Smartwatch Vs. Smart Band: What’s The Difference?

Given the number of wearables on the market, it’s hard to keep up with all of the different varieties. Smartwatches are the first thing that comes to mind when many of us think of wearables. After all, from ads for the latest Apple Watch to the person next to us in the gym checking notifications on their wrist during a workout, we see them everywhere. They’re so common it’s easy to forget there are wearable smart devices that aren’t watches. That’s where smart bands come in, representing an alternative to smartwatches while maintaining many of the same capabilities as their more feature-rich, attention-grabbing counterparts.

Advertisement

If you’re deciding between a smartwatch and a smart band, at first glance, they probably look pretty similar and in many ways they are. An easy way to think about the difference between the two is that a smartwatch like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is an extension of your smartphone while a smart band is basically a souped up fitness tracker. When all is said and done, the decision to buy a smartwatch vs. a smart band will have a lot to do with your needs and how you plan to use the device.

When most of us think of the beginning of the smartwatch era, we think of the release of the first Apple Watch back in 2015. The Apple Watch has come a long way since its debut almost a decade ago, with the Apple Watch Series 10 featuring a large, bright OLED screen with a wide-angle design, advanced health monitoring — including sleep apnea detection, ECG readings, and blood oxygen level measurements — support for a wide range of third-party applications, and the ability to make and receive calls and send messages. These are just some of the features that define smartwatches.

Advertisement

When you wear a smartwatch, you can do a lot from your wrist that you can with your phone. From checking emails and social media to GPS navigation and music playback, smartwatches are all-in-one wearable devices. While Apple long dominated the smartwatch space, over the years, Samsung and other manufacturers have made inroads, designing smartwatches with competitive features and Android integration. In our review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, we concluded that Android watches have finally come close to achieving parity with the Apple Watch. For those who want a wearable that allows them to leave their phone behind, smartwatches are the go-to device.

A smart band is a type of fitness tracker that you can use to monitor various health metrics, including how many steps you’ve taken throughout the day, your heart rate, sleep patterns, and exercise. You’ll often hear people use the terms smart band and fitness tracker interchangeably. However, it’s important to note that while all smart bands are fitness trackers, not all fitness trackers are smart bands. For example, a fitness tracker could be a ring or clip-on device. The term smart band specifically refers to fitness trackers with a bracelet-style design.

Advertisement

Smart bands can give you a comprehensive look at your daily health and fitness activities. One example of a smart band that does this is the Xiaomi Smart Band 9, which has over 150 sports modes to track fitness activities, and measures parameters like heart rate, calories burned, blood oxygen levels (SpO₂), and sleep quality. Most smart bands are slim, lightweight, and have a minimalist display (or no display at all), showing you only the information you need to know to monitor your health.

One of the biggest selling points for smart bands is their long battery life, with many able to go a week or more without needing to be charged. While you’ll be able to receive notifications from your phone on some smart bands, most don’t support smartphone-compatible apps and can’t make phone calls. Still, many smart bands come with GPS, compass, and other apps; however, those apps operate independently and won’t sync or interface with similar apps on your phone. 

Advertisement

If you look at a smartwatch and a smart band side by side, you’ll immediately notice the difference in the displays. A smart watch has a lot more screen real estate than a smart band, allowing it to display information including detailed notifications, full-text messages, app interfaces, and widgets. If you’re using a smartwatch like the Pixel Watch 3 to track your workouts, the bigger screen makes it possible to display guided workouts on the watch face, something that’s not possible on smart bands.

Advertisement

While smart bands are increasingly incorporating touchscreens and color displays into their designs, these features have long been standard on smartwatches. Plus, the screens on smartwatches typically offer better resolution and brightness, something smart bands have to sacrifice to maintain their compact profile and low cost. When it comes to style, smartwatches offer a lot more options than smart bands and many are designed to look like regular watches. Many have detachable straps that you can switch out depending on the activity or occasion.

If you need to dress up your look, you can opt for a leather strap, and for workouts you can go with a silicone bracelet. You can also change the watch face on smartwatches, while some smart bands don’t have this option. In contrast, many smart bands have fewer options, and some are even limited to a silicone or rubber strap. Smartwatches tend to be bulkier than smart bands and are sometimes too big for people with small wrists. On the other hand, smart bands are usually much smaller and lighter.

Advertisement

As different as they may appear on the surface, smartwatches and smart bands share a few features. You’ll be able to check the time on both devices, along with tracking your fitness. Both smartwatches and smart bands will measure your steps and the distance you covered throughout the day, your heart rate, and your sleep. You can sync these devices to your phone and monitor the stats they record from a companion app. 

Advertisement

That said, smartwatches come with a long list of features that make them useful for a lot more than just tracking exercise. Most smartwatches support some multimedia features, allowing users to do things like stream music or listen to audiobooks on apps like Spotify. If you need directions while you’re out and about, you can use an app like Google Maps to get turn-by-turn directions on your wrist, no smartphone needed. You can also make contactless payments from your wrist using a smartwatch, while only some smart bands have this functionality. In addition to all of that, smartwatches have advanced health and fitness monitoring.

While smart bands don’t come with all of the bells and whistles you’ll find in a smart watch, they hold their own when it comes to tracking fitness without unnecessary distractions. For digital minimalists who want to look after their health, the unassuming smart band might just be the ideal companion. With a smartband, users can track their everyday activity and exercise, monitor their sleep, and receive basic notifications for calls, messages, and reminders all without being constantly connected. 

Advertisement

When comparing the battery life of smartwatches to smart bands, smart bands come out on top and it’s not even close. Smart bands have one focus: tracking your fitness. While most support limited notifications, it’s not enough to put a serious dent in their battery life. For example, the Fitbit Charge 6 has a battery that lasts up to seven days. Compare that to the Apple Watch SE, whose battery lasts up to 18 hours. (For those who don’t mind foregoing the extra features a smart watch offers, a smart band lets them track their health and fitness for days on end without even thinking about charging the battery.

Advertisement

Because they have fewer features, smart bands are much more affordable than smartwatches. For example, the Fitbit inspire 3 retails for $99.95 on Amazon, making it an option for budget-conscious consumers. By comparison, smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, with a list price of $299.99, have higher price points because of their extensive feature sets, making them a choice for those who want to monitor their health and stay connected on the go.

A few years ago, it was easy to distinguish between a smartwatch and a smart band. Smartwatches came with smartphone-like capabilities, while smart bands were basically fancy pedometers with extra features like heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking. The gap between smartwatches and smart bands has narrowed significantly in the past few years. Look no further than the Amazfit Active 2, which has many of the same features as the Pixel Watch 3 — minus smartphone-compatible apps — but lasts for 10 days on a single charge.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, on the smartwatch side of things, some brands are catching up to smart bands when it comes to battery life. One example is the OnePlus Watch 3, which boasts a five-day battery life, putting it within striking distance of some smart bands. Another example is the Garmin Venu 3, a smartwatch geared toward fitness enthusiasts that gets up to 14 days of battery life. Granted, some might argue the Garmin Venu 3 is more of a hybrid smartwatch because it doesn’t run WearOS or WatchOS, but it shows us just how much the line between smartwatches and smart bands has blurred.