10 Best Waterproof Smart Watches 2025 in the UK

The Apple Watch Series 10 offers a range of impressive features, making it a strong contender in the waterproof smartwatch category. With its 50m water resistance, it's ideal for swimming and other aquatic activities. The always-on Retina display is clear and vibrant, providing easy readability even in bright sunlight. Its advanced health and fitness tracking capabilities, including an ECG app, menstrual cycle tracking, and comprehensive workout metrics, cater well to those focused on their well-being.

Compatibility with Apple devices ensures seamless integration, allowing users to stay connected through calls, texts, and notifications. The watch’s durability is enhanced by its crack-resistant and dust-resistant design, making it suitable for various environments and activities. Additionally, the fast-charging battery can reach 80% in just 30 minutes, which is convenient for users on the go. However, battery life typically lasts a day, which might be shorter than some competitors.

The design is sleek and customizable with various watch faces and straps, enhancing its appeal. On the downside, the smartwatch’s full potential is best realized when paired with other Apple devices, which might limit its appeal to non-Apple users. Despite this, the Apple Watch Series 10 stands out for its comprehensive features and robust build quality, making it a worthy investment for those in the Apple ecosystem and fitness enthusiasts.

The Garmin Forerunner 255 is a capable waterproof smartwatch particularly appealing for fitness enthusiasts and runners. With a robust water resistance rating, it's suitable for various activities, including swimming. A standout feature is its impressive battery life, lasting up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and 30 hours in GPS mode, which is ideal for long-term usage without frequent recharging.

The smartwatch offers an array of fitness and health tracking features, including heart rate variability (HRV) tracking, sleep monitoring, and adaptive workouts, helping users optimize their training and recovery. The Garmin Coach provides free training plans, which are customizable, enhancing its utility for runners aiming for specific goals like a 5K or half-marathon.

In terms of compatibility, it pairs well with both Apple and Android devices, although Android users benefit from additional functionalities like responding to texts. Its safety and tracking features, including incident detection and real-time location sharing, add an extra layer of security and convenience.

The display is a 1.3-inch round screen, which is easy to read and navigate. However, some might find the screen size slightly small compared to other smartwatches. Its lightweight design (49g) and durable build make it comfortable for daily wear.

While it excels in fitness tracking and safety features, its memory storage capacity of 4 GB is relatively limited, which could be a downside for those looking to store a lot of data or apps directly on the watch. Additionally, it lacks a broad range of third-party app support which might limit its versatility beyond fitness and health tracking.

The Garmin Forerunner 255 is well-suited for fitness-focused users or runners looking for an advanced training companion, offering durability, precise tracking, and substantial battery life, though it might not cater as well to those seeking extensive app ecosystems or greater storage.

The Garmin vívoactive 5 GPS 42mm Smartwatch stands out with its vibrant AMOLED display, offering clear visibility and an engaging user interface. With a substantial battery life of up to 11 days in smartwatch mode, it is ideal for users who seek a low-maintenance wearable. Its extensive health and fitness tracking features, such as Body Battery energy monitoring, personalized sleep coaching, and a variety of sports modes, make it a compelling choice for fitness enthusiasts and anyone interested in health monitoring.

In terms of water resistance, while it includes swimming as one of its sports modes, the detailed water resistance rating isn't specified, which might be an important consideration for serious swimmers or those frequently in water. The compatibility with both Android and iOS offers flexibility for users across different smartphone platforms. The watch's build quality and durability seem robust.

The smartwatch excels with built-in GPS and advanced fitness features, catering well to active users. The unique inclusion of a wheelchair mode shows a thoughtful design approach for accessibility. On the downside, the memory storage is limited at 4 GB, which could restrict the amount of offline music or apps you can store. Additionally, potential buyers outside mainland UK might face delivery restrictions.

The Garmin vívoactive 5 is a well-rounded smartwatch, particularly suitable for those prioritizing fitness and health insights, with good battery performance. For those prioritizing extensive offline features or have specific water usage needs, additional research into these areas may be beneficial.