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The best Android smartwatches are seamless, dynamic extensions of your Android phone. At the very least, they should send notifications from your phone, be easy to navigate, and offer various health and fitness tracking tools. Exceptional Android smartwatches do all three to the highest degree compared to the competition.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is our top pick among the best Android smartwatches. Though it's a previous generation model that works best with a Samsung phone, this rugged wearable still offers the finest combined Android smartwatch and fitness tracker experience with a range of trackable activities, an intuitive interface, and multi-day battery life. For a budget pick, we like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which has similar features to the Watch 5 Pro at a more affordable price. 

Our top picks for the best Android smartwatches

Best overall: Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro – See at Amazon

Best Fitbit: Fitbit Sense 2 – See at Amazon

Best for Pixel users: Google Pixel Watch 2 – See at Amazon

Best with bezel: Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic – See at Amazon

Best budget: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 – See at Amazon

Best battery life: Fitbit Inspire 3 – See at Amazon

Best for runners: Garmin Forerunner 745 – See at Amazon

Best overall

With a price drop, the previous-generation Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is still the best Android smartwatch, even when the Galaxy Watch 6 is available. With multi-day battery life, accurate activity tracking, and distinctive insights such as body composition data and sleep analysis, it's the perfect combination of a smartwatch and a health and fitness tracker for the Android user — more so than the Galaxy Watch 6 series.

Design-wise, the Watch 5 Pro's titanium frame discerns itself from the aluminum Galaxy Watch 6. It has a round watch face and a 1.36-inch touchscreen display that offers tons of viewable data. With the right watch face, you could have everything from the week's upcoming weather forecast and the sunrise/sunset schedule to your daily steps, burned calories, and workout shortcuts displayed.

As a smartwatch, the Watch 5 Pro is excellent. It uses Google's Wear OS operating system with Samsung's own flair, which functions seamlessly and offers access to a comprehensive list of apps. It gets app notifications, text alerts, emails, and phone calls and is easy to navigate. 

Fitness-focused folks will appreciate the variety of activities it tracks, including common things like running and cycling, as well as advanced sports like snowboarding, hiking, or trail running. It even has a useful track-back option that works like a digital breadcrumb, showing your exact route through a forested area. However, this only works with hiking and cycling, which is disappointing as it'd be great for runners, too. 

One of the Watch 5 Pro's best features is its health tracking. It has everything from in-depth sleep tracking, which monitors sleep patterns and habits, to a body composition app that charts body fat percentage and muscle mass. 

There is one minor caveat: some features, like the ECG app that tracks heart rhythms, are only compatible with Samsung phones, diminishing the watch's overall experience on other Android phones like the Google Pixel 8. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's worth considering if you don't own a Samsung phone. 

Despite those issues, Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the best Android smartwatch for almost anyone. It excels as a smartwatch, has robust fitness-tracking capability, and offers unique health insights. This model is as good as it gets on Android.  

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro review.

Best Fitbit

Fitbit's Sense 2 is everything you want in a dependable fitness tracker. It's compatible with several trackable activities, provides unique insights into your fitness habits, monitors your sleep, stress, and menstrual cycles, and has a built-in GPS. It even has a battery that lasts upward of five to six days.

We found it to be one of the most accurate fitness trackers we've worn, and it quickly syncs its GPS — the watch found a GPS signal within seconds, and we were ready to start tracking our activity. It also has an interface that's easy to navigate, which is especially helpful for first-time Fitbit wearers or those new to fitness trackers.

The Sense 2 has several helpful health and wellness tools, too. These include a skin temperature sensor, heart rhythm (ECG) readings, and Fitbit's new real-time stress tracker. Stress tracking was especially interesting during our tests as we liked how well it charted our stress levels while offering useful feedback on ways to lower them. 

The Sense 2 doesn't overly impress as a smartwatch in its price range. It's technically one of Fitbit's "smartwatches," but it doesn't exactly live up to that billing. For instance, there's no third-party app support available, which is a frustrating decision by Fitbit. 

And bafflingly, it doesn't support Google Assistant like the original Sense did, which is confounding since Google is the parent company. Oddly, the Sense 2 supports Amazon's Alexa instead. 

Still, overall, the Sense 2 is an adequate smartwatch that still gets notifications like calls, texts, and emails, but its strengths lie in its health and fitness tracking. For those looking for a fitness-first smartwatch, the Sense 2 is the Android smartwatch to buy (and one of the best Fitbits overall).  

Read our full Fitbit Sense 2 review.

Best for Pixel users

Google addressed several of the original Pixel Watch's shortcomings with the Pixel Watch 2, and it's easily the best smartwatch for Pixel users. The Pixel Watch 2 not only excels in being a smartwatch, but Google's improvements make its current smartwatch a suitable option for fitness tracking and health monitoring, unlike the original. 

The Google Wear OS operating system delivers a seamless experience between the apps you can access, any notifications you might receive, and smart features like Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Wallet. These features allow it to satisfy the one major requirement of a smartwatch: to be an effective extension of your smartphone. Plus, it's compatible with a variety of the best Google Pixel Watch 2 bands to fit anyone's style.

The Pixel Watch 2's GPS is accurate for fitness tracking, and you get a solid range of health and fitness features, like sleep tracking, all-day heart-rate monitoring, stress monitoring, and ECG readings. New skin temperature sensors and an updated heart rate sensor contribute to unique sleep quality insights. 

Unlike the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro or other Samsung smartwatches, the Pixel Watch 2 makes its features available to all, no matter which Android phone you use. However, some features, like advanced sleep data, advanced stress management tools, and Fitbit's unique Daily Readiness feature, are behind Fitbit's Premium $10/month subscription service. When you buy the Pixel Watch 2, you can try Fitbit Premium for a six-month free trial to decide whether it's worth keeping.

Read our full Google Pixel Watch 2 review.

Best with bezel

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 6 Classic retains the high bar set by previous generations, even if it doesn't push the line forward in any major way. But despite its minimal new additions, the Watch 6 Classic still delivers a high premium experience, making it not just one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy but one of the best smartwatches.

The most notable update on the Watch 6 Classic is the return of the rotating bezel, a feature last seen on the Watch 4 series. Instead of relying on the watch's touchscreen to scroll through the interface, the rotating bezel allows easy navigation. I found it especially useful while working out where spinning the dial was more manageable and quicker than trying to swipe the screen.

The Watch 6 Classic also has impressive battery life — depending on how often I used the built-in GPS for workouts, I consistently got almost two days-worth. I always got a full day and night of battery, though sometimes I needed to recharge the watch the following afternoon. This lifespan is a welcome upgrade over the Watch 5, though it is still a bit shorter than the multi-day battery life of the Watch 5 Pro.

Beyond those upgrades, the Watch 6 Classic resembles the previous Watch 5 generation. It has a large catalog of health and wellness features, including sleep tracking, a body composition analyzer, and stress level monitoring.

The two health features I used most were the body composition analyzer and the stress tracker. With the body composition analyzer, the watch provided real-time readings of my body fat percentage, BMI, and muscle mass, which I used to chart my overall fitness progress. The Watch 5 Pro also offered this, so I had a baseline of knowledge (and existing data) to compare to, and it functioned the same.

I found the stress tracker to be a helpful feature, too, mainly because it's interesting to see when the watch would say I had higher stress levels and when I didn't. The feature positively impacted my day-to-day life as I would implement some of the recommendations for lowering my stress and found them effective.

The Watch 6 Classic does severely lack as a fitness tracker, though, and its inaccurate GPS makes it difficult to recommend for those actively wishing to track fitness. Not only would it take upwards of a minute to sync a GPS connection, but its distance and pace tracking were off by significant margins. Those looking for a quality fitness tracker experience should instead opt for the Watch 5 Pro, which is a key reason it's still the top pick for Android users overall.

Design-wise, the Watch 6 Classic is a stylish smartwatch that I thoroughly enjoyed wearing. Its big 47mm watch face might be too large for folks with smaller wrists, but I liked how much data I could display on it. Its bright watch face makes it easy to quickly reference the screen or tell the time. A smaller 43mm model is also available. 

Overall, the Watch 6 Classic looks, feels, and functions like a premium wearable, and while it may not satisfy those looking for a reliable fitness tracker, it's an excellent smartwatch.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic review.

Best budget

When we first tested the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, we recognized it as the closest thing to an Apple Watch for Android users. Two years later, that sentiment goes to the next-generation Watch 5 Pro, but the Watch 4 is still an impressive wearable — only now, it costs far less than when it was released. 

The release of the Galaxy Watch 4 was Samsung's first go with utilizing Google's Wear OS as the watch's operating system instead of Samsung's own Tizen OS. The switch paid off in spades as Wear OS pairs perfectly with the Watch 4. Navigation is fluid, notifications can be fully customized, and there's a wide selection of downloadable apps (thanks to Google Play Store access). 

Other highlights of the watch include its extensive health and fitness capability. It tracks activities like running, cycling, and hiking, and we found the syncing and tracking capability to be on par with some of the best fitness trackers. 

We especially like its in-depth sleep tracking, which monitors sleep patterns and can help turn bad habits into good ones. Its body measurement features are also unique as it analyzes your body weight, muscle mass, and water weight to give you an idea of your overall body composition. 

This combination of factors equates to the Watch 4 being one of the best Android smartwatches. Of course, there are still a few drawbacks, most notable of which is its watered-down experience on anything other than a Samsung phone, as some features, like the ECG app, aren't available on other Android phones. We don't see this as a total dealbreaker, but users of other phones, like the Google Pixel, should consider this before purchasing. 

Often available for under $200, the Watch 4 isn't just at its lowest price since its release, but it's also the cheapest smartwatch of this quality we've seen. You rarely find a premium, full-featured wearable in this price range. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 review.

Best battery life

Fitbit's Inspire 3 is one of the brand's most basic and affordable wearables, but it's still an impressive activity tracker for Android users. It's also the best Fitbit (and Android smartwatch) for battery life, with up to 10 days of battery life. For $100, it's a hell of a bargain. It offers a range of health and fitness tracking insights, a no-frills interface, and advanced features like skin temperature sensing and in-depth sleep tracking. 

But what makes the Inspire 3 such a great tracker is how anyone, from beginners to expert users, will be satisfied using it. Navigating the watch is intuitive enough for first-time wearers, while the wide variety of trackable activities and useful health metrics give it appeal to those familiar with fitness trackers. It's also compatible with a range of the best Fitbit Inspire 3 bands, so users have even more ways to customize their wearable.

The watch does have a few drawbacks, though. It lacks built-in GPS and the ability to download additional apps. Although the lack of apps isn't a huge downside, not having GPS is, especially for hardcore athletes who want exact timing and activity tracking. Our tests found that the tracking worked well when you sync GPS via a companion phone, but that means you have to tote your phone along.

Those cons aside, the Inspire 3 is still a powerful activity tracker in a small, budget-friendly form factor. For Android users looking for something basic, trying out a fitness tracker for the first time, or seeking something straightforward and easy to use, the Inspire 3 is easily one of the best Android smartwatches on the market. 

Read our full Fitbit Inspire 3 review.

Best for runners

The Garmin Forerunner 745 isn't just the best running watch for Android users; it's also one of the best running watches, period. It's that good. Garmin has made its name on manufacturing powerful sports wearables, and the 745 is the latest in a long line of triumphs from the brand. 

What makes the 745 so good is its accurate tracking capabilities and easy-to-navigate interface. It also stands out from the competition with its unique approach to workout recommendations and focus on rest and recovery, two vital aspects of an effective workout routine. 

For the workout recommendations, the watch requires a 10-day monitoring period to assess your day-to-day activity and performance. Once those 10 days are up, it adapts its recommendations to your specific activity needs. One day, it might have you pump up the mileage and go for a several-mile long run, while another may see that you need more rest and dial the day's workout down to a recovery jog. 

Whatever it recommends, it does so in lockstep with its rest and recovery insights. In other words, the watch isn't just going to run you into the ground but rather, it takes a thoughtful approach to giving your body the time to properly recover between strenuous workouts. 

The 745 feels like having a personal trainer on your wrist with all these active features. Of course, you don't have to do the daily workouts, but they do prove worthwhile for anyone stumped about what to do on a certain day or those who want to take the guesswork out of how to train for a race or event. 

Other highlights of the 745 include a comfortable, lightweight design that won't weigh heavy on your wrist, even during long runs, and a large, colorful display. The big display does tend to look rather large on folks with smaller wrists, but it's especially useful in the middle of a run to easily see your training stats without having to squint or stop running. 

Then there's the battery life, which Garmin claims lasts up to six days on a single charge. We found this to be mostly true during our tests, as it would last a little longer and a little shorter than that estimation, depending on how heavily we used it daily. 

Read our full Garmin Forerunner 745 review.

How we test Android smartwatches

To compile this guide, we compared the best Android smartwatches across various categories, including fit & comfort, features, battery life, ease of use, accuracy, and compatibility. Here's how each category factored into which watches made the guide:

Fit & comfort: This was a straightforward assessment of how well the watch felt on the wrist while worn normally throughout the day and during workouts. We also looked at how easy it was to dial in the right fit with whatever the clasp system was.

Features: Simply put, what are all the features native to a certain Android smartwatch? We looked at what kinds of apps were natively available right out of the box and what was accessible via an app store like Google Play. We also assessed how well these features elevated the overall experience. 

Battery life: Battery life is one of the most important aspects of a smartwatch and can dictate which watch is best for a certain user. If a fitness-focused watch has a hard time getting through just one day on a single charge, then that watch won't be good for something constantly using GPS or the heart rate monitor. Daily charging isn't a dealbreaker, but knowing what a watch offers and how it affects the overall experience is useful. 

Ease of use: Smartwatches should ideally not have a steep learning curve and should be easy to navigate right out of the box. Of course, not all operating systems are the same, so there will be some differences from watch to watch. If a wearable is hard to navigate, you're less likely to use it. 

Accuracy: Tracking accuracy can make or break a smartwatch, especially for folks who use it as a training tool. Some are inherently better than others but even small discrepancies in tracking capability can make a big impact. We tested this by running a mile with each watch and comparing the differences in time and distance. 

Compatibility: We tested compatibility for Android smartwatches by using each watch with several Android smartphones. No Android watch is fully compatible with every Android phone, but some function better on a competitor's device without much change to the overall experience. For instance, our top pick, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, functions best on a Samsung phone, while the experience on something like the Google Pixel is watered-down.  

What to look for in an Android smartwatch

Before purchasing a new Android smartwatch, it's important to consider how you plan on using it and which models fit your lifestyle best. Here are a few things to keep in mind while shopping: 

Style: The best Android smartwatches come in several styles suited to different users. There are fitness tracker-type wearables like the Sense 2 or Inspire 3 designed to function best during activities. Then there are watches like the Google Pixel that evoke a more traditional wristwatch design. Deciding which style best suits your lifestyle is a key factor when shopping.  

Battery life: Battery life estimates vary wildly among the best Android smartwatches, as some, like the Google Pixel Watch, need to be recharged daily. Others, like the Fitbit Sense 2 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, boast multi-day battery life and are often better for active users using the built-in GPS throughout the day or traveling frequently. 

Smart features: Although every smartwatch comes with smart features, some are smarter than others. Take the Fitbit Inspire 3, for example. This watch offers basic smartwatch capability, including call, text, email, and app notifications, but not much beyond that. Compared to the Google Pixel, which offers in-depth smart features that allow users to interact with the notifications, the Inspire 3 is leagues lower.

Ecosystem: Each smartwatch in this guide shares the Android ecosystem as a foundation, but they all have a secondary ecosystem to consider. The Garmin Forerunners are compatible with the Garmin Connect App, the Sense 2 with Fitbit's app (and Fitbit Premium), and the Watch 5 Pro with Samsung Health. It's worth researching companion apps to see what you prefer. 

Display: The display native to an Android smartwatch can be as interactive as what's found on the Google Pixel Watch or as basic as what the Fitbit Inspire 3 offers. Your overall experience will change based on a watch's display, so it's important to understand what it offers and if it syncs with your preferred smartwatch experience.

FAQs

What is the best Android smartwatch?

The best Android smartwatch depends on your preferences and how you intend to use it. Some Android smartwatches, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro or Fitbit Sense 2, are better for fitness-focused users, and the former is our top overall pick for its combination of a fitness tracker and smartwatch experience. 

For those looking for a smartwatch that works fully and seamlessly with any Android phone, including a Google Pixel phone, the Google Pixel Watch 2 would fare better. It's also solid as a fitness tracker. 

It's important to consider your intended use cases for a smartwatch to make the best purchasing decision.

Do all Android smartwatches work on any Android smartphone? 

Yes and no. While most of the best Android smartwatches are compatible with all models of Android smartphones, some deliver a different overall experience depending on the phone paired with them. 

For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic function more seamlessly on a Samsung smartphone than on a Google Pixel. Some app access is limited, while the companion apps used to customize the watch differ. However, Google Pixel watches function nearly similarly on Google and Samsung phones. 

Can you use an Apple Watch with an Android smartphone? 

No, the Apple Watch is only compatible with an iPhone running iOS. Unlike wearables from brands like Garmin or Fitbit, which work on iPhone and Android phones, the Apple Watch only functions on an iOS device.

Similarly, the best Android smartwatches won't work on an iPhone and are only compatible with smartphones running the Android operating system. 

Do you need an Android smartphone to use these watches?

Yes. Although you don't technically need a smartphone to power up a smartwatch, you won't be able to unlock its full functionality without syncing it to a smartphone via Bluetooth. 

Without a phone, a smartwatch could only tell the time and perform a few basic functions, like counting steps and how many calories you've burned. However, you'd have no way of accessing the amassed data without a device like a smartphone (or tablet). 

Can you use an iPhone with an Android smartwatch?

No. To get the full functionality out of an Android smartwatch, you'll need to use an Android smartphone. While nothing stops an iPhone user from wearing an Android smartwatch, they wouldn't be able to take advantage of its basic smartphone compatibility and would have an incredibly watered-down experience.

Do some Android smartwatches work better with certain Android devices?

The most common compatibility issue Android smartwatches encounter is when using an Android device from a different brand. For instance, Samsung's Galaxy Watches lose some functionality when used with a Google Pixel Phone. The same goes for using a Google Pixel Watch with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, though it's not as drastic. 

While you can still use those watches with phones from different brands, you'll typically get the experience of using the same Android device brand with whatever Android smartwatch you buy.

Best overall: Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

Samsung's Galaxy Watch lineup has been among the best Android smartwatches for years, and its latest release, the Watch 5 Pro, places it right at the top of the industry. With multi-day battery life, accurate activity tracking, and unique insights such as body composition data and sleep analysis, it's the perfect combination of both a smartwatch and a health and fitness tracker for the Android user. 

Design-wise, the Watch 5 Pro has a round watch face and a 1.36-inch touchscreen display that offers tons of viewable data. With the right watch face, you could have everything from the week's upcoming weather forecast and the sunrise/sunset schedule to your daily steps, burned calories, and workout shortcuts displayed. It's also compatible with a variety of the best Samsung Galaxy Watch bands.

As a smartwatch, the Watch 5 Pro is excellent. It uses Google's WearOS operating system which functions seamlessly. It gets app notifications, text alerts, emails, and phone calls, and is easy to navigate. 

Fitness-focused folks will appreciate the variety of activities it tracks, including common things like running and cycling, as well as advanced sports like snowboarding, hiking, or trail running. It even has a useful track-back option that works like a digital breadcrumb feature that shows your exact route through, say, a forested area. However, this only works with hiking and cycling, which is disappointing as it'd be great for runners, too. 

One of the Watch 5 Pro's best features is its health tracking. It has everything from in-depth sleep tracking, which monitors sleep patterns and habits, to a body composition app that charts things like body fat percentage and muscle mass. 

There is one minor caveat, however: the watch's overall experience is far better on a Samsung phone than on something like the Google Pixel. It's not a dealbreaker but some features, like the ECG app that tracks heart rhythms, aren't compatible with anything other than a Samsung phone.

Despite those issues, Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the best Android smartwatch for almost any user (and our pick as one of the best smartwatches, too). It excels as a smartwatch, has robust fitness-tracking capability, and offers unique health insights. This is as good as it gets on Android.  

Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

Best Fitbit: Fitbit Sense 2

Fitbit's Sense 2 is everything you want in a dependable fitness tracker. It's compatible with several trackable activities, provides unique insights into your fitness habits, monitors your sleep, stress, and menstrual cycles, and has a built-in GPS. It even has a battery that lasts upward of five to six days.

We found it to be one of the most accurate fitness trackers we've worn, specifically how quickly it synced its GPS before an activity. Within seconds, the watch found a GPS signal and we were ready to start tracking our activity. It also has an interface that's easy to navigate, which is especially helpful for first-time Fitbit wearers or those new to fitness trackers.

The Sense 2 has several helpful health and wellness tools, too. This includes a skin temperature sensor, heart rhythm (ECG) readings, and Fitbit's new real-time stress tracker. Stress tracking was especially interesting during our tests as we liked how well it charted our stress levels while offering useful feedback on ways to lower them. 

One area where the Sense 2 doesn't impress is its smartwatch capability. It's technically one of Fitbit's "smartwatches" but it doesn't exactly live up to that billing. For instance, there's no third-party app support available, which is a frustrating decision by Fitbit, nor does it allow access to tools like Google Assistant (despite Google being the parent company). It also won't store or play music. 

Although some may consider these drawbacks, we don't see them as a reason not to buy the Sense 2. It's an adequate smartwatch that still gets notifications like calls, texts, and emails, but its strengths lie in its health and fitness tracking. For those looking for a fitness-first smartwatch, the Sense 2 is the best Android smartwatch to buy (and one of the best Fitbits overall, too).  

Read our full review of the Fitbit Sense 2.

Best for Pixel users: Google Pixel Watch

The Google Pixel Watch experience is an interesting one. On the one hand, it's the best pure smartwatch for Android users with an easy-to-navigate interface, wide app compatibility, and the ability to answer texts, emails, and phone calls.

But as a fitness tracker, it's awful. This is especially disappointing since Google is now the parent company of the fitness wearable brand, Fitbit. Despite that, the Pixel Watch is bogged down by connectivity issues, syncing problems, and poor GPS tracking.

And while those may be deal breakers for fitness-focused folks, there's no denying it's still an impressive smartwatch. Its operating system, WearOS, delivers a seamless experience between the available apps you can access, whatever notifications you might receive, and its smart features like Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Wallet.

These features allow it to satisfy the one major requirement of a smartwatch: to be an effective extension of your smartphone. With the Google Pixel Watch, anything you want to do on your phone, you can do on your wrist. Plus, it's compatible with a variety of the best Google Pixel Watch bands, so it can fit anyone's personal style.

Not everyone shopping for a wearable needs something capable of tracking their workouts and instead just wants it to serve as their phone away from their phone. The Google Pixel Watch is exactly that, and for Android users, it's the best pure smartwatch they can buy.

Read our full review of the Google Pixel Watch.

Best with bezel: Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic

Samsung's latest Galaxy Watch, the Watch 6 Classic, retains the high bar set by previous generations, even if it doesn't push the line forward in any major way. But despite its minimal new additions, the experience of using the Watch 6 Classic is still a highly premium one, making it not just one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy but one of the best smartwatches, too.

The most notable update on the Watch 6 Classic is the return of the rotating bezel, a feature last seen on the Watch 4. Instead of relying on the watch's touchscreen to scroll its interface, the rotating bezel allows easy navigation. I found it to be especially useful while working out where spinning the dial was more manageable, and quicker, than trying to swipe the screen.

The Watch 6 Classic also has impressive battery life that I consistently got almost two days out of, depending on how often I used the built-in GPS. I always got a full day and night of battery, though sometimes I needed to recharge the watch the following afternoon. This is a welcome upgrade over the Watch 5, though it is still a bit shorter than the multi-day battery life of the Watch 5 Pro.

Beyond those upgrades, the Watch 6 Classic is highly similar to the Watch 5 generation before it. It has a deep offering of health and wellness features, including sleep tracking, a body composition analyzer, and stress level monitoring.

The two health features I used most were the body composition analyzer and the stress tracker. With the body composition analyzer, the watch provided real-time readings of my body fat percentage, BMI, and muscle mass which I used to chart my overall fitness progress. The Watch 5 Pro also offered this, so I had a baseline of knowledge (and existing data) to compare to and it functioned the same.

I found the stress tracker to be a helpful feature, too, mainly because it's interesting to see when the watch would say I had higher stress levels and when I didn't. This had a positive impact on my day-to-day as I would implement some of the recommendations for lowering my stress and found them to work.

The Watch 6 Classic does severely lack as a fitness tracker, though, and its inaccurate GPS makes it difficult to recommend to more active users. Not only would it take upwards of a minute to sync a GPS connection but its distance- and pace-tracking were off by significant margins. Those looking for a quality fitness tracker experience should instead opt for the Watch 5 Pro.

Design-wise, the Watch 6 Classic is a stylish smartwatch that I thoroughly enjoy wearing. Its big watch face might be too large for folks with smaller wrists but I liked how much data I could display on it. Its bright watch face makes it easy to quickly reference the screen or tell the time.

Overall, it looks, feels, and functions like a premium wearable and while it may not satisfy those looking for a reliable fitness tracker, it's one of the best smartwatches on the market. Its compatibility with a variety of the best Samsung Galaxy Watch bands is a nice feature, too.

Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic.

Best budget: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

When we first reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, we couldn't help but notice that it was the closest thing to an Apple Watch for Android users. A year later, that sentiment goes to the next generation Watch 5 Pro but the Watch 4 is still an impressive wearable — only now, it costs far less than when it was released. 

The release of the Galaxy Watch 4 was Samsung's first go with utilizing WearOS as the watch's operating system, as it decided to go away from the in-house interface, Tizen OS. The switch paid off in spades as WearOS pairs perfectly with the Watch 4. Navigation is fluid, notifications can be fully customized, and there's a wide selection of downloadable apps (thanks to Google Play Store access). 

Other highlights of the watch include its extensive health and fitness capability. It tracks activities, like running, cycling, and hiking, and we found the syncing and tracking capability to be on par with some of the best fitness trackers. 

We especially like its in-depth sleep tracking which monitors sleep patterns and can help turn bad habits into good ones. Its body measurement features are also unique as it analyzes your body weight, muscle mass, and water weight to give you an idea of your overall body composition. 

All of this equates to the Watch 4 being one of the best Android smartwatches. Of course, there are still a few drawbacks, most notable of which is its watered-down experience on anything other than a Samsung phone as some features, like the ECG app, aren't available. We don't see this as a total deal breaker but users of other phones, like the Google Pixel, should consider this before purchasing. 

At less than $170 via Amazon, the Watch 4 isn't just at its lowest price since it was released, but it's the cheapest we've seen a smartwatch of this quality. You're rarely able to find a premium full-featured wearable like this for $200. The fact that it's less than that easily makes it the best budget Android smartwatch on the market. 

Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.

Best battery life: Fitbit Inspire 3

Fitbit's Inspire 3 is one of the brand's most basic wearables but it's still an impressive activity tracker for Android users (and one of the best Fitbits you can buy). It offers a range of health and fitness tracking insights, a no-frills interface, and advanced features like skin temperature sensing and in-depth sleep tracking. 

But what makes the Inspire 3 such a great tracker is how anyone from beginners to expert users will be satisfied using it. Navigating the watch is intuitive enough for first-time wearers while the wide variety of trackable activities and useful health metrics give it appeal to those familiar with fitness trackers. It's compatible with a range of the best Fitbit Inspire 3 bands, too, so users have even more ways to customize their wearable.

At less than $100, it's a hell of a bargain, too. What's especially great about its low price is that the Inspire 3 is the latest generation of the Inspire line, meaning it's the most current and updated version yet.

The watch does come with a few drawbacks, though. Absent is built-in GPS, as well as the ability to download additional apps. Although the lack of apps isn't a huge downside, not having GPS is, especially for hardcore athletes who want exact timing and tracking for activities. During our tests, we did find that when you sync GPS via a companion phone, the tracking worked well. But that means you do have to tote your phone along.

Those cons aside, the Inspire 3 is still a powerful activity tracker in a small, budget-friendly form factor. For Android users looking for something basic, trying out a fitness tracker for the first time, or who just want something straightforward and easy to use, the Inspire 3 is the best Android smartwatch on the market. 

Read our full review of the Fitbit Inspire 3.

Best for runners: Garmin Forerunner 745

The Garmin Forerunner 745 isn't just the best running watch for Android users, it also happens to be one of the best running watches, period. It's that good. Garmin's made its name on manufacturing powerful sports wearables, and the 745 is the latest in a long line of triumphs from the brand. 

What makes the 745 so good is not just its accurate tracking capabilities and easy-to-navigate interface (but, those are excellent). What makes it stand out from the competition is its unique approach to workout recommendations and focus on rest and recovery, two vital aspects of an effective workout routine. 

For the workout recommendations, the watch requires a 10-day monitoring period to assess your day-to-day activity and performance. Once those 10 days are up, it adapts its recommendations to your specific activity needs. One day it might have you pump up the mileage and go for a several-mile long run while another may see that you need more rest and dial the day's workout down to a recovery jog. 

Whatever it recommends, it does so in lockstep with its rest and recovery insights. In other words, the watch isn't just going to run you into the ground but rather, it takes a thoughtful approach to giving your body the time to properly recover between strenuous workouts. 

The 745 feels like having a personal trainer right on your wrist with all these features active. Of course, you don't have to do the daily workouts but they do prove worthwhile for anyone stumped about what to do on a certain day, or those who want to take the guesswork out of how to train for a race or event. 

Other highlights of the 745 include a comfortable, lightweight design that won't weigh heavy on your wrist, even during long runs, as well as a large, colorful display. The big display does tend to look rather large on folks with smaller wrists, but it's especially useful in the middle of a run to easily see your training stats without having to squint or stop running. 

Then there's the battery life, which Garmin claims lasts up to six days on a single charge. We found this to be mostly true during our tests, as it would last both a little longer and a little shorter than that estimation depending on how heavily we used it each day. 

For consistent runners, the Garmin Forerunner 745 is the best Android smartwatch to buy. 

Read our full review of the Garmin Forerunner 745.

Best for outdoor adventures: Garmin Forerunner 935

Like the Forerunner 745 above, the Forerunner 935 is one of Garmin's best wearables. And for the outdoorsy Android user, it's the best.

The 935 is compatible with a wide range of trackable outdoor activities such as hiking, trail running, skiing, and snowboarding, to name a few, and can even track your trips via its built-in GPS (which is a must-have for those venturing into the backcountry). It's also highly accurate, both in terms of tracking and GPS syncing.

Although the watch itself is on the medium to large end of the wearable spectrum, it's incredibly lightweight and comes with a comfortable rubber band that feels good against the skin. The watch's face features tempered, scratch-resistant glass, as well as a durable, stainless steel bezel. 

But where the watch truly shines is how Garmin's interface functions with the activities it tracks. The tracking screens show everything from heart rate and distance traveled, to training status, heart rate variability, and total training load. In other words, you have everything you'd ever need right there on your wrist. 

We did have one nitpick with the watch: its battery doesn't last much longer than a single day, especially if you're relying on GPS and heart rate tracking for long periods. This isn't an issue for those who return home each night but this could pose a problem for anyone out on a backpacking trip or who forgot their charger. 

Still, the Forerunner 935 is a full-featured watch that's the best Android smartwatch for outdoor enthusiasts. 

Read our full review of the Garmin Forerunner 935.

How we test Android smartwatches

To compile this guide, we compared the best Android smartwatches across a variety of categories including things like fit & comfort, features, battery life, ease of use, accuracy, and compatibility. Here's how each category factored into which watches made the guide:

Fit & comfort: Testing this was a straightforward assessment of how well the watch felt on-wrist while wearing it normally throughout the day, as well as during workouts. We also looked at how easy it was to dial in the right fit with whatever the clasp system was.

Features: Simply put, what are all the features native to a certain Android smartwatch? We looked at what kinds of apps were natively available right out of the box, as well as what was accessible via an app store like Google Play. We also assessed how well these features elevated the overall experience. 

Battery life: Battery life is one of the most important aspects of a smartwatch and can dictate which watch is best for a certain user. If a fitness-focused watch has a hard time getting through just one day on a single charge, then that watch won't be good for something constantly using GPS or the heart rate monitor. Charging a watch every day isn't a dealbreaker but it's useful to know what a watch offers and how it affects the overall experience. 

Ease of use: Smartwatches should ideally not have a steep learning curve, and should be easy to navigate right out of the box. Of course, not all operating systems are the same, so there will be some differences from watch to watch. If a wearable is hard to navigate, you're less likely to use it. 

Accuracy: Tracking accuracy can make or break a smartwatch, especially for folks who use it as a training tool. Some are inherently better than others but even small discrepancies in tracking capability can make a big impact. We tested this by running a mile with each watch and comparing the differences in time and distance. 

Compatibility: Testing compatibility for Android smartwatches consisted of using each watch with several Android smartphones. No single Android watch is fully compatible with every single Android phone, but some do function better on a competitor's device without much change to the overall experience. For instance, our top pick, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, functions best on a Samsung phone while the experience on something like the Google Pixel is watered-down.  

What to look for when shopping

Before purchasing a new Android smartwatch, it's important to consider how you plan on using it and which models fit your lifestyle best. Here are a few things to keep in mind while shopping: 

Style: The best smartwatches for Android come in several styles suited to different users. There are fitness tracker-type wearables like the Sense 2 or Inspire 3 designed to function best during activities, and then there are watches like the Google Pixel that evoke a more traditional wristwatch design. Deciding which style best suits your lifestyle is a key factor when shopping.  

Battery life: Battery life estimates vary wildly among the best Android smartwatches as some, like the Google Pixel Watch, need to be recharged daily. Others, like the Fitbit Sense 2 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, boast multi-day battery life and are often better for active users who may be using the built-in GPS throughout the day or who travel often. 

Smart features: Although every smartwatch comes with smart features, some are smarter than others. Take the Fitbit Inspire 3, for example. This watch offers basic smartwatch capability including call, text, email, and app notifications but not much beyond that. Compared to the Google Pixel which offers in-depth smart features that allow users to interact with the notifications, the Inspire 3 is leagues lower.

Ecosystem: Each of the smartwatches in this guide shares the Android ecosystem as a foundation but they all have a secondary ecosystem to keep in mind. The Garmin Forerunners are compatible with the Garmin Connect App, the Sense 2 with Fitbit's app (and Fitbit Premium), and the Watch 5 Pro with Samsung Health. It's worth researching companion apps to see what you prefer. 

Display: The display native to an Android smartwatch can be as interactive as what's found on the Google Pixel Watch or as basic as what the Fitbit Inspire 3 offers. Your overall experience will change based on a watch's display, so it's important to understand what a watch offers and if that syncs with your preferred smartwatch experience.

FAQs

What's the best Android smartwatch?

This depends on your preference and how you intend to use the watch. Some Android smartwatches are better for fitness-focused users, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro or Fitbit Sense 2.

For those looking for a true smartwatch experience, something like the Google Pixel Watch would fare better (though it does come at the expense of its fitness tracking capabilities as it's a poor activity tracker). 

It's important to understand how you intend to use the smartwatch to make the best purchasing decision.

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Do all Android smartwatches work on any Android smartphone? 

Yes and no. While most of the best Android smartwatches are compatible with all models of Android smartphones, some deliver a different overall experience. 

For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro functions more seamlessly on a Samsung smartphone than it does on something like a Google Pixel. Some app access is limited while the companion apps used to customize the watch differ. However, a watch like the Google Pixel Watch functions nearly similarly on the Google Pixel Phone as on a Samsung phone. 

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Can you use an Apple Watch with an Android smartphone? 

No, the Apple Watch is only compatible with an iPhone running iOS. Unlike wearables from brands like Garmin or Fitbit, which work on both an iPhone and an Android phone, the Apple Watch only functions on an iOS device.

Similarly, the best Android smartwatches won't work on an iPhone and are only compatible with smartphones running the Android operating system. 

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Do you need an Android smartphone to use these watches?

Yes. Although you don't technically need a smartphone to power up a smartwatch, you won't be able to unlock its full functionality without syncing it to a smartphone via Bluetooth. 

Without a phone, a smartwatch would only be able to tell the time and perform a few of its basic functions, like counting steps and how many calories you've burned. However, you'd have no way of accessing the amassed data without a device like a smartphone (or tablet). 

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Can you use an iPhone with an Android smartwatch?

No. To get the full functionality out of an Android smartwatch, you'll need to use an Android smartphone. While nothing stops an iPhone user from wearing an Android smartwatch, they wouldn't be able to take advantage of its basic smartphone compatibility and would have an incredibly watered-down experience.

---

Do some Android smartwatches work better with certain Android devices?

The most common compatibility issue Android smartwatches encounter is when they're used with an Android device from a different brand. For instance, Samsung's Galaxy Watches lose some functionality with used with a Google Pixel Phone. The same goes for using a Google Pixel Watch with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, though it's not as drastic. 

While you can still use those watches with phones from different brands, it's best to use the same Android device brand with whatever Android smartwatch you buy.

• Anthropic's chief of staff fears AI could soon end traditional employment.
• Avital Balwit wrote a personal essay highlighting AI's potential impact on the workforce.
• She believes the rise of AI technology will replace many human job functions.

A 25-year-old Anthropic employee says she's prepping for a post-work society that may arrive sooner than some people think.

Avital Balwit, who is chief of staff to the CEO at leading AI company Anthropic, outlined her thoughts on what AI might do to employment in a personal essay for Palladium magazine.

"I am 25. These next three years might be the last few years that I work," she wrote. "I stand at the edge of a technological development that seems likely, should it arrive, to end employment as I know it."

Balwit said she was being "confronted with something more capable and general" with "every iteration of" Anthropic's AI model.

She theorized that her job and many others are heading for obsolescence, and those who ignore the prospect are largely in denial.

"The general reaction to language models among knowledge workers is one of denial," Balwit wrote, adding that the shared goal of AI is to create a system that can do anything.

Palladium noted that the essay was written in Balwit's personal capacity and did not reflect Anthropic's views.

The rise of generative AI has long caused anxiety about the risk of mass job losses, especially in the knowledge economy. Leading figures in the industry, including Elon Musk and Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman, have voiced similar concerns.

Freelancers have previously complained that the widespread adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has stolen potential work.

Several content writers have said work opportunities dried up after the early AI boom.

Balwit wrote that freelance writing had always been an "oversubscribed skillset, and the introduction of language models has further intensified competition."

"The economically and politically relevant comparison on most tasks is not whether the language model is better than the best human, it is whether they are better than the human who would otherwise do that task," she wrote.

Balwit did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• A US Air Force B-1B Lancer joined South Korean forces for a live-fire training exercise.
• The training involved dropping 500-pound bombs at a range in Korea.
• It's the bomber's first live-fire exercise on the peninsula since 2017, when tensions between the US and North Korea were running high.

A US supersonic bomber joined South Korea's Air Force for a live-fire training exercise, conducting runs with 500-pound bombs.

It's the first time the B1-B Lancer, a conventional, long-range penetrating strike bomber with a substantial payload capacity, has dropped live munitions on the Korean peninsula since 2017, when the US regularly sent the aircraft into the area in response to North Korean provocations.

The US Air Force released information on the training on Wednesday, writing that a B-1B Lancer from the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam joined South Korean F-15Ks Slam Eagles "for live munitions and close air support training at the Pilsung Range, Republic of Korea."

The bomber, along with the South Korean military aircraft, "successfully released live GBU-38, 500-pound joint direct attack munitions, simultaneously striking multiple simulated targets."

A video shared online showed some of the bombing elements of the training exercise.

"Today's integration with the Republic of Korea demonstrated the ability of our B-1 fleet to conduct precision targeting and strike with live weapons in an unfamiliar location," said Lt. Col. Christian Hoover, 37th EBS commander.

"The partnership with ROK allows us to support National Security objectives through the speed, flexibility, and readiness of our strategic bombers," he said.

After the live-fire bombing exercise at Pilsung, the Lancer linked up with US Marine Corps F-35Bs, US Air Force F-16s and KC-135 Stratotankers, and South Korean aircraft "for air-to-air training over the western region of South Korea."

The follow-on exercises combined fourth- and fifth-generation jets with a bomber element. The 7th Air Force said that the event was a "powerful deterrent to potential aggressors."

North Korea, a constant challenge, has continued work on its illegal weapons programs and has been frequently carrying out missile launches since 2022. More recently, it has engaged in provocations against South Korea, including sending balloons filled with manure and trash into the neighboring country. South Korea vowed to bring retaliatory action.

The exercises are the first time the B1-B Lancer has dropped live munitions on the Korean peninsula since 2017. At that time, North Korean weapons testing and provocations prompted US and South Korean forces to regularly fly in the area, conducting training exercises to deter North Korea.

At that time, North Korea was ramping up its missile testing, pursuing a variety of weapons developments that caused alarm bells to sound across the region. A year earlier, North Korea twice tested a nuclear weapon, and then it did so again in 2017. That same year, the North Koreans test-fired their first intercontinental ballistic missile. The country tested another one a few months later.

In the wake of the earlier ICBM tests, which occurred over the summer, then-President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury." Amid these rising tensions, the B-1Bs were highly active on the peninsula.

In July 2017, just days after North Korea's first ICBM test, two B-1Bs, as well as US and South Korean fighter jets, "practiced attack capabilities by releasing inert weapons at the Pilsung Range," what was then called US Pacific Command said.

Then, a month later in August, the US military flew four F-35B fighter jets and two B-1B bombers alongside four South Korean F-15 jets over the Korean peninsula in a show of force response to the launch of a North Korean missile over Japan.

And in September, in response to another North Korean missile launch over Japan, two B-1B Lancer bombers joined other US, South Korean, and Japanese aircraft "in a sequenced bilateral show of force over the Korean peninsula," PACOM said.

In October, US Air Force B-1Bs carried out mock missile launches off both coasts of South Korea, and then a live-fire exercise was executed in December, when a Lancer took part in a massive air drill.

• US economic data points to a soft landing as the labor market and inflation gradually cool.
• A soft landing can be beneficial for workers and others.
• The US seems on track for lower price growth without a recession.

So you might have heard the US is not in a recession, but the good news about the economy doesn't stop there. A soft landing is on the horizon, too — or already here depending on who you ask — and recent data reinforces that.

Per a St. Louis Fed post in October, economic policy advisor Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria finds while there is not an exact way to define a soft landing, a good rough definition is "when we increase interest rates and we manage to decrease inflation, but without causing unemployment to go up drastically and GDP growth to go negative."

"The economic rebalancing that we thought was necessary a couple years ago largely looks like it's been achieved," Joseph Briggs, an economist at Goldman Sachs, told Business Insider. "Provided that we stay on this current course, I expect that we will be increasingly transitioning to a more normal economic environment where growth is at or a little bit above potential and sequential inflation is near 2% in the next few months or next few quarters."

Taming inflation while staying out of a recession could be great news. "For many Americans, the difference between a soft landing and a more turbulent slowdown is their job," Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Briggs said achieving a soft landing would benefit everyone, avoiding "some of the economic hardships that often come if you were to see the economy enter a more significant slowdown."

A slowly cooling economy heading back to normal

The economy has been confusing because the labor market has stayed pretty hot and inflation has been stubborn despite the Fed trying to slow borrowing and spending down.

The Fed reacted to sky-high inflation a few years ago by quickly hiking interest rates and holding them at that elevated level. The next Federal Open Market Committee meeting is next week, and the CME FedWatch Tool shows as of Wednesday morning that traders think rates are overwhelmingly likely to stay at their current target.

Data does show the US labor market isn't too hot, meaning the Fed is unlikely to go back to raising rates and keeping the door open for cuts later this year. There were 175,000 jobs added in April. March's job growth was almost twice as large, with a gain of 315,000. Those figures could be revised in the upcoming report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

New job openings data out on Tuesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed they continued their downward trend in April, suggesting that businesses are slowing their hiring plans. Plus, the number of job openings per unemployed person has been moving downward in 2024.

"The substantial decline in job openings in April, to the lowest level since February 2021, paints a clear picture of a job market that has essentially returned to its pre-pandemic balance and is on the cusp of a soft landing," Bunker said in written commentary.

"Over the past two years, the US labor market has cooled off in a relatively painless way: fewer people are switching jobs while layoffs remain low," Bunker told Business Insider. "The result is that unemployment has been below 4% for over two years. But if the reduction in inflation stalls, then any further cooling off would mean higher unemployment."

Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows the year-over-year increase in the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, one inflation measure, was 2.7% in April.

There has been a ton of moderation in this rate particularly when comparing recent changes to those seen in 2022, another sign pointing to a soft landing.

GDP growth also hasn't been negative; the last time the change in the US real GDP was negative was in the second quarter of 2022, a strong sign the US is avoiding a recession.

Another data point we can look at is the commonly followed ISM manufacturing index, which tracks activity in US factories. UBS noted in a new post that the index fell more than expected in May "with both the new orders and production components falling."

"This is in line with our expectation of a gradual slowdown in US economic growth, which should put the Fed in a position to start policy easing later this year amid falling inflation," the post said.

The soft landing might already be here

David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, believes the US has already achieved a soft landing.

"To me, a soft landing is when the unemployment rate has basically hit its full-employment level, and the inflation rate is gradually coming down to a rate that's acceptable," Kelly said. "With this Friday's jobs report, we expect a 30th consecutive month in which the unemployment rate is at or below 4%."

"It sounds to me that the plane basically landed two and a half years ago, and it's just been cooling down ever since," Kelly said, adding that "the economy continues to grow, but it's been in a soft landing for some time."

Jason Draho, head of Asset Allocation Americas of UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a new note that the "differences of opinion between investors on the outlook for the US economy are getting smaller" — but also noted some forecasters think a recession isn't out of the picture. Draho said the consensus is "Growth is slowing but not cracking, inflation is stubborn but the trend is still lower, and the bar for Fed rate cuts is low while hikes are effectively off the table."

"In other words, a fairly comfortable soft landing with occasional turbulence," Draho added.

It's still a tough economic environment for many people.

"I think it's a very good economy for the top 10% of households, not quite so good for everybody else," Kelly said.

• United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said ULCCs are "going out of business."
• Kirby criticized no-frills carriers like Spirit for prioritizing cheap costs over customer service.
• He poked fun at one ULCC for charging $99 for a carry-on and then giving the agent a commission.

Ultra-low-cost airlines are taking one out of left field.

In a candid interview with The Air Show podcast published on Monday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the carriers are "going out of business" due to bad business strategy and poor customer service.

"It's a fundamentally flawed business model," he said. "The customers hate it."

Kirby's comments point to no-frills carriers like Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines, which offer cheap tickets thanks to their unbundled fares and barebones planes. Usually, these lower fares are at the expense of passenger comfort.

In a bid to attract more customers, the ultra-low-cost carriers, or ULCCs, have improved their operations with more free and premium perks, like Spirit dropping change fees and Frontier adding an "UpFront Plus" seat that resembles European business class.

Kirby, however, argued this shift in focus from leisure to premium offerings suggests an "internal acknowledgment that the [ultra-low-cost] business model doesn't work."

But above all else, Kirby said one "fundamental issue" has cost ULCCs a lot of business: "They haven't treated customers right."

He gave an example of an unnamed competitor that he said "started charging $99 for your carry-on bag," noting a commission was then paid out for collecting the steep fee from the customer.

Kirby is likely referring to the viral interactions between Frontier customers and ticket agents that surfaced on TikTok last year. Customers were reportedly forced to pay $99 per piece of luggage that fit into the airline's bag checker, and Frontier later admitted it offered a bonus to those who caught oversize carry-ons.

"You can do it once, but you don't get to do it to them twice," Kirby said. "And those airlines grew big enough that they actually need repeat customers."

Kirby's stance is further expressed in his response to Frontier CEO Barry Biffle's reported comment that the "lowest cost always wins."

"He's dead wrong…Best service always wins," Kirby said.

Recent airline rankings by customer satisfaction scores back up Kirby's claims.

Regarding the economy experience, Frontier and Spirit ranked last and second to last, respectively, in JD Power's 2024 survey that examined 11 North American airlines.

According to the Department of Transportation, the pair also had the highest rate of customer complaints among US airlines in 2023.

Still, Kirby did give credit where it's due, saying the well-built "mousetrap" low-cost carriers use to lure in infrequent flyers who care about price over loyalty have forced United to adapt and create its own version of a cheap ticket.

"They want the lowest price, and they're willing to have a disaggregated price," he said. "So, we needed to build a basic economy cup."

United's stripped-down coach fare mirrors the basic ticket most US ULCCs offer, including no free carry-on, changes, or cancellations allowed, but still has the regular mainline coach perks.

To their credit, Spirit has recently dropped all change and cancellation fees, and Frontier has dropped the fees for all non-basic economy fares.

Spirit and Frontier did not respond to requests for comment.

• Walmart just announced a new slate of pay and benefits perks for US hourly associates.
• Some 700,000 workers are eligible for a new bonus that increases with their years with the company.
• The retailer is also expanding online training options, as well as piloting a trades career pathway.

Walmart wants more workers to stick with the company for longer.

The retailer just announced a new slate of pay and benefits perks for US hourly associates, including a new bonus that increases with their years with the company.

Around 700,000 part- and full-time workers are now eligible for annual bonuses that are tied to their store's performance, the Associated Press reported.

Walmart told AP that full-time workers who have been with the company between one and five years would be eligible for a maximum of $350, while a 20-year employee would be eligible for a maximum of $1,000.

The moves follow a 30% increase in average wages over the past five years to nearly $18 per hour, the company said.

More than two-thirds of hourly Walmart workers are full-time, meaning they work an average of at least 34 hours a week, and employees who work at least 30 hours a week are eligible to receive health benefits.

Walmart is also expanding online training options through its Live Better U certificate program, which now has 50 skills that associates can complete in four months.

The company also said it is piloting a trades career pathway with 100 hourly associates in the Dallas area, training workers in higher-paying technician jobs in areas like facilities maintenance, refrigeration, HVAC, and automation.

"These jobs make between $19 and $45 an hour and offer opportunities to build a meaningful career while meeting a business need for the company," Walmart US CEO John Furner said.

A spokesperson told the AP the trades program is similar to a truck driver training program announced two years ago, which has since produced more than 500 new drivers.

If you are a Walmart employee who would like to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out.

• Boeing launched its Starliner spacecraft carrying two astronauts to the International Space Station. 
• The launch went smoothly after the program was plagued by delays.
• Boeing's spacecraft would give NASA a second option for human transport to space. 

On Wednesday morning, Boeing's Starliner launched toward the International Space Station carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

It was the first crewed mission for the commercial spacecraft, which has been plagued by delays due to technical concerns.

On May 6, a pressure relief valve in the Atlas 5 rocket led to the first scrub. Then on June 1, there was an issue with the three ground computers that orchestrate the final countdown, which led to another delay.

But Wednesday's launch went smoothly, with the astronauts lifting off at 10:52 am ET. The crew later reached orbit safely.

The successful launch will shake up the commercial spaceflight market.

Right now, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft is NASA's main option for shuttling astronauts to and from space. The successful launch now gives NASA a second option, removing SpaceX's US-based monopoly on human-to-space transport.

Compared to SpaceX, Boeing has been slower to break into the commercial human-space transport business. In 2014, NASA selected both Boeing and SpaceX to build spacecraft to transport its astronauts to and from the ISS.

SpaceX began launching astronauts in 2020, but Boeing's effort was hit with costly delays. Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Boeing's issues were due to "too many non-technical managers."

Wednesday's launch isn't Wilmore's and Williams' first time in space. Both are seasoned astronauts and have each spent more than 150 days in space.

But this mission has been a long time coming for Wilmore and Williams. They've trained longer for this mission than Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins had for Apollo 11, The New York Times pointed out.

• Elon Musk's X has revamped its sensitive media policy to more explicitly allow adult content.
• The policy makes a robust ideological statement about not-safe-for-work content, welcomed by some.
• But Musk has a long way to go to make X a safe place to serve up porn, experts said.

Elon Musk's X overhauled its sensitive media policy this week, signaling an increasing coziness with the world of adult content.

While the platform has never formally forbidden porn, the new update is much clearer. It also includes a forthright ideological statement on the issue of smut.

"Sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression," the policy states.

It adds: "We believe in the autonomy of adults to engage with and create content that reflects their own beliefs, desires, and experiences, including those related to sexuality."

Prior to the update — first spotted by TechCrunch — X's "sensitive media" policy comprised a hodgepodge of rules around the posting of violent, sexual, or otherwise graphic material.

Now the site has separated its policy pages for "Adult" and "Violent" content.

This is clearly on brand for Musk.

Brooke Erin Duffy, associate professor of communication at Cornell University, told the Associated Press that the move "dovetails well with the company's post-Musk marketing strategy."

"X is unapologetically provocative and has sought to distinguish itself from 'brand safe' competitors," she added.

(Compare X's approach to Facebook's nudity policy, which only really acknowledges "awareness campaigns or artistic projects" as possible motivations for posting NSFW material.)

Harper Thornhill, a dominatrix and former representative of the UK's Sex Workers' Union, said the change isn't much more than a "PR stunt."

But the statement is a "great thing" in a world where sex workers are routinely stigmatized, she told BI. "It's a good thing that they are publicly taking pornography, commenting on it, and saying that we'll happily have it here — because that's life."

(Thornhill, whose working name is Countess Diamond, uses a pseudonym for professional purposes. Her real name is known to BI.)

But taking pornography on board so squarely ramps up concerns for X users.

Under the policy, someone posting adult material must label it as such, either on a post-by-post basis or across their whole account. This produces an age-restrictive content warning.

Meanwhile, a whole raft of awful stuff remains banned. The promotion or solicitation of sexual services is also banned under the policy.

But these measures are unlikely to satisfy regulators, Clare Daly, a solicitor working on child safety and data protection, told BI.

Multiple countries — including Ireland, where Daly practices — are weighing up sweeping measures that won't be satisfied with "age assurance measures based solely on self-declaration," she said.

"It appears that X will need to take much more proactive steps" to verify the age of its users, she said.

It's also unclear how X vets material that is posted nonconsensually, Thornhill, who has advised UK lawmakers on porn regulation, said.

The platform would have to adopt the same level of documentation as sites like Pornhub or OnlyFans use to operate safely, she added, saying that making this move without robust safeguards is a "recipe for disaster."

"There's so much harm that could come from this that is unseen and that hasn't been evaluated or assessed," she said.

There's also the question of what signal it sends to users who — even with an opt-out — just don't see X as a source for adult content, and prefer it that way.

"This move might attract a niche user base and boost engagement," Nick Hajli, a professor of digital strategy at the UK's Loughborough University Business School, told BI. "However, it risks losing advertisers and mainstream users concerned about brand safety."

X did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment,
but Musk might be having this exact business calculation.

In October 2022, as Musk stood ready to take over Twitter, leaked internal research showed that the platform was hemorrhaging its most active users while seeing a growth in their interest in adult content, as Reuters reported.

Earlier this year, TechCrunch also reported that Musk was toying with the idea of revitalizing X's "communities" feature, with NSFW adult content.

But do those in the field even trust Musk to get it right?

"Oh God, no," Thornhill said. "He's just too reactionary. Too egotistical."

• Kevin Coughlin, the GOP nominee for a House seat in Ohio, once called himself a "homophobe."
• It was part of a broader controversy over alleged discrimination when he was student body president.
• Coughlin claimed he was merely mocking discrimination claims from the "outer fringes of society."

Kevin Coughlin, the Republican nominee to take on Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes in November, is one of his party's best hopes of flipping a House seat this year.

Coughlin has a long history of serving in elected office, including 10 years in the Ohio Senate, four years in the Ohio House, and even a two-year stint as student body president at Bowling Green State University.

It was during his college years that Coughlin — amid a controversy involving alleged discrimination against a fellow student who was seeking an appointment to the student senate — declared that he disagreed with "the lifestyles that homosexuals choose to lead."

He also labeled himself — at least ironically — as a homophobe.

"I'm homophobic, I admit it, I have a problem with it," the student newspaper quoted Coughlin as saying in 1991, citing two people who had heard him make the remarks. Coughlin later penned a guest column in the paper disputing the exact quote while claiming that he had made the comment in jest.

"I jokingly said this because I am sick and tired of hearing cries of discrimination from members of the outer fringes of society every time they are turned down for a position or they run into someone who has differing opinions," Coughlin wrote at the time.

"It is true that I do not agree with the lifestyles that homosexuals choose to lead. I do not shirk from that," Coughlin continued. "But that does not make me stupid, uneducated or homophobic and I'm rather tired of people being persecuted because they hold an opinion."

A spokesperson for Coughlin's campaign told Business Insider that his comments were indeed sarcastic, and that the purported quote "does not reflect his views then, or now."

'As much sarcasm as I could muster'

According to archives of The BG News, the university's student-run newspaper, the controversy began in January 1991, when a vacancy opened in the university's undergraduate student senate.

Coughlin, first elected student body president in 1989, had the power to appoint a new senator. But after the president of the school's Lesbian and Gay Alliance expressed interest in the seat, Coughlin chose someone else.

That led another student senator to accuse Coughlin of discriminating against the student on the basis of his sexuality, at which point the student paper quoted Coughlin in February as saying he was "homophobic."

In the guest column he wrote two weeks later, Coughlin sought to straighten things out, saying he had appoint another student because of his previous service in student government.

He also took on the "homophobic" quote directly.

"Knowing that charges from the outer fringes of discrimination were on the way, I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster, 'Well you know why I didn't appoint him, don't you? It's because I'm a homophobe and I need help,'" Coughlin wrote.

"My opinion does not, however, mean that I would ever discriminate against a homosexual," he later added. "To me, people are people and as an American, people are entitled to their having opinions without having them twisted into something they're not."

The future state lawmaker would go on to lose reelection as student body president that spring, owing in part to the controversy.

Though it's been over 30 years since those events took place, Coughlin has maintained a general opposition to LGBTQ+ rights, including voting for a bill to ban gay marriage in 2004, when he served in the state senate.

Additionally, on a conservative Christian organization's questionnaire completed earlier this year, Coughlin indicated that he "strongly agreed" with the notion that "no government has the authority to alter" the definition of marriage as a "God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman."

His campaign spokesperson, Cierra Shehorn, argued that the survey referred specifically to religious institutions' definition of marriage, that Coughlin believes the issue is "settle law," and that he would "never support an effort to change that."