8 Best Affordable Apple Watch Alternatives for iPhone Users

The Apple Watch may come out as the best smartwatch currently in the market, but that doesn’t mean everyone is keen on purchasing one. Some may be looking for an alternative to the Apple Watch that works with their iPhone, provide more values, and of course, offer a better price. These are some of the questions consumers ask themselves when looking at popular Apple Watch competitors.

We actually did most of the heavy work for you. Presented below are some of the best Apple Watch alternatives that provide similar features, cheaper, and compatible with the iPhone.

The latest Apple Watch model (Series 3) have built-in LTE. That means you can leave your iPhone behind and still being able to text and call your contacts. Also, performance has been improved; you can expect the watch to run faster than the older models (Series 1 and 2), a 16 GB storage capacity, water resistant, and many more. I think it’s worth noting since you may need that to compare it to the alternatives below.

Pebble

Pebble offers several smartwatches to choose from. Here are your options:

  • The original Pebble watch
  • Pebble Steel
  • Pebble Time Steel

They have many style options whether you like your watch pure or more decorous.

pebble-watch

The Pebble Steel watch with its premium design has a long lasting battery life. The Pebble apps library is quite extensive. You have the option to change straps. It will notify you of your messages, emails, and other notifications and also give you control of the audio playing on your phone.

The Pebble Time will follow Steel with a new look, new internal features, and a timeline interface. It will also feature voice replies making things that much more flexible. All of these watches have long lasting battery lives of up to a week’s time on account of using e-paper displays instead of screens like that on Apple Watch.

Buy it on Amazon

Microsoft Band

The Microsoft Band is compatible with iPhone. Some offerings include:

  • Calendar alerts
  • Email previews
  • Sleep tracking
  • Heart rate monitoring
  • Workout support
  • Maps using GPS

This is already a lot for a gadget that fits around your wrist.

microsoft-band

This watch is ideal for “fitness cautious” people who want to track their health and exercise. It works with the Microsoft Health App available at the App Store to monitor fitness levels while also providing the basic notification functions for emails, messages, and incoming calls. This is a very affordable alternative to the Apple Watch as it costs only $199.99.

Alcatel OneTouch Watch

alcatel-one-watch

The Alcatel OneTouch Watch has three models and is made of stainless steel. It has an all-white and a red-black model. The straps, however, are not interchangeable, so there is not much room for playing with the style.

Announced at CES 2015 in Las Vegas, it is water and dust resistant making it a reliable choice for a smart watch. There are numerous apps available, and it has a built-in heart rate sensor too.

You can do a lot with this watch: control the camera of your phone, take calls and track your physical activities to keep a check on your health. It will also have a notifications center like that on your iPhone. Priced at $99 will make it one of the cheapest watches to go with your iPhone.

Martian Watches

martian-smart-watch

Martian Watches offer several styles in round or square shapes and many colors. These smart watches deliver notifications about emails, messages and calls directly to your wrist. Some watches even have voice command support so you can just access notifications and perform functions orally.

The two collections include Martian Notifier and Martian Voice Command. The former kind delivers notifications of text messages and email but does not have the option to answer or reject calls. The latter, however, has a lot of functionality including hands-free texting, voice commands, answering or dialing calls and controlling music and camera right from your wrist.

These watches start from as low as $125.

G-Shock Smartwatches

g-shock-smartwatch

These watches work using Bluetooth technology and offer many of the traditional smart watch functions including song recognition as well. It adjusts time itself so you do not have to set your clocks manually right when traveling.

This watch is all about time management: you have five daily alarm and stopwatch function. It comes in seven vivid colors and is resistant to water. Other compelling features include airplane mode, super illuminator, and display flasher.

Check it out on Amazon

Vivoactive by Garmin

This smart watch is compatible with iPhone, and it follows Garmin’s Vivofit sports band. It includes built-in GPS, lifestyle tracking along with standard smart watch notification functions.

garmin-smartwatch

It works with the help of Bluetooth and is a big helper in tracking fitness activities. You can track bicycling, running, swimming even the steps you take every day. Vivoactive has a golf support function as well for lovers of this particular sport. It probably has the best battery life giving up to three weeks when fully charged.

The watch faces can be customized giving you more room to style your wrist to your liking. It retails at $129.99.

I’m Watch

im-watch-gadget

This watch uses Bluetooth to connect with iPhone. It has several styles on offer with seven different colors. There are two collections: jewel collection and tech collection. Its screen is 1.54 inches, and the resolution is 240×240.

The watch can help you check messages, emails, and even social media notifications. You can get new alerts and access your images, music, and contacts from the phone. There is a market store as well for getting apps for this watch. The only thing lacking is that it does not track activities, so it is not a good choice if you want a watch as an aid to your fitness tracking.

Cookoo

cookoo-watch

Cookoo 2 Connected Watch is an affordable alternative to a rather simple offering. It has an analogous face with digital notifications symbol. You will only be notified about the existing of a message. You will not be able to read the message or email or even see the sender’s name. A small digital notification will appear every time you a have a new email, message or even a Facebook or Twitter notification.

Calls, however, are different from text notifications. You will be able to identify the caller by assigning colors to your contact, like red for your friend or blue for your brother. It is water resistant and requires no charging. The two collections are Urban Explorer and Sporty Chic collection. It costs $127.44 only.

With these affordable smart watches, you can avail a lot of the same functionality as that of Apple Watch for less than half the price. You can choose one according to your needs and in the style you prefer.

Final Comparison Table

NamePriceAmazon Rating
Pebble$69.504.1
Microsoft Band$225.753.0
Alcatel OneTouch Watch$99.993.7
Martian Watches$124.91N/A
Martian Watches$124.91N/A
G-Shock Smartwatchess$124.91N/A
Vivoactive by Garmin$149.994.1
I’m Watch$140.003.0
Cookoo$129.123.0

Leave a Comment

  1. Hi. I want to buy AW in order to have my iPhone battery control within the app like this: itunes.apple.com/us/app/watchmybattery/id1024068907 – will other listed smart watch let me do the same?

    Reply
  2. For the last few months I’ve been seriously thinking about getting an Apple Watch. I’ve had a Fitbit for the last couple of years so I’m trying to decide between the two. My biggest con about the apple is that I’ve read that you have to charge it every day. I would love to hear opinions from the people that have the Apple Watch. I’ve read the reviews and everything that I could find online but I want to know what you personally consider the pros/cons of both Series 1/2. TIA

    Reply
  3. I bought the acatel onetouch that you suggested right from the link and, while the watch is nice, the app doesn’t even work with newer ios/phones (ios 11/iphone 7)!! Lost 100 bucks bc of the wrong info.

    Reply
    • Hey there,

      Did you contact the company for help regarding that? If the watch didn’t work as advertised, you can also get a refund from Amazon. Let me know if you need anything else.

      Reply
  4. Great Post! I Really like to wear apple watches. They are really cool and looks very stunning. I Really wish that someday I will also wear an Apple watch. YOur article is very awesome and very helpful. It will really help those who want to buy these apple watches. Thank you so much for sharing. Keep Posting.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Cydia Geeks