10 Best Smartwatches for Dexcom G6 in 2021: After 13 Weeks of Testing

Are you looking for advice on purchasing a smartwatch that’s compatible with Dexcom G6? You’ve come to the right place, because unlike other guides, I’ve made this list after 13 weeks of testing different watches with CGM.

Before we begin: The Dexcom G6 doesn’t directly connect to any smartwatch. Basically, the sensor is connected to your smartphone which sends the data to your smartwatch. It means that your alarms, alerts, readings won’t directly synchronize with your watch in the absence of a smartphone.

Smartwatches are multi-purpose devices, even if your main purpose is to use them checking your glucose readings, they can do a lot more. For instance, they can help you track your sleep, steps, heart-rate, calories, listen to music, set reminders (useful for seniors), and many other things.

Best Smartwatches for Dexcom G6

Since you’re using the Dexcom G6, health and activity tracking could be a priority, however, the smartwatch use shall not be limited to it. I’ve made this list considering all other uses to make sure that there’s a watch in this list that’ll satisfy your smartwatch requirements. So, shall we begin with the list?

1. Best For Android: Fossil Gen 5 Garrett

Fossil Gen 5 is a fashionable smartwatch that you can buy at a modest price of 240 Dollars. It is compatible with the Dexcom G6 app, so it will show your BG on the watch. You will not have to go anywhere near your pump or any other device.

The watch is based on the WearOS operating system by Google. It is straightforward to use, and you will learn all of its shortcuts within a day of its arrival. To pair it up with a smartphone, it must have Android 6.0+ or iOS 10.0+.

In terms of sensors and smartwatch features, you will be getting Altimeter Sensor, Ambient Light, Gyroscope, Heart Rate, Microphone Speaker, NFC, and GPS with this watch. They are quite fast and will deliver accurate results to you.

Fossil Gen 5 is a swim-proof watch that comes with a rating of 5 ATM. So, you can take it to the swimming pool with yourself or the ocean. Thanks to its numerous workout modes, it will count your laps, distance swam, average speed, and stroke type when swimming.

Battery backup of the watch will vary, depending on your usage. You can put it in Daily mode to get the most out of its features or put it in extended mode to improve its screen time. My advice would be to use a combination of both to get the best results.

The watch is available in a total of 7 colors, which you can check out on the link mentioned above. They have different prices so choose the one that fits your budget.

2. Best For Apple: Apple Watch Series 6

Although the Apple Watch Series 6 is among the best-rated options available, it is NOT compatible with Android phones (including the ones from Samsung, OnePlus, Google Pixel, LG, Motorola), so make sure to choose it only if you’re having an Apple iPhone.

The Apple Watch Series 6 is the latest wearable that Apple currently makes. When it comes to music streaming, Apple does both Spotify and Apple Music. Of course, all the Spotify ecosystem features and transferring songs via. Airplay 2 to a compatible TV or speaker also works.

Compatibility & Connectivity

While the Apple Watch Series 6 is compatible with Dexcom G6, it won’t work with Android smartphones. Therefore, if you own an Android phone, then you should avoid getting the Apple Watch Series 6 or any other WatchOS device. However, if you own an iPhone, then this device shall provide the best smartwatch experience.

Now, as far as connectivity goes, the Series 6 is one of the only devices to do both 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands on 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. There is also Bluetooth 5.0 and 4G LTE support in case you got a cellular model.

Design and Build Quality

The design hasn’t really changed much compared to the Series 5 from last year or the Series 4 from the year before that. The base model still comes with an Aluminum case with a glass top and the digital crown is located on the side and you do get a red ring on top of it in case you have the cellular model.

Note: There are also a couple of premium models available with either Stainless Steel or Titanium option with a Sapphire top.

Apple also includes a 5ATM water resistance rating which is standard in all variants. This allows the device to track all those swimming sessions without getting damaged and if you want, you can also wear the device while you’re surfing. However, don’t take it to skin diving as it can’t handle it.

Display and Watch Faces

The display on the Apple Watch Series 6 (1.78-inch on the 44mm and 1.57-inch on the 40mm) is brighter and more energy-efficient compared to its predecessor.

The LTPO OLED panel has gotten better over-time and although the peak brightness still tops at 1000 nits, it is now twice as bright in the always-on display mode compared to the Series 5.

The quality of the panel is top-notch as well with great visuals, infinite contrast and there are a few Dexcom G6 related watch faces that help you get the details your sensor has tracked.

Storage and RAM

The internals are pretty great with the latest S6 SOC from Apple, handling all the heavy-lifting and there is around 1GB of RAM to back it up. This allows a fast & smooth performance with faster app opening times compared to the Series 5 and 32GB of internal storage is more than enough to store all the third-party apps and offline songs you may need.

Health and Fitness Tracking

Coming to the health and fitness stuff, the Series 6 is definitely one of the best health and fitness tracking smartwatches out there. It can take ECG readings using the sensor located at the bottom and the digital crown on the side.

Alongside that, it also does Blood Oxygen Monitoring, all-day Heart Rate Monitoring, Sleep Tracking, Step Counting, Distance Tracking, Swim Tracking, Workout Tracking, and much more.

Battery Life

The Apple Watch Series 6 can do up to 18 hours of mixed usage on a single charge. If you’re listening to music on Spotify, you’ll be getting around 7 hours of music streaming or around 10 hours if you’ve downloaded the songs beforehand. Thankfully there is Fast Charging to top it up from 0% to 80% just within an hour.

Why should you get it?

So overall, if you are looking for the best of the best in the Apple world, the Series 6 is currently the best option you can get. It works really well with Spotify and has one of the best health and fitness monitoring options in the entire wearable industry. If you have the budget and you use an iPhone, you can’t go wrong with the Apple Watch Series 6.

3. Best Value For Money: Misfit Vapor 2

Misfit Vapor 2 is a stylish stainless watch that is much cheaper than the Apple Series 6 watch that we just discussed. It is compatible with more devices than the Series 5, as it works with all kinds of Android devices in addition to the iOS ones.

How to Set up Dexcom G6 on it?

Being a WearOS watch, it’s compatible with Dexcom G6. To get the readings from transmitter on the smartwatch, install the official Dexcom G6 app from the Play Store, and connect it to your smartphone.

Enable the watch face, and this will give you a detailed account of your Glucose data on your smartwatch. It will tell you if it is increasing or decreasing at any point during the day.

What are the other sensors and apps you can use?

There are plenty of sensors and apps on this watch that will help you to complete your fitness goals and monitor your health at all times, they are GPS, HR Monitor, Activity Tracker, Custom Goals Mode, and Google Fitness Apps from the Play Store.

How’s the Battery Life?

Battery backup of the Misfit Vapor 2 is 24 hours in Smartwatch mode. However, it will vary depending on your usage. If you keep GPS and HR monitoring on at all times, it will consume more energy; otherwise, it will easily go beyond the 24-hour mark.

You can buy the Misfit Vapor 2 for about 130 Dollars, and it comes in a single Black color. Check it out on the link mentioned above.

4. Best From LG: LG LGW270 Smartwatch

LG W270 is a simple yet effective smartwatch that will not cost you much money. So, if you can not afford the higher prices of other watches, check this one out. It has all the features that you would ever need in the form of GPS, Accelerometer, and ALS sensors. It is compatible with the Dexcom G6 app too. However, you would have to set it up on its Wear OS your own.

The watch has a 1.2-inch OLED panel, which is a bit small. It might put stress on the eyes of some of the customers. If that is the case with you, I would recommend you to look at other products on this list. Otherwise, it works very well.

The watch is compatible with all the Android and iOS devices. So, you can use it with any device that you want. Just make sure that the Android OS is above 4.3 and the iOS version is above 9.0.

The watch is rated IP67 for water resistance. Light rain and dust storms will have no effect on it. However, you can not take it inside the water as it is not waterproof. It will malfunction if you choose to do that.

Use the Google Assistant or any other smart assistant to give the watch commands. Its microphone works very well and can pick even the slightest of audios.

You can get the LG W270 for about 100 Dollars, and it comes with a warranty of 1 year. It is perfect for people who are low on money and can not spend much.

5. Best Under Budget: TicWatch Pro

TicWatch Pro is the ultimate budget smartwatch. Not everybody has 500 Dollars lying around waiting to be spent on a smartwatch, so we had to include it on our list.

The watch is compatible with Dexcom G6, so it will show you your glucose readings on its display at all times. However, you will have to configure this setting on your own.

With 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, you can install all kinds of apps on its WearOS. This user interface of the watch works very smoothly and swiftly, and I am sure you will love navigating around it. Just do not fill the watch with rubbish apps that you do not use, as that will slow it down.

Mobvoi has provided plenty of sensors inside the TicWatch Pro. You will get Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Magnetic Sensor, PPG HR Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, and Low Latency Off-body sensor. Their names are self-explanatory, so I will not go into the details of explaining their use.

The watch is rated IP68 for Water and Dust Resistance, so you can take it to any weather that you want. It will not give out on you quickly.

Battery backup is one of the best aspects of the watch. It will consistently give you 3 days of usage on a full charge, with all the sensors turned on. You can also push the battery life to a maximum of 30 days in its Essential only mode. However, it will disable all of its sensors.

You can get the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro for about 208 Dollars, and it comes with a warranty of 1 year. It comes in 2 colors, Black and Silver.

6. Best For Swimming: Ticwatch S2 Waterproof Smartwatch

TicWatch S2 is another excellent budget smartwatch. If you are not looking to spend a lot of money, then this would be an ideal device for you. You can pair it up with the Dexcom G6 app, and see your Blood Glucose level on your wrist at all times.

The watch is based on WearOS by Google. It functions on 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage space. Out of this 4 GB, you can use 2 GB of space to store your music on the watch and listen to it. Overall, this UI works very smoothly and will not give you any problems whatsoever.

S2 is waterproof up to 5 ATM, so if you like swimming you would be able to do it with ease. Just remember that you will not be able to operate the watch underwater, as all of its touch functions are disabled to prevent accidental touch.

Other fitness-related features of the watch are Heart Rate monitoring, Steps and Calorie counter, fitness apps like Google Fit, Strava, Runkeeper, and more. It will offer you all kinds of activities like Running, Trekking, Swimming, Interval Training, etc.

You can get the TicWatch S2 for about 170 Dollars, and it comes with a warranty of 1 year. It is available in 2 fantastic colors, Midnight and Glacier. The Midnight variant of the watch has a price tag, so go with the other one, if you want to save money.

7. Best Design: Fossil Gen 4 Expolorist

Fossil Gen 4 Explorist is a previous generation watch, like its younger brother Gen 5 Garrett has been released. However, the price tag of that watch is a bit high, so if you can not afford that one, try the Fossil Gen 4 Expolorist. It has similar features and supports the Dexcom G6 app entirely.

The watch comes with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage space. Most of this space is taken up by the system files, and you would be able to use just a little more than 2.5 GB for your apps and music. It is enough for the apps as they do not take much space, but not for the music. I do not think you can fit your entire playlist on the watch.

Gen 4 might be a previous year’s watch, but it still is capable of tracking your heart rate, sleep cycles, workouts, calories burned, distance traveled/swam with accuracy. You will not feel much of a difference between the readings of Gen 4 and Gen 5. So, do not let the fact that it uses old technology bothers you. It will give you the same performance, despite this shortcoming.

Battery backup is the only place where you will get significant improvement from Gen 4 to Gen 5. The Gen 4 that we are discussing will max out at a day’s of screen time, but the Gen 5 can go for multiple days.

8. Best For Women: Fossil Women's Sport Watch

Fossil Women’s Sport Metal is a compact and durable smartwatch that does not cost too much money. As the name suggests, this watch is ideal just for women, so my male readers should skip to the next product unless you are buying it for someone else.

It comes with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage space. These specs are perfect for the price it comes for, and you would have to pay more money if you want better ones.

If you are a fitness enthusiast, you would love the Sport Metal. It comes with several advanced sensors that keep an eye on your health and fitness. It has a 24 x 7 HR sensor, GPS, GLONASS, Ambient Light Sensor, Accelerometer, Gyro, and more sensors.

The watch will work fluently with the Google Assistant. Summon it by saying “OK Google”, and it will give you the ability to make/reject calls, get real-time notifications from text messages, emails, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also ask it to read out your calendar, set alarms, reminders, and more.

The battery backup of this watch is 24. It is impressive, given the number of sensors and features that it has. However, you will have to charge it regularly.

The watch is rated 5 ATM for water resistance. So, you can swim along with it in the pool or the ocean. The water will have no effect on it when it is submerged. 

You can purchase the Fossil Sport Metal for about 190 Dollars from the link mentioned above. It comes in 13 different colors.

9. Best Thin Smartwatch: Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3

Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3 is a stylish smartwatch that is 100 percent compatible with Dexcom G6 devices and the app. If you want a watch that makes a statement each time you wear it, try this Armani watch.

The watch is compatible with all the devices that have Android OS 6.0+ and iOS 10+. It is based on the WearOS by Google, so you will have plenty of apps to play with, thanks to Google’s Playstore.

Google Fit and GPS will keep track of all your activities. The watch also has an HR sensor that will measure your heart rate when you are working out. You can go to swimming, running, trekking, cycling, and it will consistently take your measurements in the form of calories burned, stroke used, distance traveled, steps taken, average speed, and more.

Numerous battery modes of the Smartwatch 3 will allow you to use it for multiple days on a single charge. This is a significant improvement on its older brother the Smartwatch 2, which lasts only for about a day.

Other key features of the watch are NFC Payments, Smart Notifications, Google Assistant Responses, Access to third-party apps, Custom watch faces, music control, and more. You can buy the Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3 for about 225 Dollars, and it comes in 10 colors. Check them out on the link mentioned above.

10. Cheapest Dexcom G6 Watch: Polar M600 Smartwatch

Polar M600 comes with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage space. It is based on the Android Wear 1.5 version out of the box, but you can upgrade it to AW 2.0 by connecting it to a WiFi. I recommend you do this as soon as it arrives.

You can send your Dexcom readings to Polar M600 Smartwatch, but you will have to set up the devices and apps on your own. The company has not given any instructions on how to do it.

The 1.3-inch display of the Polar M600 is crystal clear and sharp. It is bright too, so you can read whatever has been written on it quite easily. Let them be text messages, numbers, or animations of workouts.

M600 would do all those things that you would expect from a smartwatch. It will track your sleep, heart rate, runs, cycling, swimming, and more. It will also give you smart notifications, the option to reject/answer calls, set silent alarms, make NFC payments, etc.

Arguably, the best feature of this watch is its battery life. It does not seem to end, even when all of its sensors are up and running. You can count on it to last for multiple days on the minimum.

Polar M600 is priced at 200 Dollars, and it can be bought from the link mentioned above.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Verdict

All the watches that we have discussed on this list are compatible with the Dexcom G6 app and its sensors. You can pick any smartwatch and keep an eye on your BG conveniently.

Keep in mind that the watch will only display the readings and not take them. Their accuracy will depend on the Dexcom G6 transmitter (which is quite known for accuracy). Therefore, you can order any smartwatch from this list, and it will get the job done.