T-Mobile offers several data plans that allow you to connect smartwatches to their network. With a robust LTE network covering over 325 million people in the US, T-Mobile provides reliable connectivity for wearables from top brands like Apple, Samsung, and Garmin.
In this comprehensive guide, we evaluate the latest T-Mobile smartwatches to help you find the best model for your needs and budget.
How T-Mobile Plans Work With Smart Watches
Many of today’s smartwatches allow you to add a cellular plan through your wireless carrier to enable calling, texting, app streaming, and internet access without a paired phone nearby.
T-Mobile offers two main options for connecting smartwatches:
- Wearable plans: Standalone data plans tailored for smartwatches and fitness trackers. These give you lower-cost access to T-Mobile’s network at $5 or $10 per month.
- Connected device plans: Share data from your phone plan for $10 per month added to your bill. This uses your phone plan’s hotspot data allotment.
Both options allow downloading apps and streaming content directly on your watch via LTE data speeds. You’ll get the same coverage as a T-Mobile phone plan, with over 5G and LTE bands supported.
Now, let’s compare the best T-Mobile smartwatch options on the market today across different brands, price tiers, and feature sets.
Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular)
The Apple Watch Series 8 stands out as the overall best T-Mobile smartwatch available thanks to Apple’s intuitive wearable operating system, sleek and durable hardware, advanced health sensors, long battery life, and deep connectivity with other Apple devices.
Overview
- Retail Price: $499+
- Cellular Plan: $10 per month
- Dimensions: 41 x 35 x 10.7 mm
- Display: 1.9” or 1.79” LTPO OLED (always-on)
- Materials: Aluminum, Stainless Steel, or Titanium
- Battery Life: 36 hours
- Waterproof Rating: WR50
- Connectivity: LTE, UMTS, WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0
- Sensors: Optical heart sensor, ECG, blood oxygen sensor, always-on altimeter
Key Features
The Apple Watch Series 8 builds on previous models with:
- Durable flat-edge design in 41mm and 45mm sizes
- New temperature sensor for women’s health tracking
- Crash detection feature to contact emergency services after a severe car accident
- Powerful S8 chip with fast app performance
- watchOS 9 software update with added fitness metrics and sleep stages
- 18-hour fast charging capability
- International emergency calling support without an iPhone
- Storage space from 32GB to 64GB
As an iOS-first smartwatch, the Apple Watch seamlessly pairs with iPhones for accessing iMessage texts, phone calls, notifications, Apple Pay features, Siri voice assistance, Find My tracking, and thousands more apps.
With a cellular connection, you can stay connected on the go without a paired iPhone nearby. Stream Apple Music playlists, make calls through your T-Mobile number, get app notifications, and use Maps for turn-by-turn directions.
Where to Buy
The Apple Watch Series 8 is available for order from T-Mobile.com or in T-Mobile stores, starting at $499 for GPS models or $599 for GPS + Cellular.
Add the $10 per month smartwatch plan to share data with your phone and enable LTE connectivity.
Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro LTE
The Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro delivers an immersive wearable experience for Android users who want a rugged, full-featured smartwatch with advanced health tracking perks and 5G speeds while untethered from a phone.
Overview
- Retail Price: $449
- Cellular Plan: $10 per month
- Dimensions: 45.4 x 45.4 x 10.5 mm
- Display: 1.4” Super AMOLED (450 x 450 pixels)
- Materials: Titanium
- Battery Life: 80 hours
- Waterproof Rating: 5ATM + IP68 / MIL-STD-810H
- Connectivity: LTE, 5G, UMTS, WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0
- Sensors: BioActive Sensor (Optical Heart Rate + Electrical Heart signal + Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor
Key Features
As Samsung’s most durable and long-lasting smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch5 Pro brings:
- Rugged titanium design with raised bezel
- Large 1.4” always-on display with Sapphire Crystal protection
- Up to 80 hours of battery life, depending on usage
- Tracks sleep patterns, snore detection, blood oxygen levels
- Advanced run coaching with vertical oscillation and ground contact time
- Route imports from popular apps like Komoot and LiveTrack
- Turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps
- LTE connectivity for calls, texts, and app streaming untethered from phone
- 32GB storage for music, apps, payments
- 5G speeds were supported on T-Mobile’s network
- IP68 water resistance rating
- MIL-STD extreme condition protections
This premium smartwatch pairs best with Samsung Galaxy phones but also works well with all Android phones and even iPhones. Connect the Galaxy Watch5 Pro to the Galaxy Wearable app for customizing watch faces and settings. Enable touch-to-wake gestures, AOD brightness, do-not-disturb modes, bedtime mode, and more.
Where to Buy
Order the Galaxy Watch5 Pro LTE on T-Mobile.com or purchase in a T-Mobile store starting at $449.99. Then, add a $10 per month smartwatch plan to enable calling, texting, app streaming, and notifications over LTE networks without needing your phone nearby.
Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar
Serious athletes and adventurers should consider the multi-sport Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar smartwatch for its extensive fitness tracking capabilities, solar-assisted battery boosting, full maps, and expedition-ready durability.
Overview
- Retail Price: $899
- Cellular Plan: $10 per month
- Dimensions: 51 x 51 x 14.9 mm
- Display: 1.4” touchscreen transflective memory-in-pixel
- Materials: Sapphire crystal, titanium, power glass solar lens
- Battery Life: Up to 5 weeks (solar charging boosts up to 49 days)
- Waterproof Rating: 10 ATM
- Connectivity: Multi-band LTE and UMTS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ANT+, GPS/GLONASS/Galileo
- Sensors: Compass, gyroscope, thermometer, altimeter, accelerometer, heart rate, pulse oximeter
Key Features
The high-end Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar smart watch shines with the following:
- Rugged design built to military standards
- Solar-harvesting Power Glass lens boosts battery
- Topographical full-color maps with turn-by-turn routing
- ABC sensors (altimeter, barometer, compass) plus gyroscope and accelerometer
- Blood oxygen sensor with respiration tracking
- Training readiness score to optimize workouts
- Real-time stamina insights
- FusedSpeed algorithm combines GPS and sensors for accurate pace/distance
- Garmin Pay contactless payments
- Plays offline music playlists with Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer support
Built for athletes and outdoor adventurers, the Garmin Fenix 7X offers dedicated modes for running, pool/open water swimming, cycling, hiking, paddle sports, golf, alpine skiing, plus strength workouts, Pilates, breathwork, and more.
Enable cellular connectivity to get smart notifications, stream data like routes/waypoints synced from Garmin Connect, and trigger assistance alerts through the built-in incident detection feature, which contacts emergency services if you’re injured or stranded outside of cell service.
Where to Buy
The Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar edition is sold at T-Mobile.com for $899.99. Add the $10 monthly Connected Device plan to share data from your phone plan over LTE networks for connectivity anywhere.
Benefits of T-Mobile Smart Watches
Why consider adding cellular connectivity from T-Mobile to your smartwatch? Key perks include:
- No phone required: Receive app alerts and make calls from your wrist anywhere in the T-Mobile coverage area without needing your phone nearby connected via Bluetooth
- Safety feature: Built-in fall detection, incident detection, and emergency SOS contacting can help if injured or stranded outside of cell phone range
- Directions on the go: Download offline maps to navigate hiking/cycling trails and unfamiliar cities using turn-by-turn voice prompts
- Health insights: Stream key wellness metrics like heart rate, sleep tracking data, respiration tracking, and blood oxygen saturation to your Garmin or Samsung health app
- Enhanced workouts: Play offline Spotify playlists, track pace/distance more accurately, and optimize training with actionable feedback
- Convenient payments: Pay at checkout with just your watch using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, or contactless payments from Garmin and Fitbit
- Call and text: Receive notifications from select apps or send/receive messages without digging your phone out of your bag
For these key perks over WiFi-only smartwatches, adding LTE connectivity through T-Mobile makes sense for users wanting untethered access to contacts, wellness data, and navigation guidance from their wearable.
Finding the Best Plan for Your Smart Watch
To connect your Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch5 Pro, or Garmin smartwatch to T-Mobile’s network, you have two options:
1. Dedicated wearable plan
For $5 or $10 per month, T-Mobile offers data-only plans designed just for wearables like smartwatches, fitness trackers, and tablets:
- $5 per month: 500MB high-speed data and unlimited 2G-speed data afterward
- $10 per month: 5GB of high-speed data and unlimited 2G-speed data afterward
These affordable standalone plans work in your T-Mobile smartwatch even when you don’t connect it to an iPhone or Android smartphone. You can add multiple wearable devices to your account and manage each with a separate phone number for calls/texts.
2. Connected device plan
Alternatively, you can add your smartwatch to your existing T-Mobile phone plan for $10 per month and share data from your monthly allotment. This routes all activity on your smartwatch through your primary phone number instead of assigning the wearable a separate number.
For most users, the $10 per month connected device add-on makes managing bills easier since it gets tacked onto your ongoing phone bill. If you foresee needing more than 5GB of monthly data for streaming apps and content directly on your smartwatch, the connected device route taps into higher pools of data you already pay for on your phone plan.
Be sure to calculate your data needs before selecting the best value. With so many apps and capabilities on modern smartwatches, it’s easy to burn through the basic plans if you stream music and video frequently when untethered from WiFi.
Get the Most Out of Your T-Mobile Smart Watch
Once you’ve selected the right T-Mobile smartwatch and data plan for your connectivity needs and budget, make sure to utilize all the unique features of that wearable model.
For example, if you splurge on the advanced Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar, take full advantage of its ABC sensors, training readiness scores, real-time stamina monitoring, maps/navigation, incident detection, and more specialized perks.
And if you opt for an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch5, spend time personalizing your watch face, notifications, activity goals, and music playback preferences in the iOS or Android companion apps.
Fine-tuning these settings helps justify the extra monthly expense of LTE connectivity from T-Mobile versus a WiFi-only smartwatch model. Take full advantage of the freedom from needing your phone nearby wherever you roam within T-Mobile’s extensive coverage.