The Apple Watch is great for many things, but one thing that users get upset about the most with it is the fact that the watch needs to be charged daily. For some, in fact, a daily charging requirement is a dealbreaker when it comes to a smartwatch. Thankfully, there are tons of smartwatches that can be worn for a week at a time, even longer, before they need a quick battery boost.

The best smartwatches for battery life are great for busy, active, and health-conscious individuals who don’t want to miss a single step or sleep tracking and for travelers who love being able to wear it for an entire vacation without having to bring along a charging cord. Which smartwatches offer the best battery life? Here’s a round-up.

At a glance

Best overall

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What you want out of a smartwatch can vary from person to person. If you're someone who wants a little more than just a basic fitness tracker but not a premium smartwatch with features that you won't find useful, you'll want a smartwatch that offers a good balance. And that's exactly why the Garmin Vivoactive 4 is so ideal for anyone looking for a mid-range smartwatch.

For starters, it has a sleek and snazzy look with plenty of color options. It can also keep track of essential health stats like blood oxygen, respiration, sleep stages, heart rate, and more. It includes animated on-screen workouts and has over 20 preloaded GPS and sports apps.

Most importantly, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 has a huge battery life that can last up to eight days in smartwatch mode or 6 hours in GPS mode with music. That's not to mention other nifty features like NFC functionality or smartphone notifications. For the average person, this is the smartwatch to pick if you need a good battery life.

Best budget

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There are a lot of cool smartwatches on the market with so many different features that are offered. The more features you want your smartwatch to have, however, the more costly it's going to be. If you want a smartwatch that just covers the basics or you're simply working with a tight budget, the Amazfit Band 7 is an absolute winner.

There's a whopping 120 sports modes available ranging from standards like swimming and running, to more unusual activities like parkour and kite flying. You'll also be able to set workout goals based around either time or amount of calories burned. Crucially, it sports a battery life of up to 18 days, though, in our testing, we found that it's likely to last 12 days even with heavy usage.

Best fitness

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If you want a smartwatch that's dedicated to fitness, you can never go wrong with a Fitbit; if you want a smartwatch that's dedicated to fitness and has a great battery life, you can't go wrong with the Fitbit Versa 4. You'll be missing out on a lot of features that other smartwatches offer but will get a more dedicated fitness tracker.

There are over 40 exercise modes ranging from strength training to kayaking, and the built-in GPS will give real-time pace and distance when exercising outdoors. Google Maps integration will give you directions turn-by-turn, making it great for an activity like cycling. You'll get a battery life of up to six days with the Fitbit Versa 4, giving you around a full week of exercising between charges.

Best health tracking

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One of the benefits of smartwatches are their ability to gather health metrics. If you're someone who needs to keep up on important health data like their heart rate or blood-oxygen saturation, you'll want a smartwatch that has reliable sensors. It might lack third-party support and NFC payment, but the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is a good choice if you're primarily looking for a way to track your health and sleep data.

We found it to be very comfortable and wearable, which is important when choosing a smartwatch. Alexa is built right in, too, so you'll be able to do everything from setting an alarm to getting a translation right from your wrist. It has over 120 sports modes and smart recognition of seven sports, and is waterproof up to 50 meters. The 270 mAh battery gives up to 15 days of charge with normal use, but up to 45 days on battery saver mode.

Best hybrid

(Image credit: Citizen)

While function is important in choosing a smartwatch, form matters just as much. The digital interface of a smartwatch can be a turnoff for anyone who's a fan of a more classic, standard-looking watch. Hybrid smartwatches like the Citizen CZ Smart PQ2 offer the best of both worlds.

The Citizen CZ Smart PQ2 looks like a snazzy watch right out of a spy film and performs like one, too. It uses AI models created by IBM Watson that are backed by research from NASA itself to learn your own unique Chronotype and then create a personalized forecast with the YouQ app.

This forecast anticipates a pattern of expected peaks and valleys in your levels of energy and fatigue, which gives you a better understanding of your body and allows the app to provide suggestions to improve your health. You'll also be able to sync it to your Nest, August, or Yale Lock security systems and it has Alexa built right in. The best part? It does all of this on a battery that offers up to 18 days of use per charge.

Best solar

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If you want a large battery life for your smartwatch, nothing can beat a solar-powered battery — literally. Provided you expose it to a required amount of sunlight, your battery life can be unlimited.  If you're looking for a solar-powered smartwatch, you can't go wrong with the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar.

This is a watch that really benefits anyone needing a tough, rugged design for their exercise conditions. It's very damage-resistant and offers water resistance up to a whopping 100 meters. It'll offer you all the essential fitness data you'd need from any other smartwatch, but gives you the same level of detail without the need for a subscription. To top it all off, the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar comes in a ton of fun colors and patterns to zhush up your wardrobe.

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How to choose

Which long battery smartwatch is best?

Of course, you’re going to choose the perfect smartwatch for you based on more than just battery life. But for some, that’s a deciding factor between the two models you might be considering. If you’re often away on adventures, you’ll benefit from a solar charging model like the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar.

All of the best Fitbit smartwatches offer good battery life, often at least a week, so you can’t go wrong with that brand when it comes to the battery lasting for a good amount of time. The Fitbit Versa 4 is a good option to consider if you want premium features balanced with favorable battery life. Garmin makes fabulous smartwatches as well, like the Garmin vivoactive 4, and most of the brand’s smartwatches have batteries that last up to a week. Keep in mind that with the best running watches, from Garmin or other brands, using the built-in GPS can be a battery drain. But you still come out ahead.

From a budget standpoint, you can’t go wrong with a brand like Amazfit, and the Amazfit Band 7 is a solid option for casual athletes and average users that you’ll love wearing. It employs more of a band design but still offers tons of smartwatch features. If you prefer the traditionally larger smartwatch screen instead, you can consider the Amazfit GTS Mini, which has the larger design and is still affordable, though it isn’t as feature-rich as some of the other smartwatches on this list.

All the best Android smartwatches boast at least decent, at most amazing, battery life. You’ll find that charging becomes part of your routine, whether it needs to be done daily, weekly, or less often. But the less you need to charge, of course, the better.

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