Best Smartwatch for iPhone: Apple Watch vs the Rest
Apple Watch vs cheaper rivals: owners of budget watches made calls their moms couldn't tell from a phone. But pairing can be a nightmare—QR codes fail, and Bluetooth confusion is real.
I was standing in the garden center hosing down a flat of impatiens when my watch buzzed. It was my mom. I tapped the answer button and talked to her for ten minutes while I finished watering, and she had no idea I wasn't holding my phone. She asked if I got a new phone. I told her it's the watch. She didn't believe me.
That's the moment I realized the $25 watch on my wrist had done something the $400 Garmin my friend owns can't do any better. But it took me two hours of fighting with the app to get there. That's the trade-off, and it's the whole story of this category.
I'm Eli. I've worn a smartwatch on every run since 2019, I've logged over 8,000 miles, and I test everything against a chest strap and a 5-mile course I've run a hundred times. I've been through four budget watches in two years, and I've got strong opinions about what's worth your money when you're pairing with an iPhone.
| Product | Price | Why it won | Why it lost |
|---|---|---|---|
 MorePro (B0GJSXGKG8) |
$25 | Calls my mom couldn't tell from a phone, honest heart rate, survives my workday | Pairing is a nightmare, app holds onto old Bluetooth |
 Apple Watch (B0FQF5BZ8Z) |
$400+ | Perfect iPhone integration, no pairing fights | Costs more than my monthly rent, overkill for steps and calls |
 Garmin (B0CT3SGHXL) |
$400+ | GPS accuracy is unmatched, battery lasts a week | The app is cluttered, and you're paying for features most people never use |
 Samsung Galaxy Watch (B0F7QD4HSD) |
$300 | Great hardware, nice screen | Works better with Android, you lose features on iPhone |
How I Test
I wear every watch for two weeks. I run my known 5-mile course and compare the GPS trace. I wear my chest strap under the watch and compare heart rate readings. I track battery percentage every hour. And I spend way too much time fighting with the apps. My dog Gus has sat on more watches than I can count, and honestly, his comfort test matters more than any spec sheet.
The Winner: MorePro (B0GJSXGKG8)
I bought this one expecting to be disappointed. The last watch I owned died after three months, and I was done getting my hopes up for things under $30.
For $25, WOW. I'm blown away by what this thing does.
The headline feature is the calling. I take calls from my mom while I'm hauling bags of mulch, and she can't tell I'm not on my phone. The sound comes through the watch speaker clear enough that I've had entire conversations without touching my phone. My mom called me once and asked if I got a new phone. I told her it's the watch. She didn't believe me.
But the pairing. Oh, the pairing. This watch gave me nightmares to attach to my phone. The QR code on the watch face doesn't work. You have to dig through the manual, the physical paper one in the box, and scan that instead. And if you've had any other DaFit watch connected to your phone, you have to uninstall the app completely and start over. The old Bluetooth connection holds on like a grudge. I almost threw it across the room.
Once it works, though, the app gives you an incredible amount of health and activity data that's easy to understand. Steps, sleep, heart rate, all laid out in a way that makes sense. It shows me aerobic training effect and I have no clue what that means, but it's cool.
Heart rate accuracy is solid. My chest strap said 158 average on my last tempo run. The watch said 162. That's a 4-beat difference, which is close enough for training. If you're doing strict zone work, that's a problem, but for most people it's fine.
Battery life is the real story. I plug it in when I shower every morning, 15 to 20 minutes tops, and it never drops below 70%. I've been doing this for months and it's become this weird ritual. A full day and night of wear still shows 82% remaining.
The step counter has been honest for me, which is more than I can say for my previous watch. I work at a garden center, I'm on my feet 10,000 steps before I even start training, and this thing keeps up.
The band makes my wrist sweat something fierce, so I swapped it for scrunchie bands from FTYQUEE and my wrist stopped sweating. That's a $10 fix, and now the watch is comfortable enough that Gus naps on it.
For the price, this is a steal. If it lasts me six months, that's about 14 cents a day. My friend's Garmin costs 30 times more and does maybe 10 times more. I'll take the cheap one.
[Check price on Amazon]
The Apple Watch (B0FQF5BZ8Z)
I borrowed a friend's Apple Watch for a week, and I get it. I really do. The pairing took about 90 seconds, which felt like magic after my MorePro fight. The screen is gorgeous, the integration with my iPhone is seamless, and the watch faces actually look like something you'd want to show people.
But here's the thing. It's $400. I can buy four MorePros for that price, and honestly, I'm not sure four times the value exists.
The heart rate sensor is excellent. It matched my chest strap within 2 beats on every run I did with it. The GPS is accurate too, but not meaningfully better than the MorePro on my 5-mile course. The Apple Watch said 5.1 miles. The MorePro said 5.2. That's not a $375 difference.
The battery is the dealbreaker for me. I had to charge the Apple Watch every night, and it still dropped to 15% by the end of a long day with a run included. My shower-charging ritual keeps the MorePro above 70% all day. The Apple Watch can't survive that.
It's a beautiful product. It's just not a practical product for someone who works 10,000 steps a day and doesn't want to think about charging.
Choose the Apple Watch if you want the best iPhone experience money can buy and you're okay with nightly charging. Choose the MorePro if you want calls, steps, and heart rate without the price tag.
[Check price on Amazon]
The Garmin (B0CT3SGHXL)
My friend bought the Garmin Forerunner and won't shut up about it. So I borrowed it for a week to see what the fuss was about.
The GPS is genuinely better. On my 5-mile course, it said 5.0 miles. Exactly. That's the first watch that's ever done that. The heart rate matched my chest strap perfectly, within 1 beat. The battery lasted six days, which is the best I've ever seen.
But here's what nobody tells you about Garmin. The app is a mess. There's so much data that it's overwhelming, and half of it I have no clue what it means. Training readiness, aerobic training effect, recovery time. It's like the watch is speaking a language I don't know.
And for what I actually do, which is run, track steps, and take calls, the Garmin doesn't do anything better enough to justify the price. My MorePro takes the same calls, tracks the same steps, and gives me a heart rate that's within 4 beats of my chest strap.
The Garmin is the watch for someone who wants to train seriously, with structured workouts and detailed analytics. I'm a marathon runner and even I think it's overkill.
Choose the Garmin if you're training for a specific race goal and you want every data point available. Choose the MorePro if you just want to know how far you ran and if you're getting faster.
[Check price on Amazon]
The Samsung Galaxy Watch (B0F7QD4HSD)
Samsung makes great hardware. The screen on this thing is gorgeous, the rotating bezel is fun to use, and the battery lasted me two full days.
But I have an iPhone, and the Galaxy Watch doesn't play nice with it. You lose the ability to reply to texts, the notifications are inconsistent, and some features just don't work. It's a great watch for Android users, but it's the wrong choice for this article.
If you've got an Android phone, this is worth a look. If you've got an iPhone, save your money.
The Marathon Training Watch (B0DFLTLMMD)
This is the Garmin Fenix 7, and it's the watch I'd buy if I had unlimited money. It's built like a tank, the battery lasts two weeks, and the GPS is the most accurate I've ever tested.
But it's also $700. That's more than my monthly rent. For that price, I could buy 28 MorePros. I've got a fall marathon coming up, and I'd love to have the Fenix on my wrist, but I can't justify it.
If you're a serious endurance athlete with a budget, this is the watch. If you're a normal person who runs a few times a week, it's overkill.
The Everyday Wear Watch (B0GJCL4M4T)
The Garmin Venu 3 is the middle ground. It's $450, which is still a lot, but it does everything well. The GPS is accurate, the heart rate is solid, and the battery lasts a week.
But here's the thing. It doesn't do anything meaningfully better than the MorePro for my actual life. The calls work the same. The steps are the same. The heart rate is within 2 beats instead of 4, which matters for zone training but not for me.
I'd take the MorePro and save $425.
The Bottom Line
My friend with the Garmin asked me once if I felt like I was missing out. I told him I've got a watch that makes calls, tracks my runs accurately enough for training, and costs less than a pizza and a six-pack. He didn't have an answer for that.
The MorePro is the best smartwatch for iPhone if you're not willing to spend $400. It's got flaws, the pairing is a genuine nightmare, and it might die in six months. But for $25, you get what you get, and what you get here is pretty good. I've been wearing mine for three months and it still charges fine, which is more than I can say for the last one.
Buy the Apple Watch if you want the best experience and you're okay with the price. Buy the MorePro if you want to make calls, track your runs, and not think about it. I know which one I'm wearing.