2. But crucially, this watch works on both iPhone and Android devices. 

It’s a great watch for anyone who loves the outdoors, offering a superb AMOLED display that’s easy to see in bright sunlight, up to 31 days of battery life (depending which size you choose), multi-band GPS and an LED torch for low light conditions. And it offers just about every conceivable health and fitness metric Garmin can come up with. 

The basics are all covered – heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, and activity tracking are all there. And the Epix Pro also offers nap detection, Jet Lag Adviser, stress tracking, Body Battery, Morning Report, heart-rate variability, and the Health Snapshot feature.

On top of that are all the advanced training metrics on offer. Hill Score, Endurance Score, PacePro, ClimbPro, training status and training readiness, real-time stamina, recovery time, and daily suggested workouts, are available.  

In smartwatch terms, you can download music and keep track of the stock market while you’re out and about. It’s incredibly comprehensive, and if you buy this, we can’t imagine what metrics you’d need to upgrade it for many years to come.