Best Fitness Tracker 2025: Live a healthier lifestyle with these wearables

Over the years, the Whoop Strap has been a favourite amongst athletes and hardeners gym-goers who have wanted to pore over every detail about their workout performance and overall recovery, and while previous iterations have been far from lacking, the Whoop MG just takes the whole experience to a new level.

For those not in the know, MG stands for ‘Medical Grade’ in this instance, and it represents the inclusion of two new features: ECG and blood pressure monitoring. This is brilliant because now, on top of Whoop’s usual analytics of your heart rate variability (HRV), it can pick up on signs of atrial fibrillation as well as the effects of any stress you might incur throughout the day.

All of this combines to ensure that you have a holistic picture of your current bill of health and can therefore make positive changes to mitigate any setbacks. With these new features taken into account, the Whoop MG can provide a far more comprehensive take on how much effort you’re exerting throughout the day and how much rest you need as a result, and it’s here that Whoop’s software truly shines.

While the best smartwatches can be great for fitness tracking, there aren’t too many that give quite as much credence to recovery, which is unfortunate given that the right recovery can only serve to improve your performance whenever you next workout. The AI-powered Whoop Coach software also gives you ideas for the types of workouts you can tackle based on how well rested your body is.

One of the biggest boons of the MG for long-time Whoop users is the massive leap forward in battery life. Compared to the previous Whoop Strap 4.0, which needed a charge every five days or so, the Whoop MG can keep on tracking your metrics for up to 14-days at a time, so you can worry less about the battery and keep your focus planted firmly on your next workout.

The Garmin Fenix series has long been our go-to choice for athletes (both amateur and professional) who want a serious wearable to keep track of their fitness routine. These watches are packed with the best of what Garmin’s fitness tracking software has to offer, with suggested workouts, impressive strength training analysis and more.

All of this is only further improved with the Garmin Fenix 8 which finally graduates from the low-power memory in pixel display of previous entries, offering an AMOLED version that’s more easily read in darker environments, not to mention a far sight better at showing off Garmin’s collection of watch faces.

The onboard navigation system also saw an upgrade with the ability to adjust routes accordingly so that you reach the desired distance you wish to run, ensuring that there’s nothing left on the table when it comes to practice runs ahead of a big event.

The Apple Watch Series 10 didn’t end up being the complete overhaul that was rumoured but there’s no denying that it shows off Apple’s fitness tracking tech in its best light yet.

The biggest upheaval comes in the form of the larger display (30% larger to be exact), which coincides with a size bump in the chassis, with 42mm and 46mm options available. Having that larger screen means that the Series 10 can not only pack more info at a glance, but it also makes text and graphs easier to read, handy for when you’re on the go.

If you’re worried that sleep apnea might be intruding upon your fitness goals then you’ll be glad to know that the Apple Watch Series 10 now has the ability to detect the affliction. Given just how important sleep is to an effective fitness routine, this feature could be a game changer for many.

The only area where the Apple Watch still lacks is in battery life, now consistently being outdone by flagship Wear OS watches from the likes of TicWatch and OnePlus.

It’s taken Garmin a while to embrace the direction of the smartwatch industry at large fully, but the wait has very much been worth it thanks to the brilliance of the Garmin Venu X1.

Unlike the more rugged, adventure-focused Garmins of old, the Venu X1 charts a new path to serve as a more direct competitor to the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Even just by looking at it, you can tell that the Venu X1 is nothing like Garmin’s usual batch of devices – its square design is straight out of the Apple playbook, and instead of the chunkier frame that you might see on the Fenix 8 or the Enduro 3, this fitness tracker is incredibly slim, being just 7.9mm thick.

Alongside the revamped design is a new screen that really shows off Garmin’s operating system in its best light. This two-inch panel isn’t just massive, with plenty of room to show off the watch face and any workout metrics, it’s also wonderfully bright with a colourful AMOLED panel. 

When you are diving into that data, it’s very much the same experience that we’re used to seeing with Garmin’s very best watches. From our testing, heart rate data was largely in sync with a dedicated chest-worn heart rate strap, and you can see exactly which parts of a run had you struggling, giving you insight as to where you need to improve in the future.

All of this is great, but one of the key reasons why you’d want to choose the X1 over the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the inclusion of an eight-day battery life. That destroys the two-day stint of Apple’s wearable, which also happens to be a fair bit more expensive. Throw in the fact that the watch also has a built-in torch which can be used to find your way on a trail, and it’s easy to see why the Garmin Venu X1 is among our favourite fitness trackers right now.

Even though Garmin is one of the most established brands in the world of fitness tracking, the company isn’t exactly a trendsetter when it comes to making fashionable wearables. The average Garmin watch is definitely feature-rich, but form tends to get left on the wayside in favour of function – that is until the Garmin Vivomove Trend hit the scene.

This stylish wearable combines the trappings of a traditional analogue watch with the fitness tracking features that have made Garmin so successful. The tracking in question is shown on a display that sits beneath the watch’s physical dials, so you can discreetly start your next workout or check up on a few notifications.

As an added bonus, the Garmin Vivomove Trend is also one of the few wearables out there to support wireless charging, so if you have a Qi wireless charging station to hand then you can pop the Vivomove Trennd on it and get on with your day.

The watch also does a great job at keeping an eye on your overall wellness and mental health, with stats such as heart rate variability and respiration levels that can be key indicators of overall stress levels.

While the absolute top-tier Garmin wearables will always be worth picking up for those who spend almost all of their time exercising, the company’s entry-level/mid-range options are now so good that they’re a far better buy for the majority of people. With that in mind, if you enjoy going to the gym, attending the local park run or are simply tempted to start making moves towards a healthier lifestyle, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 is the ideal wearable companion.

Even though it packs a relatively affordable price point of £279.99/$299, the Vivoactive 6 still has the same great fitness and sports tracking software that has made Garmin such a mainstay in this industry. Daily step tracking is reliable, as is the Body Battery monitor which gives you an idea of how much energy you have left in the tank so that you can tweak your next workout accordingly.

There’s GPS tracking for when you’re delving into an outdoor workout, letting you see after the fact which parts of your route had you struggling, and there’s even onboard storage so that you can listen to your go-to running playlists offline and without needing your phone with you.

All of this is shown to you via a gorgeous 1.2-inch AMOLED display that not only makes Garmin’s watch faces pop with an eye-catching level of contrast, it’s also incredibly easy to read in darker scenarios, which couldn’t always be said for some of Garmin’s older displays.

Compared to its predecessor, the Vivoactive 6 is now slimmer, so it can sit on your wrist and feel less obtrusive than before. The upgraded UI also feels like a step in the right direction, making the Vivoactive 6 feel far more intuitive and closer In style to what you’d get with more traditional smartwatches. As a final note, the Vivoactive 6 manages to decimate competing devices from Apple and Samsung where battery life is concerned, reaching up to 11-days of use on a single charge.

Even though the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is great for those on a budget, anyone who’s looking to buy their first fitness wearable and can spare a bit more money will be better suited with the Huawei Watch Fit 3.

Unabashedly taking its design cues from the Apple Watch, the Watch Fit 3 feels far more premium than its £139.99 price tag would have you believe, and there’s a fashionable array of colours and watch straps to pair with it, making it less likely to clash with your wardrobe in a way that some fitness trackers have in the past.

Beyond the design, the Watch Fit 3 offers standalone GPS tracking which, along with its heart rate readings, provide surprisingly accurate results. Race finish estimates did prove to be off the mark during testing, but otherwise this is a solid wearable for understanding key bits of health data.

The only major caveat is that because of Huawei’s ecosystem, the Watch Fit 3’s functionality is limited to users in the west. There are no major third party apps to install so if you want a smarter experience away from the gym then you’re better off opting for a Wear OS device, or one of the latest Apple Watches.

Xiaomi has proven time and time again that you can get a solid wearable device for well under £50/$50, even if the company’s ambition doesn’t quite match the final product. What we mean by this is that the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 isn’t lacking for features, but only some of them are really worth writing home about.

For instance, step counts and calories burned tend to be underreported, and we found the statistics of the training load and VO2 Max rating to be unreliable, so if you’re after a full slate of quality health statistics then you’re better off with something like the Garmin Forerunner 165.

However, the Smart Band 8 more than held its own when reporting on maximum BPM rates during a workout, and the device really shines in Xiaomi’s Pebble Mode. Here, via the use of an accessory, the Smart Band 8 can attach to your running shoes and accurately report on your foot-strike pattern. You do need to stay connected to your smartphone in this mode, but it’s definitely handy for runners on a budget.

Sleep tracking times were also on the money, and when paired with the solid battery life of up to 16-days on a single charge, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 offers plenty of value for money.

If you don’t need an ultra rugged design that’ll survive the odd accidental encounter with a climbing wall or ocean rock then the Forerunner 955 is the best premium fitness tracker we’ve tested.

The Forerunner is a smaller cardio-focused wearable from Garmin that shares a lot of the best features seen on the more premium Fenix 7. This potent combination seriously impressed our reviewer during testing.

With it being the first 9-series Forerunner we’ve tested to feature multi-band GPS, the watch offered top-tier distance tracking accuracy. As well as locking a connection in seconds, the watch proved incredibly accurate during our 5km run tests. Running around a track we know is 5.3km, the watch offered a maximum variance of just 0.1km, which is excellent.

Add to this its local map support, which let us get turn-by-turn directions on routes we didn’t know and inbuilt music support for both local and Spotify/Deezer and it becomes an easy recommendation at a hardware level.

But what truly sets it apart from competing devices, like the Polar Vantage V2 and its ilk, is its advanced post workout and training analytics. Unlike some brands, such as Fitbit, Garmin offers users complete access to their workout and health data free of charge. So, like the Fenix you get nicely uniform VO2 Max estimates, SpO2 readings and guidance on how effective your workouts have been. But as an added bonus the 955 can also factor races and events you’ve added to your calendar to the coaching advice it gives.

This, plus new HRV and Training Readiness metrics make it great at helping avoid overtraining. The latter is a custom feature that tells you how well-prepared your body is to train. What’s great is that it also tells you why you may not be in an optimal state for a run. Our tester was frequently told to get more sleep ahead of his next training session and race, an insight that helped him change his routine to improve results.

Wrist-based fitness trackers won’t be for everyone, so if you want to have a means of tracking your health and fitness data without being weighed down by a watch then look no further than the Ultrahuman Ring Air.

As its name suggests, this fitness tracker does away with convention as it can be worn on your index finger, just like how you might adorn a traditional ring except this one has tons of great features hidden under the surface.

Despite its discreet nature, the Ring Air can track your heart rate throughout the day and pick up on any potential anomalies therein. It can even be worn to bed as the Ring Air uses a temperature sensor to record the quality of your sleep, giving you a recovery score similar to what you’ll find on the Whoop Strap 4.0.

One of the most impressive features of the Ring Air doesn’t have anything to do with the tech, but rather the price. At present, the Ring Air’s biggest competitor is the Oura Ring 3 and while that is a great smart ring in its own right, it does utilise a subscription service for users to access their data after the initial upfront cost, which can add up over time.

By comparison, the Ultrahuman Ring Air has a one-time payment of £329/$349 and then no additional costs to speak of. This is a huge win for consumers as the continuing trend towards subscription models just isn’t practical for those tied to a strict budget who simply want to keep a better eye on their health and fitness.

One issue however is that the Ring Air doesn’t track workouts automatically and the process needs to be initiated from within the accompanying app. Still, it’s a minor issue that’s outweighed by just how discrete the Ultrahuman Ring Air manages to be in daily use.

Just like with the standard Fit 4, the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro looks almost identical to an Apple Watch prior to further inspection, but as far as we’re concerned, this isn’t a major knock to the device. Whilst it won’t be winning any awards for originality, it makes sense as to why Huawei has attempted to emulate one of the most stylish smartwatches on the market as it means that the Fit 4 Pro has quite a striking look right out of the box.

While there is a bit of an uptick in price compared to the standard Fit 4, the Fit 4 Pro does give you plenty of upgrades in return for the higher cost which absolutely double down on the watch’s skills of being an excellent fitness tracker. For starters, the 1.82-inch display uses a tougher sapphire glass coating which allows the watch to withstand more knocks and bumps than its cheaper sibling.

The display is also a great deal brighter, reaching a peak of 3000 nits. For context, that’s the same peak found on far more expensive wearables like the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, and it just makes the screen much easier to read when outdoors or in low-light scenarios.

Huawei’s wearables are already capable of tracking tons of workouts but the Fit 4 Pro is also capable of monitoring recreational diving up to 40m in depth. Given that such an ability was typically reserved for far more expensive smartwatches, the fact that you can now get that feature on a more affordable fitness tracker is a big win.

Also a major leg up on the standard Fit 4 is the inclusion of Huawei’s TruSense system. What this boils down to is more accurate heart rate tracking which can also inform data about your rest and recovery. In typical Huawei fashion, sleep tracking is excellent here and it’s one of the few fitness ecosystems that provides genuine, easy-to-understand advice about the factors that might have led to a bad night’s sleep and what you can do to fix it going forward.