DOCS
                     A guide to help you figure 
out if a smartwatch can fit 
into your life
September 21, 2022 by Amina Binte Kuddus
Garmin, Apple, Fitbit and Samsung smartwatches. (Garmin; Apple; 
Fitbit; Samsung), From staying in touch to sleep tracking, how to get 
the most out of your smartwatch. How do I find out what kind of 
smartwatch I have? A guide to help you figure out if a smartwatch can 
fit into your life. Whether you ever thought about it or not, some of the 
biggest tech companies in the world are duking it out for a spot on 
your wrist. But should you actually offer it to Apple, Google or 
Samsung?
Table of Contents
Technology coverage that 
makes tech work for you how 
do I find out what kind of 
smartwatch I have
The answer to that will be shaped by your life, your priorities and the 
relationship you want with the companies that make these things. For 
now, though, let’s start with the most basic truth about smartwatches: 
not everyone needs one. For the most part, they make some things 
you’d normally whip out your phone for — like checking your 
messages, controlling your music and taking quick calls — more 
convenient.
But there’s plenty of depth available if you need more than just the 
basics. Over the years, smartwatches have become sophisticated tools
for exercise and health tracking, and they can run versions of many of 
your favorite apps to glance at on the go.
I wear a smartwatch every day because I like being able to glance at 
my (many) incoming Slack messages, though I could pretty easily live 
without it.
Whether a smartwatch actually makes sense for you really depends on
what you care about as a person. And if you already have a 
smartwatch, how do you make the most of it? To that end, we’ve put 
together a guide to help you figure out if one of these wrist-worn 
gadgets could fit into your life, sorted by personal priority.
Expect to see lots of notifications on a smartwatch, but we can help 
you manage them. (Chris Velazco/The Washington Post)
Before anything else
If you don’t already have a smartwatch, there are a few things you’ll 
have to keep in mind. First up: compatibility.
iPhone owners can use the Apple Watch, along with smartwatches like 
the Fitbit Sense and Garmin’s Forerunner models but are not 
compatible with watches that use Google’s latest version of the Wear 
OS software. The reverse is also true, so Samsung and other Android 
phones aren’t compatible with the Apple Watch. (Fitbits and Garmin’s 
are a-okay, though.)
The other thing to think about is privacy — after all, these wearables 
live on your body and, among other things, track your personal health 
information. One of the best resources we’ve seen for figuring out how 
potentially problematic wearables can be is Mozilla’s Privacy Not 
Included guide, but if you’re really concerned about your privacy, the 
best bet might be to not wear a smartwatch at all.
Help Desk: Ask our tech team
Keeping up to date how do I find out what kind of smartwatch I have.
Just beware looking at your watch to check your new messages while 
talking to someone can look ruder than glancing at your phone.
That said, Apple Watch and wearables that use Google’s Wear OS 
software are more sophisticated with how they manage notifications 
compared to, say, a basic Fitbit. Let’s say you’re a news junkie: if you 
have The Washington Post app installed on your smartwatch, you can 
configure your watch to display news alerts you’d normally see on your
phone. That same can be said for just about any app you use that 
creates notifications on your phone but be aware: that can lead to an 
avalanche of notifications on your wrist. Here’s how you can make sure
you only get the ones you want:
For Apple Watches
Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone
Tap the “Notifications” button
Toggle notifications on or off for the apps listed under “Mirror iPhone 
alerts from”
For Google Wear OS watches
Open the Wear OS app on your Android phone
Scroll to the “Settings” section and tap “Notifications” then “change 
watch notifications”
Tap an app to allow or disable notifications
Some smartwatches, like this Garmin Forerunner, have specialized 
tools for runners and triathletes. (Chris Velazco/The Washington Post)
Tracking your workouts
This is another thing that nearly all smartwatches can do to some 
extent, but exactly how they track your exercise depends on what kind
of software your watch has.
Apple Watches are well-known for their three rings, a quick visual 
indicator that lets you know how close you are to meeting your daily 
step, exercise and stand goals. But there’s a lot more to the exercise 
experience than just that: using the built-in Fitness app, you can tell 
the watch to track different kinds of workouts, from long walks to 
weight training to Tai Chi. No matter what type of exercise you’re 
doing, the Apple Watch will show you your current workout duration, 
heart rate and calories burned.
Apple announces new Series 7 Watch and 
additional Fitness+ classes
15:57
On Sept. 14, Apple showed off a new smartwatch with a tougher, larger
screen and new software for typing messages. (Video: The Washington
Post, Photo: Apple/The Washington Post)
Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, which only work with Android phones, 
offer many of the same workout tracking features. But there’s a twist. 
Let’s say you’re in the gym lifting weights: unlike the Apple Watch, 
which only gives you the basic stats I mentioned earlier, Samsung’s 
watches also offer guidance on the correct form for exercises like bicep
curls, as well as count your reps for you.
But there’s another question at play here: if tracking exercise is your 
main concern, do you really even need a smartwatch? That’s 
debatable. You can find a slew of wearables for $100 or less designed 
solely to count your steps, monitor your heart rate and even compete 
with your friends — Fitbit’s new Charge 5 quickly springs to mind.
At the end of it, it all boils down to the level of sophistication you’re 
after. If your big priority is just being generally more active, you could 
easily get away with a cheap Fitbit. But for deeper insight into your 
workouts, a smartwatch is a better bet. And if you’re a really serious 
athlete — say, an avid runner or triathlete — you might want to 
consider a more specialized smartwatch like one of Garmin’s 
Forerunners.
Heart rate tracking on the Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch. (Chris 
Velazco/The Washington Post)
Monitoring your health
Many companies have crammed a bevy of sophisticated sensors and 
features into smartwatches so they can help you keep tabs on your 
well-being. Here are a few you might find in your next (or first) 
smartwatch:
Optical heart sensor: These basically use light to measure your blood 
flow and are used to help show you how fast your heart is beating. 
(Available in all versions of the Apple Watch, all versions of Samsung’s 
Galaxy Watch, all of Garmin’s Forerunner smartwatches, and Fitbit’s 
Versa 2, Versa 3 and Sense watches.)
Electric heart sensor: Instead of just tracking your heart rate, these are
used to take electrocardiograms and can help flag irregularities in your
heartbeat. (Available in Apple Watch Series 4-7, Samsung’s Galaxy 
Watch Active 2, Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch 4, and the Fitbit 
Sense.)
SpO2 tracking: This feature often relies on a smartwatch’s optical heart
sensor to figure out how much oxygen is in your blood. In general, 
healthy people have oxygen saturation levels between 90 and 100 
percent. If your readings are consistently lower than that, consider 
seeing a doctor. (Available in Apple Watch Series 6 and 7, Samsung 
Galaxy Watch 3 and 4, and the Fitbit Sense.)
Fall detection: Nearly all smartwatches use sensors called 
accelerometers inside to measure movement, but only a few uses 
those sensors to tell when you’ve taken a hard fall. If a watch with this 
feature senses one, it will give you options to contact emergency 
service or loved ones. That said, this feature can be very hard to 
trigger — even when you’re specifically trying to set it off. (Available in
Apple Watch Series 4 and newer, and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Active 
2, Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch 4.)
When it comes to your health though, just be sure to keep one thing in 
mind. Smartwatches, even really sophisticated ones, don’t always have
approval from the Food and Drug Administration for some of the health
features they offer. That’s often thanks to a well-known loophole: If a 
smartwatch maker markets something as a “wellness” feature instead 
of a tool for medical diagnosis, it doesn’t need the FDA to sign off on it.
Blood oxygen tracking is a good example of a feature that generally 
doesn’t have to be cleared, but all watches with electrocardiogram 
features in the United States have been evaluated by the FDA.
You can use some smartwatches to track sleep, but don’t forget to 
charge them before bed. (Chris Velazco/The Washington Post)
Get a better night’s sleep
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 
70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep problems. If you’re one 
of them, a smartwatch might be able to help you understand why. 
Many popular options offer sleep tracking features that keep an eye on
troublesome sleep behaviors you might not be aware of.
The Apple Watch Series 3 and newer can, for example, detect how long
you were asleep and track your breathing throughout the night. And 
that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Most of Garmin’s Forerunner smartwatches monitor your blood oxygen 
levels while sleeping, and your respiration, too. It’ll even attempt to 
measure how much time you spent in different sleep phases — light, 
deep or REM (rapid eye movement) — in order to give you a sleep 
“score” in the morning, plus some advice on.