The OnePlus Watch 3 Could Be 2025’s Best Wear OS Smartwatch

Is it too early to call the OnePlus Watch 3 the best Wear OS smartwatch of 2025? Yes. It’s way too early. OnePlus just announced the watch’s release date earlier this week; we still don’t know all the official specs/features, and we’ve yet to properly review it. However, assuming OnePlus plays all of its cards right, that could be the outcome we’re headed toward.

OnePlus teased the OnePlus Watch 3 on February 10, revealing the smartwatch’s name, launch date, a handful of specs, and some official renders. It’s far from a full unveiling, but what we have learned is enough to make me more interested in the OnePlus Watch 3 than I was a week ago.

I still have some concerns, and plenty about the smartwatch remains unknown. But looking at what we now know, I think it’s safe to say OnePlus could have something special on its hands — perhaps one of the best smartwatches of 2025.

The OnePlus Watch 3 fixes one of my biggest complaints

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

OnePlus got a lot right with the OnePlus Watch 2, particularly its design. It looks and feels luxurious, and while I initially didn’t love the slight protrusion from the right part of the body, I came around to it pretty quickly. It’s a handsome smartwatch, and with IP68 water resistance and a MIL-STD-810 durability rating, it’s equally functional, too.

Unfortunately, one annoying flaw held back my love for the OnePlus Watch 2’s design: its rotating crown. Like many other modern smartwatches, the OnePlus Watch 2 has a physically rotating crown. Unlike other modern smartwatches, though, rotating the Watch 2’s crown doesn’t do anything. You’d expect spinning it to scroll through apps, menus, etc., but no. For some reason, OnePlus left that functionality out.

Thankfully, that’s no longer true with the OnePlus Watch 3. In an interview with TechRadar, OnePlus confirmed that the rotating crown on the Watch 3 navigates apps and menus as you’d expect. Praise be.

Finally, a OnePlus Watch with a crown that does something.

I’ve heard some people say complaints about the non-functional crown on the OnePlus Watch 2 were overblown, but I really don’t think they were. This has been expected functionality on smartwatches for years. It would have been one thing if OnePlus hadn’t included a crown and just used a regular button in its place. But OnePlus went to the trouble of creating a rotating crown and then not adding the functionality users expected, which made it sting that much more.

This was one of my biggest complaints about the OnePlus Watch 2, and I’m thrilled to see it addressed on the OnePlus Watch 3.

Other changes I’m happy to see

The updated crown is a big deal, but it’s not the only exciting upgrade confirmed for the OnePlus Watch 3. OnePlus also announced that the battery life is longer on this year’s model, promising up to five days (120 hours) of usage when in smart mode. Compared to the 100-hour battery life promise of the OnePlus Watch 2, that’s a healthy increase.

Battery life was one of my favorite aspects of the OnePlus Watch 2. Exact battery life depends on your usage, but in my testing, I found the watch to easily last three days per charge. Those battery gains are even more impressive in Power Saver mode. Where the OnePlus Watch 2 was rated for 12 days of use in this battery-saving mode, the OnePlus Watch 3 extends that number to a staggering 16 days.

OnePlus’s focus on battery life and charging is exactly what I want to see.

Of course, we still need to test the OnePlus Watch 3 for ourselves to see how its battery performs in the real world. But seeing as how OnePlus delivered on its battery claims for the Watch 2, there’s no reason to believe it won’t do that again for the Watch 3. It also sounds like OnePlus may have improved the already-great charge speeds, with the company promising “a full day’s use” after charging the Watch 3 for just 10 minutes.

Battery life and charging are two of the most critical aspects of any smartwatch. OnePlus knocked both things out of the park with the OnePlus Watch 2, and to see it double down on that again for the OnePlus Watch 3 is fantastic. No other company making smartwatches is putting as much emphasis on these things, and I’m glad OnePlus is.

Why I’m not 100% sold just yet

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Sounds like the OnePlus Watch 3 is shaping up to be a pretty great smartwatch, right? It is, but I still have my reservations.

On paper, the OnePlus Watch 2 had a strong health/fitness tracking suite, including activity and sleep tracking, stress and HRV monitoring, SpO2 tracking, and more. Unfortunately, it didn’t all come together very nicely.

Why? For one, the OHealth companion app leaves a lot to be desired. It shows a fair amount of health data, but it doesn’t do much with it. It doesn’t explain what changes in your health mean or provide actionable insights. You can’t compete in exercise challenges with friends or earn awards for your workouts. This makes the whole experience very shallow and unmotivating.

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

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Furthermore, the accuracy of the watch’s health tracking was questionable. We found plenty of inaccuracies in our OnePlus Watch 2 review, and I experienced the same with my model. Whether tracking my time asleep or heart rate during a workout, the OnePlus Watch 2 was often wildly off-base from my other wearables. I need my smartwatch to be a capable fitness tracker, and the jury is still out for whether the OnePlus Watch 3 will be one.

Also, while less of a dealbreaker, I really hated most of the OnePlus Watch 2’s watch faces. They were fine at best and ugly at worst. I hope OnePlus spent some of this last year hiring better watch face designers because we can only go up from here.

A Wear OS watch to keep your eye on

OnePlus is set to release the OnePlus Watch 3 on February 18, meaning we don’t have long to wait before we know how its next smartwatch will come together. Will the crown feel good? How will the battery life hold up? Is the charging as fast as OnePlus claims? Is the health tracking better than last year?

As I mentioned at the beginning, there are still many unknowns about the OnePlus Watch 3. But the potential for greatness is there. OnePlus made a good smartwatch with the OnePlus Watch 2, and based on what we know right now, the OnePlus Watch 3 could be a great one.

OnePlus faces stiff competition this year, staring down the barrel of the Google Pixel Watch 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. But I don’t think it’s out of the question to envision a future where the OnePlus Watch 3 bests all of them. OnePlus got part of the way there with the OnePlus Watch 2, and the Watch 3 may be the one that takes OnePlus all the way.