10 of the Best Waterproof Smartwatches for Fitness Tracking and Workouts (2024)

You knew it was coming, and we don’t like to disappoint. The latest Apple drop is the king of this game, but you’ll need an iPhone to enjoy its many perks. Aside from all the OG features found on the Series 7 – GPS and cellular connectivity, fall detection, ECG and blood oxygen monitors – our expert raved about its exciting new additions, including REM, deep and core sleep tracking, car crash detection, heart rate zones, customised interval workouts and a running power battery. Whew! If all that wasn’t enough, there’s a ‘Backtrack’ button within the Compass app so you can retrace your steps if you get lost and a skin temperature sensor for more in-depth health insights.

It can log swimming in a pool or open water and auto-identifies your stroke, whether its front crawl, freestyle or backstroke. You can also track your efficiency with a ‘SWOLF’ score based on your stroke count combined with time – just remember to set the pool length before you start to help your watch measure laps and distance accurately.

Its 18-hour battery life feels a bit weak for the price, which it’s otherwise well worth it.

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Not got an iPhone? Fear not, we highly rate its biggest rival too. This Samsung smartwatch precisely logs 90 activities, can automatically track when you’re working out and allows you to log specific exercises from deadlifts to thrusters. Keen swimmers will like that it can track both pool and open water swimming and you can view metrics like distance, strokes, lap time and 'SWOLF' via the high-res screen. It can also connect to third-party apps to track swims outside of the Samsung Health app.

Our expert lavished praise on the sleep coach which provides tips, reports and advice on your snooze patterns and rated the three-in-one bioactive sensor which measures heart rate, blood oxygen levels and body composition.

It felt durable thanks to the sapphire glass covering, the bright, OLED screen was super responsive and if you’re low on juice ahead of a big sesh, it takes just 30 mins to go from 0% to 45%. Only Samsung phone users can enjoy fancy features like blood pressure and ECG measurement, though.

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If you’re serious about tracking your fitness, look no further than Garmin’s top-of-the-range smartwatch. The glaring drawback is its excruciatingly high price tag, but if you can jump that hurdle, do it.

Swimmers: it’s waterproof to 100m deep, auto-identifies strokes and tots up a ‘SWOLF’ reading, whether in the pool or open water. Need we say more? Yes, because cyclists and runners will love it too. It can suggest local routes for your desired distance, then navigate, and its PacePro feature gives you real-time feedback on your target pace.

It logs 32 kinds of exercise, presents you with a myriad of health and fitness metrics and boasts an extra-long battery life. You can’t use it to call or message, but it’ll flash up smartphone notifications, which may suffice.

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Heard good things about Garmin but can’t afford the pricier model above? Try this nifty Venu. It’s a reliable fitness tracker, accurately logging more than 25 activities (from running and HIIT to swimming and golf), along with a range of pre-set workouts and the option to create your own sessions. It’ll only track swimming in a pool, but it will auto-identify your stroke and calculate a ‘SWOLF’ reading.

If you’re big on health stats, the Venu provides tonnes of data including heart rate, hydration, sleep, and stress, with detailed graphs and daily insights as well as a ‘body battery’ monitor to help you decide whether you can push yourself at the gym or you’re in need of a rest day.

It won’t let you answer calls, but it’ll flash up smartphone notifications. Best of all, there’s built-in GPS and it can store up to 500 songs, so you can leave your phone at home if you’re heading out for a run. Contactless payment, safety tracking and a battery saver mode finish off an excellent fitness buddy.

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Runners, hikers and adventure seekers will find a robust fitness buddy in this smartwatch. Not only does it offer dual-band GPS and a host of in-depth stats, including Vo2 max and predicted race times, there’s an AI-powered running coach that generates a bespoke training plan based on your gender, height, weight and fitness to help you reach your goals.

It can track over 100 types of exercise, including pool, open water and triathlon modes, with plenty of useful metrics available per workout. It’ll provide you with a ‘SWOLF’ reading of your swimming efficiency and it auto-identifies your stroke.

Like the GT2, it has an impressive 14-day battery life (seven days with heavy usage) and offers wireless charging – useful if you run out of charge on the move. Other stand-out features include recovery suggestions based on your weekly exercise load, sleep tracking and stress monitoring.

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This neat little Fitbit is brimming with all the health and wellbeing features you could possibly want, from running an ECG and checking your blood oxygen level to monitoring how your body responds to stress and flagging if your heart rate gets too high or low. Our testers loved the daily readiness score, which uses sleep, heart rate and skin temp data, to tell you whether you should go hard in the gym or you need to take things slow. The sleep tracker is super detailed – you get a personalised sleep score and a breakdown of your sleep stages – and there are plenty of helpful stress management tools in the app, too.

Workout-wise, there are 41 workout modes including pool but not open water swimming, with a detailed in-workout display to give you a lowdown on your performance.

It will ping you with text and email notifications, allows you to take calls via Bluetooth and has a decent six-day battery life and is fast charging (just 12 minutes lasts an entire day). If we had to find fault, the screen was a little glitchy when scrolling.

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If you’re in the market for a mid-range watch to track your swims, runs and workouts, the Polar Pacer is a good shout. There are modes for pool and open water swimming, it can automatically identify your chosen stroke and provides you with that all-important ‘SWOLF’ score to help you keep track of your progress.

You can see your stats mid-swim via the easy-to-read screen and after your session, there’s a handy training summary which covers everything from distance, stroke rate and rest time to heart rate, cardio load and fat burn.

The Pacer lacks a touchscreen, but the control buttons were simple enough to use. Our testers particularly liked that you can clearly see what HR zone you’re in while on the move (a handy tool for more focused training) and found the post-workout data available via the Polar Flow app extremely insightful. It provides suggested workouts and recovery based on your training, tracks your sleep quality and evens break down what energy sources (carbs, fats or proteins) you used during a workout.

Other plusses include fuel reminders, guided meditation and three fitness tests which are useful markers to see how your training is going. For under £170, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

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If a simple smartwatch at the affordable end of the spectrum is what you’re after, this is it. This compact wearable can log 60 exercises including pool and open water swimming, skateboarding and fishing! Our expert was uber impressed with the detailed in- and post- workout data screens – you can see your heart rate, pace and even whether your workout was fat burning, aerobic or anaerobic.

Its sleep tracking abilities also earned our seal of approval, although the data available on the watch is pretty basic so you have to log in to the accompanying Zepp app for a detailed overview of your previous night’s sleep. Additional health features include stress tracking, heart rate reports and blood oxygen monitoring.

Heart rate zone tracking proved questionable, and you can’t customise the watch face to show the statistics you’d like to see as you’re working up a sweat, but these are minor quibbles when you consider the price. Plus, the touchscreen is clear and responsive, and it has a generous two-week battery life. What more do you need?

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If you’re set on an Apple smartwatch but don’t want to break the bank, consider the tech giant’s most affordable model. It offers great value for money, tracking 80 kinds of workout just as accurately as the Series 6 and eight automatically, but it falls behind when it comes to health features.

That said, it has a hand-washing sensor that starts a 20-second timer when you start washing your hands - depressingly handy in these Covid-19 times. It’s quick and simple to set up and lets you make and answer calls, send messages and stream Apple Music playlists. You can get directions through Maps, and use the voice assistant when connected to Wifi.

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