The Wear OS landscape has shifted considerably in the past few years. Since the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 in 2021, Samsung's become a force in the Wear OS space as legacy players like Fossil have largely struggled to keep up. Google's now two generations into its Pixel Watch, too, and depending on your needs, both generations might be good options. The smartwatch market might not offer the same diversity it once did — outfits like Motorola, LG, and Asus don't make smartwatches anymore — but there's still a lot of choice to navigate when it comes to getting a good Wear OS watch.

There are tons of great smartwatches and excellent fitness trackers to choose from that will work with your awesome Android phones. To help narrow it down, here are our top seven Wear OS picks today.

Our favorite Wear OS smartwatches in 2023

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is our favorite Wear OS watch overall right now. It's yet another light generational refresh of Samsung's tried-and-true Wear OS platform, but it's the most refined version yet, featuring a slimmer build, larger displays, slightly faster performance, and longer battery life than the Galaxy Watch 5 did. It also brings back Samsung's trademark rotating bezel for navigating menus — not an essential feature, but one we sorely missed in the Watch 5 series.

All the fundamentals are rock solid here: the Watch 6 Classic has strong battery life (especially in the larger 47mm version), the smoothest performance of any Wear OS watch you can get right now, and great, vibrant displays across both sizes. Along with the standard Galaxy Watch 6, it also marks the debut of Wear OS 4 — though, for now, that doesn't mean a whole lot compared to the Wear OS 3.5 some other watches on this list are running.

If you're rocking a Galaxy Watch 5 or even a Galaxy Watch 4 and its battery is holding up, there's not a lot of incentive to jump on the Watch 6 Classic, but if you're coming from an older wearable or buying your first, this is as good as it gets in Wear OS today.

The standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 offers almost everything the Watch 6 Classic does for considerably less cash, starting at $300. Nearly everything is identical across the two watches: performance, displays, battery life, and software are all exactly the same. The standard Watch 6 lacks the 6 Classic's rotating bezel, though. That's a minor difference on paper, but the bezel is a big deal to a lot of folks — it's fun, useful, and helps protect the display from cracks and scratches.

But the option to skip that single feature to save $100 is very appealing — the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 represents a top-shelf Wear OS experience for a lower price. The previous-generation Galaxy Watch 5 and even the Galaxy Watch 4 that came before that are super similar to the newer Watch 6, but they're getting increasingly hard to find lately. If you catch a good price on either prior-model watch from a reputable seller, you'll be getting a better value than purchasing the Watch 6 at MSRP. But if you're buying a current-generation watch, the Galaxy Watch 6 is the thriftiest way to spend your money right now.

If you're out for something with a little more panache, the Google Pixel Watch 2 might be up your alley. At an MSRP of $350, the Pixel Watch 2 is less expensive than our top pick, the $400 Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, but looks like it could cost much more.

It's not just looks, the Pixel Watch 2 is also a good smartwatch: it's responsive, it's a solid fitness tracker with deep Fitbit integration, and critically, its battery life is totally acceptable. While the first-generation Pixel Watch often struggled to make it 24 hours away from a charger, the Pixel Watch 2 can much more easily make it through a full day and night of use, even with the always-on display active.

But realistically, the premium price you're paying here is mostly for the style. The Pixel Watch 2 shares the original's distinctive domed design and proprietary rotating band mechanism, creating a look that's very distinct from what other smartwatch manufacturers are offering. Whether it looks good is subjective (we certainly think it does), but it's hard to argue it's not interesting.

The second generation still has a 30Hz display with relatively chunky bezels, and it still only comes in one size, but the Pixel Watch 2 should be on your shortlist if you want a sleek-looking wearable.

The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is a compelling Wear OS option right now. Boasting both top-shelf performance and battery life that can easily stretch a full three days on a single charge, it's a great smartwatch for almost anyone with wrists large enough. It is a big watch, though, and that multi-day battery life is facilitated by a secondary LCD layer that can be tough to read in some situations. Possibly worse, there's no Google Assistant access, and Mobvoi hasn't said when (or if) that'll change. We're also eager to hear Mobvoi's plans for Wear OS 4 support.

At the same $350 MSRP as the Pixel Watch 2, the TicWatch Pro 5 is another premium option, but its better durability and battery life make it a more practical purchase for many buyers. If you can live without the Google Assistant on your wrist and you're comfortable not knowing when (or if) you'll see Wear OS 4, Mobvoi's latest should be a contender for your next Wear OS watch.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series launched in August, but the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is still readily available. Unlike the standard Galaxy Watch 5, which was replaced by the newer Watch 6 as Samsung's default Wear OS option, the Watch 5 Pro offers features that you can't get in Samsung's newer watches.

Samsung bills its Watch 5 Pro as being made for outdoor adventure, and it's got quite a few features that help with that use case. Its case is made of titanium, a more durable metal than the aluminum or stainless steel many competing watches are made of. You can also load GPX files onto the Watch 5 Pro for custom navigation away from named roads — a useful feature for hikers and trail runners. It's got the battery life to back it up, too: in normal use, the watch can make it two to three days between charges, so it should be able to handle most runs or hikes mere mortals might attempt. It's already been updated to the latest, Wear OS 4-based One UI 5 Watch, too.

At a very-premium $450, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is more of an investment than many of our other top picks, but if you want its unique blend of features — Wear OS 4, a titanium case, killer battery life, and GPX support — you can't get it anywhere else. It's been on sale more often as we get farther from its release, though, so keep an eye out for deals.

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Yes, the Pixel Watch 2 is out, and it's objectively a better smartwatch than the first generation. But the original Pixel Watch is still available, and now that the sequel is out, the first-gen model costs less: the Google Store lists the company's first watch at $280.

Compared to the newer model, you are missing out on a few improvements. Chiefly, the first-gen Pixel Watch doesn't last as long on a charge — you might be able to make it through a full 24 hours without the always-on display active, but the first Pixel Watch takes a lot more battery babysitting than the current generation does. The Pixel Watch 2 also has newer fitness tracking hardware: an improved multi-path optical heart rate sensor that Google says gets more accurate heart rate data, a temperature sensor, and a cEDA sensor used in stress tracking features.

If you don't care about those things — or waiting a while for an update to Wear OS 4 — the first-gen Pixel Watch is a good way to save some cash versus getting the newest model. Just don't expect its battery to last all day with heavy use.

With Qualcomm's Wear 4100 chip, a whole gig of RAM, and an update to Wear OS 3 seemingly in the works, Mobvoi's TicWatch E3 offers a lot of value for a relatively modest $200. Mobvoi went with a lower-cost LCD to hit that low price, which means lower contrast and no perfect OLED blacks. Still, even with that less-efficient display type, battery life stretches well into a second day. An optional Essential Mode also limits the watch's functionality but boosts battery life significantly.

The TicWatch E3 has an MSRP of $200 but is regularly available for less. We haven't heard much about software support since Mobvoi started a Wear OS 3 beta over the summer, though, so it's possible the TicWatch E3 will be stuck on the increasingly out of date Wear OS 2 for the foreseeable future. If you're looking for a super affordable way to try Wear OS and you catch a good sale on the E3, you'll be getting a decent experience — but we'd encourage you to save a little longer for something more robust, if you can.

What's the best Android watch you can buy?

Right now, we're big fans of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic. Samsung's newest Wear OS watches come with Wear OS 4 and are fast performers with bright, smooth displays and battery life that can stretch past two full days, depending on the size you buy. However, most of what we like about the Watch 6 series is also featured in the Watch 5 series, so don't rush out to upgrade from last year's model.

There's also Google's Pixel Watch 2. It's an interesting option for style-conscious Android fans who want the latest version of Wear OS in a pretty package, and its newer internals mean its battery can comfortably make it through a whole day and night of real-life use. Or, for the same price, you can pick up the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5, a less style-conscious option with battery life that can last multiple days.

Fossil's latest, the Gen 6 Wellness Edition, failed to impress — our review described it as "generic" and "laggy." The Fossil group was notoriously slow to update its watches to Wear OS 3, too, and we don't know when to expect Wear OS 4. Right now, it's hard to justify recommending watches from the likes of Fossil and Skagen over similarly priced options from Samsung or Google, but we'll update our recommendations again should that change.