OnePlus Watch 3 review: Good becomes great

The leap to the OnePlus Watch 3 from the previous model isn't as big as the one that OnePlus made going from version 1 to version 2 of its smartwatch.

But while it's not a once in a generation quality increase, the Watch 3 is still meaningfully improved in ways that match or beat its main rivals: the Google Pixel Watch 3, Galaxy Watch 7 or even the Apple Watch 10.

It's a strong contender as one of the best smartwatches for Android, with only a few small bonuses for using a OnePlus phone specifically, the OnePlus Watch 3 is a premium looking, feeling and performing smartwatch, and offers extremely good battery life thanks to its dual-chip design.

My biggest complaint would be the fact there are no size or cellular options, as well as some features missing that its rivals do happen to have. But as the rest of this OnePlus Watch 3 review will explain, there's a whole lot to appreciate, and it definitely deserves a spot on our best smartwatches guide.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: specs

OnePlus Watch 3 review: price and availability

Pre-orders for the OnePlus Watch began on February 18th, 2025 with the watch available from stores and online retailers from February 25th. It'll cost you $329/£319, with additional watch straps going for $29.99/£34.99, and spare charging bases for $29.99/£29.99.

The base price is the same as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, and a little less than the Google Pixel Watch 3. Both of these watches only work at their best when paired with a phone of the same brand, but OnePlus is less fussed about which Android phone you're using, as we'll see below.

There's only one available model of the OnePlus Watch 3, with no other size options or a cellular-compatible version to choose. That's a pity if you prefer your smartwatch on the small side, or like the flexibility that a mobile data connection on your wrist provides.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: design

The overall look of the OnePlus Watch 3 hasn't really changed from the OnePlus Watch 2, but the new small details are still important.

While the main body of the watch is still made of polished stainless steel, the bezel is now made of titanium for a tough, but light, premium finish. Sapphire crystal glass again protects the watch face itself, and there's more stainless steel on the strap hardware, while the strap itself is once again made of fluoro rubber.

I personally find fluoro straps to be the devil's own wristwear, as it makes my skin sweaty and irritated even just wearing one casually, let alone during a workout. But as these straps go, the OnePlus Watch 3's example is absolutely fine, with a soft texture, an ergonomically curved portion connecting to the watch and a striped texture on the outside for visual interest.

The crown and shortcut button pairing returns from the last OnePlus smartwatch, but the crown is now taller and slightly tapered towards the end to make it easier to handle. And you'll actually want to handle it because, unlike the OnePlus Watch 2, the Watch 3's crown rotation is functional, allowing you to scroll up and down screens instead of swiping, rather than just being a button that happens to spin.

The 1.5-inch display is an AMOLED affair, using the same exact material used for the OnePlus 13 flagship phone. It's got slimmer bezels than the last OnePlus Watch for additional screen area, and a higher rated 2,200 nits peak brightness.

OnePlus offers the same durability assurances for the OnePlus Watch 3 that it did for the OnePlus Watch 2: an IP68 water/dust resistance rating, a resistance to up to 5ATM of pressure, and compliance with the military-grade MIL-STD-810H standard for defence against everything from extreme temperature, humidity and pressure, as well as hard impacts.

It's up to you whether you get the OnePlus Watch 3 in Obsidian Titanium, which has an all-black design, or Emerald Titanium, which pairs a green strap with a silver case. This is a smaller selection than other smartwatches, but at least the black one should pair well with any outfit or phone you like.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: health features

You get the typical health tracking features on the OnePlus Watch 3 like your heart rate, blood oxygen level and wrist temperature. But OnePlus is taking the basic brief of a smartwatch and taking it in interesting directions compared to its rivals.

Cardiovascular health is a big focus, including the introduction of ECG monitoring (a feature that's only coming to the U.K. in Q3 of 2025, so I wasn't able to test it), and the ability to measure arterial stiffness, a key indicator for blood pressure and general heart health, via the Vascular Health app.

For a more holistic view of your health, you can use the 60-second check-in feature that looks at your current heart metrics along with mental, sleep and temperature to give an overall impression of how you're doing.

It just requires you to keep your watch arm level, and a finger on the action button/sensor for about a minute, then offers a detailed report on the watch or in the Ohealth companion app.

There's also sleep monitoring, which similarly to other smartwatches, offers a sleep quality score based on duration, breathing, movement, snoring and heart rate variability.

This monitoring can alert you to breathing issues while sleeping and track trends over a whole 30-day period, but fortunately/unfortunately I didn't test the watch for long enough to see these.

OnePlus has also overhauled its wellbeing and stress tracking with the new Wellness app. It now characterizes your stress level with an emoji, both within the app and in a home screen widget to more clearly indicate if it's a good time to take a break with one of the built-in breathing exercises.

OHealth is back as the companion app for the OnePlus Watch if you want to keep your health data for more than seven days and read the full details. As well as breakdowns for each of your measurements, there's a Health Journey screen which shows your day's health milestones, like reaching a percentage of your step or activity goal, completed a workout or when you took a measurement like the 60-second check-in.

All of the OnePlus Watch 3's measurements come with the promise of enhanced accuracy compared to the Watch 2 by using a new rear crystal material, a new sensor layout and strap design and smarter algorithms too, similarly to how Samsung reengineered the BioActive sensor for the Galaxy Watch 7.

You can put this all to proper use with the 100-plus supported workout types, with 11 of them offering Pro modes that provide even more data, such as for running, tennis, swimming or climbing.

I don't mean to be ungrateful for all the health stuff OnePlus has managed to fit into the Watch 3, but it is a shame that it doesn't offer detection for things like sleep apnea, something both Apple and Samsung's latest smartwatches are capable of. Crash and fall detection would be nice peace-of-mind features to offer too, something that my own Apple Watch 10 can do when needed.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: Smartwatch features

Outside of health, OnePlus has a few more general software updates to show off with the Watch 3.

Using the latest Wear OS 5 software, the Watch 3 has gained features built into the Google-made wearable system like switching your watch between phones without resetting, and improved synchronisation with your smartphone's Google apps like Gmail, Google Maps or Google Wallet.

You can now also set up video watch faces for the OnePlus Watch 3. This isn't new or unique, but it's a nice bit of extra customizability.

One other part of OnePlus' enhanced sensor array is better GPS antennas. These have specifically been tuned to help with accuracy when running along streets with tall, glass-clad buildings — usually a nightmare for GPS tracking.

One last feature to mention, and the only one reserved for OnePlus/Oppo phones, is the option to use the Watch 3 as a camera control for YouTube and TikTok.

Every other feature we've discussed will work with any Android phone running Android 9 or later, so if you can manage controlling your social video app recordings manually, you won't be missing out on anything by picking up this watch instead of one made by Samsung, Google or another Android phone-building brand.

Even if OnePlus does, of course, say the best possible experience is using the OnePlus Watch 3 and OnePlus phone together.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: battery life and charging

OnePlus uses two chips to drive its Watch 3: a Snapdragon W5 for standard performance, and a BES2800 for background functions or power-saving mode. The OnePlus Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3 use this type of arrangement too, and it does wonders for maximising the watch's potential while ensuring it lasts a good amount of time between charges.

The battery inside the OnePlus Watch 3 uses silicon-carbon chemistry, another feature borrowed from the OnePlus 13, in order to stuff more capacity into the same space. And the extra capacity is noticeable, with the official numbers saying that the OnePlus Watch 3 can last for up to 5 days in its standard "smart" power mode, almost a full day longer than the rated battery life for the OnePlus Watch 2. That goes up to 16 days for power saver mode.

For my own testing, which involved wearing the Watch 3 almost 24 hours a day (only taking it off for showers), including every night for sleep and a few walking workouts, the battery lasted me four days and 6 hours. And that was with me making sure the watch was always in smart mode, even after the watch automatically switched at 10% battery.

Bear in mind though that all of these numbers are based on keeping the always-on display (AOD) that displays the basic watchface at all times — disabled by default — switched off. Enabling the AOD cuts the battery life to closer to two days, in line with other Wear OS smartwatches but nowhere near the impressive headline numbers.

Using the included charging base, the OnePlus Watch 3 takes about 80 minutes, getting to about 12% full in ten minutes (just about enough for a day's use if you're careful) or 38% after half an hour (which should comfortably last two or more days).

The charger uses a line of springy pogo pins to fill up the OnePlus Watch 3, meaning you can only put the watch one way on the base. But that perhaps doesn't matter, since the charging base doesn't have an attached cable, unlike a lot of other smartwatches, which means you can easily plug it into any free USB-C cable you have, giving you a lot of flexibility.

Should you buy the OnePlus Watch 3?

If you want a smartwatch to pair with your Android phone, one with a bold and stylish look, plenty of health tracking features and stunning battery life, all for an attractive price, the OnePlus Watch 3 provides a great option.

Even for phone brands who also make smartwatches, OnePlus' wearable could still pull you in with that lower than average price and the freedom to charge it only once or twice a week. That said, you will have to accept the specs of the single variant of the OnePlus Watch 3, rather than pick a size or connectivity type as you can with other smartwatches.

Also, while there are plenty of ways to track your health with the Watch 3, it would have been nice for OnePlus to round off the features with a few more that other brands offer for safety and sleep; it'll never take stand head-to-head with the best Garmin watches when it comes to fitness tracking.

But in terms of what you do get, and what you don't get, it's hard to find fault with the OnePlus Watch 3.