OnePlus Watch 3 review: The Wear OS watch that changed my mind

OnePlus Watch 3 review

8.6

Design

8.5/10

Ease of use

8.5/10

Use of information

9.0/10

Value for money

8.5/10

Pros

• Outstanding battery life (up to 5–16 days)
• Dual-chip architecture for efficiency
• Premium design with titanium and sapphire glass
• Strong health tracking suite (HR, SpO2, temp, ECG-ready
• Built-in dual-frequency GPS

Cons

• Not for those with small wrists
• ECG not usable in US/Canada
• No LTE variant

OnePlus

OnePlus Watch 3: One minute review

I’m usually not big on Wear OS watches. Too many of them feel half-baked or need charging every other night. But the OnePlus Watch 3 has won me over. It nails the basics, doesn’t get in its own way, and actually feels like something I want to wear all day. The design works well. It’s sporty, clean, and solid on the wrist, and the screen is super easy to read even when the sun is blasting.

But it is the battery life where it really clicks. Five days in smart mode is already impressive, but the 16-day Power Saver option makes it even better. You don’t have to constantly think about your charger, which is rare for something this capable. Add in the dual-chip setup that smoothly shifts between modes, and you’ve got a timepiece that just runs without fuss. Which is what you want.

Even though it’s only April, this thing is already a strong candidate for the best Wear OS watch of 2025. It has dual-band GPS, decent health and fitness tracking, over 100 sports modes, proper sleep tracking, and extras like fall detection. The display is super bright, the rotating crown is genuinely useful, and the software feels smooth and snappy.

All in all an impressive device. It’s packed with features, but nothing feels bloated. Just solid, well-executed stuff that actually works.

OnePlus Watch 3 can be purchased from OnePlus.*

Jump to

Design, hardware
Health & fitness tracking
Sports tracking
Smart features

OnePlus Watch 3 review: Design, hardware

Look & feel

The OnePlus Watch 3 is a sharp-looking device. It actually feels like a mix between a classic timepiece and something built for sport, which works surprisingly well. It’s stylish and has that solid, well-put-together vibe when you put it on.

The thing packs a stainless steel case and titanium bezel so it’s pretty sturdy. In fact the watch has military-grade durability (MIL-STD-810H) and IP68 with 5ATM water resistance. The sapphire glass display adds a further protection along with premium feel.

It’s also big. And heavy.

At 81 grams with the strap, it’s actually one of the heaviest watches I’ve worn, and I’ve worn a fair few. I’m fine with it, but it’s definitely not going to be ideal for smaller wrists. Having said that, the weight is distributed in such as way that it doesn’t move very much when on your wrist. Which is important for tracking heart rate during exercise. It would be a good idea for OnePlus to offer a smaller version of this watch, as I’m sure there would be a market for that.

The OnePlus Watch 3 comes in two very different colour-ways: Emerald Titanium (basically silver) and Obsidian Titanium (greyish black). I tested the latter, and like the little red arrow on the bezel. It adds a bit of sportiness to the look. The silver version is identical in terms of appearance, so no difference there.

There’s also a proper rotating crown, and it’s useful. You can scroll through menus, notifications, playlists, which is easier than swiping around all the time. Bonus points for that.

The 1.5 inch display is one of the highlights. It’s bright enough to see in direct sunlight (2200 nits at peak), and it’s sharp and vibrant. As mentioned – the sapphire glass adds durability. But it is a bit reflective, especially outdoors. Still, it looks good on the wrist and pairs nicely with different outfits, which is what I want from a smartwatch.

Under the hood

It gets seriously impressive under the hood. The OnePlus Watch 3 runs on a dual-chip setup. Snapdragon W5 is there to handle the heavy lifting when you’re in full Wear OS mode. The BES2800 kicks in for lighter tasks and when you switch to Power Saver mode. This is what allows for optimized power consumption, i.e. long battery life. The switch between the two modes is smooth, and you don’t notice it happening.

As far as storage, you get 32GB along with 2GB of RAM. This is more than enough for apps, music, and whatever else you want to load onto it. Even Power Saver mode gets its own slice of that storage. GPS performance is also impressively efficient.

On the back, you’ve got a plastic and fiberglass plate that holds the upgraded sensors. These include the 8-channel heart rate sensor and 16-channel SpO2 sensor for the usual tracking, but it doesn’t stop there. There’s also a wrist temperature sensor, barometer, light sensor, compass (geomagnetic sensor), accelerometer, gyroscope, and even an optical pulse oximeter. Oh, and ECG support is baked in too, as long as you’re in a region where it’s enabled. But more on that later.

A Wear OS battery life champ

Battery life is usually the Achilles’ heel of Wear OS watches, but not with this one. The OnePlus Watch 3 packs a chunky 631 mAh battery and actually makes it count. You get up to 5 days in smart mode, and if you flip over to Power Saver mode, it can push up to 16 days. That’s well beyond what most Wear OS watches manage. In fact, the only other brand, so far, that has achieved this is Mobvoi.

When it comes to charging, this is handled by a small four-pin magnetic puck that uses the USB-C cable. There’s no Qi charging here, and no powering up from the back of your phone. You’ll need to line it up properly for it to start juicing, but once it’s in place, it works flawlessly.

The good news is the thing charges ridiculously fast. Thanks to 10W support, it goes from empty to full in under 50 minutes and barely gets warm while doing it.

The puck is fairly small and works with any USB-C cable, which is great if you’re on the go. Just keep in mind it’s also easy to lose, so maybe stash it somewhere secure. Still, with this level of battery life and speed, you’re not stuck worrying about charging every night. For a Wear OS watch, that alone puts it in a different league.

OnePlus Watch 3 vs 2: Tech specs comparison

The Watch 3 doesn’t look wildly different from the Watch 2 and most of the upgrades are under the hood. The screen is slightly bigger and way brighter. Materials have been improved too, for example the titanium bezel which has been added to the mix. You also get some new health features with the Watch 3, like wrist temperature tracking and arterial stiffness, which weren’t part of the previous model.

Battery life depends on how you use the watch. The Watch 2 could last longer in smart mode if you kept things light, while the Watch 3 is more consistent at around five days. But it pulls ahead in power saver mode, giving you up to 16 days. It’s also running on a newer chip, which should make things smoother overall.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: Health & fitness tracking

The OnePlus Watch 3 covers a lot of ground on the health and fitness front. It keeps tabs on all the usual suspects like heart rate, blood oxygen levels, wrist temperature, stress, and sleep. You also get some more advanced stuff like vascular health readings, arterial stiffness, and even your vascular age, which isn’t something you typically see on a Wear OS watch.

There’s an ECG sensor built in, but it’s only enabled in certain regions. If you’re in North America or Canada, it won’t be available. I’ve actually written a separate piece that dives into how the ECG feature works and how to access it in supported areas. When active, ECG feeds into the 60-second Health Check-In, which gives you a quick snapshot of multiple metrics in one go. It’s simple and actually pretty handy.

Sleep tracking is very solid. I’ve been comparing it to the Garmin I usually wear, and it holds up well. It catches naps, bedtime, wake-ups, and even breathing patterns during sleep. You can schedule sleep mode or let the watch activate it automatically, and it works a lot like Do Not Disturb, just with a bit more focus on actual rest.

Stress tracking is branded as “Mind and Body,” and while it’s presented nicely, it’s not quite a proper recovery tool. It reminds me a bit of Garmin’s Body Battery. You can find heart rate variability in the menus if you go hunting for it, but I wish OnePlus had made it a bit more front-and-center and come up with a proper “Readiness” (for exercise) metric.

Wrist temperature is tracked in a roundabout way. It checks your baseline over five days and shows changes relative to that. So you don’t get the actual temp, just whether it’s gone up or down. The altimeter and barometer are both reliable and can be added as complications to your watch face if you want quick access to that info.

One thing to note is that the watch only works with Android phones. If you’re on iOS, no dice. It pairs with the OHealth app, which I really like. It’s clean, easy to use, and full of useful insights. You don’t have to dig through endless menus to find what you need, which makes checking your stats a lot less of a hassle. Plus you can view most of the health and fitness stats on the watch itself.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: Sports tracking

The OnePlus Watch 3 isn’t just ticking boxes when it comes to fitness. It covers over 100 sports modes, and for running, you get the kind of advanced metrics you’d usually only find on proper sports watches. Stuff like stride length, cadence, vertical ratio, running power, and more. There’s VO2 max too, which OnePlus calls “cardio fitness,” along with fat burn analysis and recovery scoring.

I ran a bunch of side-by-side tests with the Garmin Forerunner 955 and was genuinely surprised by how well the OnePlus held up. Both watches have dual-band GPS, and even in tough city conditions the difference in distance is negligible. Satellite lock on the OnePlus was consistently quick, sometimes even faster than the Garmin, and once it locked in, the GPS track was solid.

As you can see in the example below, over a 10 km run the difference between the OnePlus and Garmin was just 70 meters. That’s impressive and consistent with the results I got on my other runs.

Heart rate tracking is just as good. I paired the Garmin with a chest strap to get the most accurate reading possible. The OnePlus doesn’t support external sensors, which is a shame, but even so, the numbers were close. OnePlus gave an average heart rate of 145 bpm for that 10K run, 2 bpm below the heart rate chest strap. The difference between the peak heart rate was smaller at just 1bpm. That’s well within what I’d consider acceptable for wrist-based tracking.

What I really like is how OnePlus actually explains your data. You’re not just handed numbers. The watch gives you a bit of context, which is great if you don’t want to spend your evening Googling “vertical oscillation.” Garmin still has the edge when it comes to deep-dive analysis and long-term stats, but OnePlus makes the experience feel way more approachable.

The Watch 3 is a bit heavier than the Forerunner 955, and you’ll notice that at first, but it sits well and doesn’t bounce around mid-run. The AMOLED screen is also a win. It is bright, sharp, and easy to read in full sunlight. One thing to be aware of: the auto-start feature for runs works, but there’s a small delay. I lost around 200 to 300 meters before it realised I was running.

OnePlus Watch 3 review: Smartwatch features

The OnePlus Watch 3 runs on Wear OS 5, and everything feels snappy and smooth. The thing comes with all the key Google apps you’d expect — Wallet, Maps, Calendar, Assistant, Messages, and a few others, right out of the box.

You can install third-party apps directly from the Play Store or sideload them if that’s your thing. The rotating crown makes navigating through the menus and apps a lot easier, and there are three different app drawer layouts to choose from: Planet, Grid, and List View. Nice touch if you like a bit of visual variety. I particularly like that you can zoom into the Panel view to see the actual names of the apps.

Notifications are handled well here. You can reply using a keyboard, your voice, or just fire off an emoji if you’re in a hurry. And yes, you can even view images that come through. This is something that most Wear OS watches still can’t do properly. One feature that is useful is “Transfer Watch”. It lets you pair the device with a new phone without having to do a factory reset.

There’s also fall detection, which you can enable through the OHealth app, and an emergency call option tucked into the Power Menu. The button shortcuts are customisable too, so you can quickly jump into your most-used apps or features. Holding down the crown will bring up Google Assistant, which works as expected.

If you switch over to Power Saver Mode, you’ll lose access to third-party apps and complications, but most of the core features still work just fine. It’s a stripped-down version of the OS, but it doesn’t make the watch feel useless like some battery-saving modes do. One thing it doesn’t have yet is LTE, so if this is what you are after you will need to look elsewhere. OnePlus is apparently working on a version with LTE support, but for now, it’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth only.

OnePlus Watch 3 can be purchased from OnePlus.*

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