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The best smart watches of 2026

The Apple Watch Series 11 is our top pick, because four of the health features it advertises are named in the FDA device index, and one of those clearances is held by nobody else.

A smartwatch box mixes two different kinds of health feature: the ones a regulator has reviewed, and the ones the maker built. Only the first kind is checkable. We looked up all five brands in the FDA device index, read what each listing claims across its title, its bullets, its spec table and its own product photographs, and ranked on the gap between the two.

Last updated

August 1, 2026

How we rank: the specs each maker publishes, read across the listing's own surfaces, and the third-party register where the category has one.

§ 01 · Top 5 Rankings

Our top 5 picks for smart watches

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EDITOR'S CHOICE

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Apple

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm)

9.4/10JellyReviews Score

Apple is the only company in the FDA device index cleared to tell you that your blood vessels are behaving like someone with chronic high blood pressure. That clearance was granted in September 2025 and no other company holds one. Underneath it sit four more, for ECG, irregular rhythm, atrial fibrillation history and sleep apnea. What makes this the top pick is not the length of that list but the overlap with the box: Apple names ECG, irregular rhythm, sleep apnea and hypertension in its own bullets, and the other four listings here name almost none of theirs. The submission behind the hypertension feature describes sensor data from 86,000 participants and a validation study where people wore the watch for 30 days against a cleared home blood pressure monitor. Battery is the trade: up to 24 hours by Apple's own rating, which is a nightly charge.

Pros

Hypertension notifications: the FDA index holds exactly one clearance for this, and it is Apple's (K250507, September 2025)

Apple also holds clearances for ECG, irregular rhythm, atrial fibrillation history and sleep apnea notifications

ECG, irregular rhythm, sleep apnea and hypertension are all named in the listing's own bullets

The bullets say up to 24 hours of normal use, and Apple's own product photograph prints the same figure

Cons

Apple's listing names no phone other than the iPhone

Up to 24 hours by Apple's own bullet, against the up to 30 Google publishes for the Pixel Watch 4

The same bullets sell a sleep score and a Vitals app, and neither of those is a cleared feature

Where to buy

Amazon

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BEST FOR ANDROID

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Google

Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, LTE)

9.1/10JellyReviews Score

Google owns Fitbit, and Fitbit's regulatory file contains something no other file does: a clearance for detecting that your pulse has stopped. There is one such clearance in the FDA index. Fitbit also holds the ECG, irregular rhythm and body temperature clearances, which is four regulated categories under one owner. Which of them ships on this particular watch is a question the listing never answers. We searched its title, its bullets and its spec table for ECG, irregular rhythm, atrial fibrillation, loss of pulse, body temperature, sleep apnea and hypertension, and got nothing; the closest the marketing photography comes is "a leading approach to better health". Check the model on Google's support pages before you buy for a named feature. Up to 30 hours beats the up to 24 Apple publishes, and unlike the Galaxy Watch this one keeps its features on a phone Google did not make.

Pros

Loss of Pulse Detection is the only clearance of its kind in the FDA index, and Fitbit holds it (K242967, February 2025)

Fitbit also holds the ECG, irregular rhythm and body temperature clearances, so four regulated categories sit under one owner

Google says up to 30 hours, and up to 48 in Battery Saver

Pairs with any Android phone running 11 or later, not just Google's own

Cons

We searched the title, the bullets and the spec table for seven regulated feature names and found none of them

The spec table lists 32 GB of storage and 32 GB of RAM, which cannot both be right

No iPhone support

Where to buy

Amazon

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BEST FOR SAMSUNG PHONES

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Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (44mm, Bluetooth)

8.8/10JellyReviews Score

Samsung reached the FDA before Apple on sleep apnea and the record shows it: a De Novo granted in February 2024, and Apple's own submission seven months later describes its predicate as a Samsung product. That is a real achievement and it is buried. Eighth in the bullet list is "CHECK YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE", for a feature that needs recalibrating against a cuff every 28 days and that Samsung's own footnote describes as not intended for diagnosing anything. Samsung's 44 device records are mostly X-ray and CT systems, and not one of them is a blood pressure device under any spelling. Then the fine print takes back the cleared features it does have: ECG and sleep apnea are both named in the list of things that do not work on a non-Samsung Android phone.

Pros

Samsung got sleep apnea through the FDA first, as a De Novo in February 2024, seven months before Apple

Samsung publishes 3,000 nits for the 1.47 inch AMOLED display

Two years of warranty, stated in the product title, where Google and Garmin both state one

32 GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM, and the spec table keeps those two numbers apart

Cons

The eighth bullet reads "CHECK YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE", and Samsung holds no FDA blood pressure clearance

Its own footnote says the blood pressure function "is not intended for use in the diagnosis of disease"

ECG and sleep apnea are listed by Samsung among the features that stop working on a non-Samsung Android phone

Where to buy

Amazon

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Garmin

Garmin Venu 4 (45mm)

8.6/10JellyReviews Score

Search the FDA device index for Garmin and you get one record: the Garmin ECG App, cleared in January 2023. Apple and Fitbit each appear under four separate product codes. So on the axis this page ranks by, Garmin is thin, and it says so itself: four of its five bullets label the data an estimate, and the Pulse Ox line states outright that this is not a medical device. That honesty is worth more than it sounds. Everything Garmin does publish holds up, including an up to 12 days battery figure that appears identically in the bullets, the spec table and the product photography, and nothing on the listing contradicts anything else on it. Buy it for training and 12 days between charges, not for regulated health alerts.

Pros

Up to 12 days of battery, and the bullets, the spec table and the product photographs all print the same number

Nothing on this listing contradicts anything else on it

Garmin labels its own health data an estimate, in four of its five bullets

Its spec table lists both Android and iOS devices as compatible

Cons

One record in the whole FDA index under Garmin's name, for its ECG app

No clearance in the index for background irregular rhythm alerts, sleep apnea, or loss of pulse

The ECG app is not named in the title, the bullets, the spec table or any product photograph

Where to buy

Amazon

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Withings

Withings ScanWatch Nova

8.2/10JellyReviews Score

This is the one that needs the index to make sense of it. The listing sells sleep, temperature and blood oxygen in its bullets and never says ECG, while its own marketing photograph prints "Medical-grade ECG" next to a green badge reading "Clinically validated". Follow that asterisk into the fine print baked into the image and it resolves to a sentence about the ScanWatch 2, which is a different product name. The FDA record settles it: Withings' ECG app was cleared in June 2025 for hardware model hwa10, and this watch's model number is HWA10-model-9. Thirty days between charges and a dial with real hands on it are the reasons to want it.

Pros

Withings states 30 days between charges, against the up to 12 days Garmin publishes

Its FDA-cleared ECG app names hardware model hwa10, and this listing's spec table gives the model number as HWA10-model-9

The spec table calls the display Analog and the only input Buttons, so it reads as a watch rather than a screen

Its spec table lists all current Android and iOS smartphones as compatible

Cons

The word ECG appears in the product photographs and in no bullet

The spec table says the water resistance is 1 meter while the same table lists the sport type as scuba diving

No built-in GPS: the spec table says GPS via smartphone

Where to buy

Amazon

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§ 02 · Side-by-side comparison

Compare all 5 at a glance

Rank	Product	Brand	Score	Best for
#1	Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm)	Apple	9.4	EDITOR'S CHOICE
#2	Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, LTE)	Google	9.1	BEST FOR ANDROID
#3	Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (44mm, Bluetooth)	Samsung	8.8	BEST FOR SAMSUNG PHONES
#4	Garmin Venu 4 (45mm)	Garmin	8.6	-
#5	Withings ScanWatch Nova	Withings	8.2	-

§ 03 · Buying guide

How to choose the right smart watch

01Two kinds of health feature share one box

Everything a smartwatch says about your body falls into one of two groups. A small number of features have been through the FDA and carry a clearance you can look up by name. Everything else is a general wellness feature, which needs no review and makes no medical claim. Both print the same size on the box.

The reviewed group is smaller than the marketing suggests. In the FDA index of over-the-counter ECG clearances, six companies hold one: Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, Garmin, Whoop and Withings. Two of them, Apple and Fitbit, also hold the separate clearance for spotting an irregular rhythm in the background from the optical sensor. Sleep apnea notifications exist under two names, Samsung and Apple. Loss of pulse detection exists under one, Fitbit. Hypertension notifications exist under one, Apple.

Sleep score, stress, body battery, readiness, energy score and recovery are wellness features. They may still be useful. None of them appears in the index under any of these six companies, and no maker on this page claims otherwise.

02Check that the feature works with the phone you own

Samsung lists the features that stop working on a non-Samsung Android phone, and the list includes ECG and sleep apnea. Both of those are the cleared ones. The watch still pairs with any Android phone, per Samsung's own last bullet. It just keeps the wellness half and loses the regulated half.

Apple's listing names the iPhone and nothing else. Google supports Android 11 and later regardless of who made the phone. Garmin and Withings both list Android and iOS in their spec tables. Answer this question before you compare a single spec, because it is the one that removes whole brands from your shortlist.

03What a clearance promises, and what it does not

Read the names in the FDA index and a pattern shows up: Irregular Rhythm Notification Feature, Sleep Apnea Notification Feature, Hypertension Notification Feature. These are notification features. They are cleared to raise a flag and send you to a doctor, not to tell you what is wrong.

The regulator writes the limits down. Samsung's sleep apnea file states plainly that the watch cannot catch every case of obstructive sleep apnea. Apple's file describes the sleep apnea feature as reading accelerometer signals validated against in-lab sleep studies, and the hypertension feature as working over multiple days across sensor data from 86,000 participants. A flag from any of them is a reason to book an appointment.

One consequence worth stating: an absent clearance is not the same as a broken feature, and a present one is not a diagnosis. Garmin's heart rate data is not worse for lacking a clearance that is not in the index.

§ 04 · FAQ

Questions about smart watches

It means that specific software feature went through the FDA and got a decision, which is published with a number you can look up. Apple's ECG app is K201525 and DEN180044, Samsung's sleep apnea feature is DEN230041, Fitbit's loss of pulse detection is K242967, Garmin's ECG app is K221774, and Withings' ECG app is K240795. Clearance covers one named feature on named hardware, not the watch and not the brand. A company can hold one clearance and still advertise a dozen health features.

All five, though Google holds its clearance under the name Fitbit, the company it owns. Six companies in the FDA index hold an over-the-counter ECG clearance and five of them are on this page. What differs is whether the listing tells you. Apple names ECG in its first bullet. Google and Garmin name it nowhere in their title, bullets or spec table. Samsung names it only in the fine print, in the list of features that stop working on a non-Samsung phone. Withings names it only inside a product photograph. A clearance is granted to a feature on named hardware, so check the maker's support page for your exact model before you buy for the ECG.

Not the way a cuff does, and not without one. The Galaxy Watch 8 offers a blood pressure reading that requires calibrating against a real cuff you buy separately, and recalibrating every 28 days, and Samsung's own footnote states the function is not intended for diagnosing, treating or preventing disease. Samsung holds no FDA blood pressure clearance. The Apple Watch Series 11 does something different: it holds the only hypertension notification clearance in the index, and the submission describes it as working over multiple days rather than taking a reading. Neither replaces a cuff.

It makes a better health watch, which is not the same thing. Garmin holds one clearance and publishes an up to 12 days battery figure that its bullets, its spec table and its product photographs all agree on. Withings holds one ECG clearance and states 30 days between charges. If you want a flag when your heart does something strange overnight, the clearance list is the right thing to read. If you want training data and a watch you charge twice a month, it is close to irrelevant.

The verdict

Pick the Apple Watch Series 11 if you carry an iPhone: Apple holds the only hypertension notification clearance in the FDA index, on top of clearances for ECG, irregular rhythm, atrial fibrillation history and sleep apnea, and it is the only listing here that names them in its own bullets. Pick the Pixel Watch 4 on Android: Google owns the only loss of pulse detection clearance there is, through Fitbit, and the watch runs up to 30 hours to Apple's 24 and keeps its features on a phone Google did not make. Take the Galaxy Watch 8 if your phone is a Samsung, because that is the condition its cleared features come with. Take the Garmin Venu 4 for 12 days of battery and training data, and the Withings ScanWatch Nova for 30 days and a dial with hands on it.

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