ZDNET's key takeaways
- The Moto Watch is currently on sale for $150.
- It's a durable, comfortable fitness tracker with nearly 100 workout modes and long-lasting battery life.
- Its lack of third-party app support and basic feature set may leave power users wanting more.
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Last year, Motorola re-entered the smartwatch market after a long hiatus with the Moto Watch Fit. I didn't get a chance to review it personally, but the overall response from critics and users online was largely positive. For 2026, the company followed up with a brand-new wearable simply called the Moto Watch.
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I've spent the past few weeks testing it, and I genuinely enjoyed my time with the smartwatch. It nails the basics down and is very easy to use. Still, as much fun as I had, I couldn't shake off the bigger question: Is this enough to put Motorola at the top of the smartwatch market? To be totally honest, I don't know. The Moto Watch is a solid wearable, but certain limitations may leave users a little disappointed.
Comfort meets durability
The design is one of my favorite aspects. The Moto Watch has a circular chassis with slightly thick bezels around the glass. These flourishes reminded me a lot of Samsung's Galaxy Watch 8, although Motorola's watch is larger, measuring 47 x 47 x 12mm (1.8 x 1.8 x 0.4 inches) and weighing 40 grams. For comparison, the Galaxy Watch 8 measures 42.7 x 40.4 x 8.6mm and weighs 30 grams.
At a glance, that extra heft sounds like it would make the Moto Watch cumbersome, but it really doesn't. It's actually quite comfortable to wear. I was able to jog, lift weights, and even sleep without feeling inconvenienced.
The Moto Watch houses a vibrant 1.43-inch OLED screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to prevent scratches from ruining the colorful display. Setup is super simple; all you have to do is download the Moto Watch app on your phone, pair it to your mobile device, and follow the guided instructions. Within minutes, you're up and running.Â
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Durability is another strong point, as the Moto Watch carries an IP68 resistance rating. This means it's fully protected against dust, can handle brief freshwater submersion up to one meter, and can withstand splashes. You'll still want to take it off before swimming or showering. However, according to Motorola, prolonged exposure to water can degrade resistance.
Navigating the Moto Watch is pretty intuitive. Swiping down from the top opens the Quick Settings panel, while swiping up launches notifications. A left or right swipe cycles through widgets such as the pedometer and the weather forecast.Â
The crown on the upper right side brings up the full drawer, providing quick access to Workout Modes, the phone dialer, a remote shutter for your smartphone's camera, and other apps. Below that is a customizable button that instantly launches features it's tied to. By default, it opens the Workout Modes.
Polar-powered watch
What's interesting about the Moto Watch is that it doesn't run on Google's Wear OS. Instead, Motorola partnered up with fitness brand Polar to develop a proprietary operating system. It leverages Polar's health algorithms to power many features. Ironically, the interface resembles Wear OS a bit, particularly in the app grid layout. Regardless of any similarities, the software succeeds in what it aims to accomplish: it's clean, responsive, and easy to navigate.
Battery life is incredible. At the time of this writing, the Moto Watch has been running for five days straight, and it's only dropped to 49% charge. The company claims it can go nearly twice that amount, hitting 13 days. No matter how you shake it, this smartwatch has impressive longevity, far outlasting rivals like the Galaxy Watch FE, which has a reported maximum runtime of 30 hours. I should mention that there isn't a dedicated battery saver mode, so extending the hours mostly comes down to limiting usage and disabling features.
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Like every other fitness band, the Moto Watch tracks a wide range of health and fitness metrics, all viewable on the device itself or in the companion app. After a gym session, you can see your peak heart rate, total calories burned, and a breakdown of which energy sources your body relied on most: carbs, fat, or protein. Cardio workouts provide similar in-depth information, including average speed, cadence, and distance ran.
Sleep tracking is handled through the Nightly Recharge feature, which evaluates how well your body recovered overnight. In my case, it bluntly told me my sleep was “compromised”.
While the data is helpful, I wish the guidance were more detailed. To improve my sleep, I was told to do something relaxing and, while relaxing, focus on my surroundings. I think that's supposed to be a suggestion to meditate, but the app never explains anything in detail. A bit more directed coaching would've been appreciated.
Another area where the wearable falls short is in its overall versatility. This is a barebones smartwatch — it covers the essentials and not much else. You can't even install third-party apps on the device. A company rep told me “users can choose which third-party apps they'd like to receive notifications from”, but that's it. What comes preinstalled is what you get.
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Also, the smartwatch only comes with 512MB of storage. That's not a lot. To put that into perspective, the average audiobook file is roughly 280MB. So, you have enough space for a single audiobook and maybe a small music playlist. Since there's no native streaming app support, you'll need to manually upload audio files through the phone app. It works, but far from seamless.
ZDNET's buying advice
The Moto Watch is currently on sale for $150 and is available in just one color: Volcanic Ash (black). Currently, no first-party replacement bands are available. The watch does support universal 22mm bands, so you can swap out the strap for most third-party 22mm options.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the wearable's design, fitness-tracking tech, and excellent battery life, the limited software support and restrictive 512MB of storage hold it back. If you're willing to spend about $50 more, Samsung's Galaxy Watch FE can deliver a more developed experience.
