5 reasons why I can’t ditch my Apple Watch for Android smartwatches

Android smartwatches are in a great place in 2025. From a hardware perspective, there have never been so many quality watches to choose from — with Google, Samsung, and OnePlus all offering excellent options. The software is solid, too. Wear OS 5 is Google’s smartwatch operating system at its most reliable, and we should see significant upgrades soon with Wear OS 6.

Having worn a OnePlus Watch 3 for the last few months, I speak from experience when I say there’s never been a better time to be in the Wear OS camp. The OnePlus Watch 3 is a stupendous wearable, offering a classy design, fantastic battery life, and robust health features I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using. It’s a prime example of what an Android smartwatch looks like when it’s firing on all cylinders.

Having said all of that, I recently took off OnePlus’s smartwatch and replaced it with my Apple Watch Ultra 2 I was wearing before it — and I don’t see myself going back any time soon. As much as I like the OnePlus Watch 3 and as strong as the Wear OS platform is right now, there are a few things about the Apple Watch that I just can’t quit.

The Apple Watch has long had an upper hand over Wear OS wearables in terms of third-party developer and accessory support. It’s a discrepancy that’s existed for years, and whether it’s fair or not, it’s a big reason why the Apple Watch works better for me.

As far as third-party apps go, there are a handful of Apple Watch apps I use regularly that simply aren’t available on Wear OS. Spark, my email app of choice, has an excellent Apple Watch app that makes it easy to browse my inbox and archive junk emails from my wrist. While there’s a Spark Android app I use daily on the OnePlus 13, there’s no Wear OS version to speak of. The same is true of 1Password, Authy, Delta, and Oura. Each one has an Apple Watch app I’ve found quite helpful, but when I use a Wear OS watch, they’re nonexistent.

It’s a similar situation for third-party accessories. Since the Apple Watch has been around for years — and has used the same watch band system and charging mechanism all this time — there are ample choices for watch bands and charging docks that work with it.

Nomad is one of my favorite accessory brands, making Apple Watch bands and docks that I use daily. I also have an AUKEY Apple Watch/iPhone/AirPods charging station that’s been a godsend on my nightstand. There’s no shortage of high-quality Apple Watch accessories like this, and it’s a level of support you simply don’t get with a Google Pixel Watch 3 or Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra.

I’ve been subscribed to Apple Fitness Plus for a couple of years now, and it’s far and away my favorite workout service I’ve ever used. The treadmill workouts regularly kick my butt and push my running endurance, while the strength training programs have helped me stay consistent with improving my upper and lower body strength.

In addition to the exercise and trainer quality, the real kicker of Fitness Plus is how seamlessly it works across the Apple Watch and iPhone. When you start a Fitness Plus workout from your iPhone, it automatically begins on your Apple Watch. During the workout, health stats from your Apple Watch are displayed on your iPhone screen — including your heart rate, burned calories, and distance.

Particularly during treadmill exercises, seeing those numbers without glancing at my wrist is a massive convenience. It lets me keep a constant eye on my heart rate to see if I’m pushing myself hard enough without ruining my running form by having to always stare at my wrist. It’s one of the things I miss the most when I’m wearing a Wear OS watch, and when you use Fitness Plus multiple times per week like I do, it’s difficult to live without.

iMessage. Love it or hate it, it’s something many of my friends and family members use, and that means there are iMessage notifications I like to stay on top of throughout the day. When I use a Wear OS watch paired with my Android phone, I simply don’t get those notifications on my wrist, resulting in many missed messages and late replies. However, when I wear my Apple Watch, this isn’t an issue. All of my iMessage notifications appear as expected, ensuring I don’t miss anything important.

There’s not much else to say here. iMessage isn’t my messaging platform of choice, but that doesn’t change the fact that so many people I know use it daily. And if I want to stay on top of texts from them, I need to wear an Apple Watch instead of a Wear OS one.

On the Apple Watch, Apple Music works flawlessly. I can browse the entire Apple Music catalog, download songs from my library for offline playback, stream songs independently from my iPhone with an LTE connection, and even control Apple Music playback from the HomePod mini speakers in my office.

There’s no such Apple Music app available for Wear OS, and because of that, none of this is possible when I’m wearing something like the OnePlus Watch 3. And as a daily Apple Music user, that’s a difficult roadblock to overcome.

Finally, while not as important as the things outlined above, there are a few other smaller Apple Watch features I miss whenever I’m in the Wear OS camp.

One of those is something I’ve complained about a couple of times already this year. Wear OS doesn’t natively support multiple timers, and it’s a mind-boggling omission. Whether cooking dinner or keeping track of the washer and dryer on laundry day, I often run multiple timers at once, and I prefer to have those on my wrist rather than on my phone. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch runs multiple timers without breaking a sweat.

Similarly, for basic voice commands to set a timer or create a reminder, Siri is far and away better than the current Google Assistant experience on Wear OS. Not only is it significantly faster, but I also love being able to issue these commands even when my Apple Watch isn’t connected to my iPhone. Siri being able to process some basic tasks on-device without a required internet connection has proven legitimately useful over the years, and it’s functionality I’ve missed repeatedly while wearing the OnePlus Watch 3 these last few months.

At this point in the article, it should be apparent that almost all of these reasons hinge on my personal use habits. If you don’t use Apple Fitness Plus, don’t talk to people who use iMessage, and don’t subscribe to Apple Music, you’re much less incentivized to use an Apple Watch over the many Wear OS options available.

But if you do find yourself using those Apple services — and you prefer strong app/accessory support and more reliable voice commands — the Apple Watch’s superiority is awfully hard to ignore. That’s not to say Wear OS watches are bad, but depending on your priorities, an Apple Watch may just make more sense.

That’s ultimately where I find myself. I’m a big fan and proponent of Wear OS, and given the chance to try a new wearable running the software, I’m on it. But when it’s time to pick a smartwatch that fits me and my life the best, that title still belongs to the Apple Watch. It has for years, and pending any dramatic changes, will likely stay that way for a while to come.