This is my first post on this forum. So, if I choose the wrong subforum, tell it me.
I’m thinking about buying a smartwatch.
Since I currently have a Fairphone 6 running /e/OS, I’d like to know what to look for when making a purchase.
Does anyone have experience with this?
Best regards,
Marianne
I don’t quite understand what you mean by your question. I have a Garmin Instinct 3 myself. On my /e/OS, I have the Garmin app that connects to the watch. It all works perfectly. I don’t know if it works just as well with other brands.
If you want to know which smartwatch suits you best, only you can decide that based on the activities you do. The watch does need to have that particular function, though.
If you’d like to know what makes a good smartwatch, I’d refer you to the test carried out by the Consumentenbond. I’m just not sure if this test is publicly available. You can find the link here:
A forum 
Search: Smartwatch does see the subject discussed from time to time.
Hi Marianne, I use a Withings Scan Watch 2 and the Withings App really works very well with e/OS I think. Best regards Martin
If you are asking with regards to data and privacy, I looked into it a bit before buying a running watch.
Polar was the best and simply said that they don’t share or sell your data to anyone.
The others had extremely long data policies which talked about the various ‘partners‘ who they share data with.
Since you mentioned you have a Fairphone you might also be wondering about ethics in production. Garmin is the only one whose devices are not made in China as far as I am aware. They are made in Taiwan. Suunto might still make a few watches in Finland but they are now owned by a Chinese company and production is moving there.
I know it is too simplistic to say China=bad. Fairphones are made in China, after all. But I think Taiwan has better working conditions generally and factories there don’t have to take orders from the CCP.
Fairphone make smartphones in China but not with companies that exploit Uyghurs. Garmin are made in Taiwan but most of the components come from China so…
But like you said Polar don’t share data and and it is the only major sports watch brand that is not owned by a Chinese fund—at least for now.
As far as I know Garmin is American owned.
I went with Garmin in the end. Polar came second. I wanted an MIP display, solar charging, offline maps and a torch and at the time Garmin was the only option.
The other thing to consider with regards to privacy is the constant Bluetooth and WiFi broadcasting. Every Ring doorbell (other brands are available) knows when you walk past unless you can switch that off easily. It is 2 button presses on mine and I only switch it on to sync an activity. I don’t really think of it as a swartwatch, but rather a sports tracker.
Some Garmin watches have a ’stealth’ mode for military. I don’t know what that does that airplane mode on mine doesn’t, I think it might let you record the length of your run without recording where it actually is, which makes sense if your location is classified.
Just a side note, airplane mode is the wrong term anyway as you can use Bluetooth and WiFi on a plane, but not cellular signal. But that is what Garmin and others call it.
Yeah sorry Garmin is US, Polar is the only one isn’t US or China 
I am also concerned about American companies being forced to share their customers’ data with 3 letter agencies.
But until there is Murena Fairwatch, (or Shift or Gigaset)…
I’m personally in similar situation. Polar and withings are the only current watches that I’d look at but I’m actually waiting for the release of the UNA watch and a bit gutted I only found out about it after the kickstarter
Your data is your data. Why using /e/os and then give all your (smartwatch)data to Garmin, Polar, Amazfit, or whatever commercial cloud?
Just checkout https://gadgetbridge.org , see which smartwatches are supported and keep your data local.
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Gadgetbridge is a free and open source Android application that allows you to pair and manage various gadgets such as smart watches, bands, headphones, and more without the need for the vendor application. So in short, you can use Gadgetbridge instead of relying on your gadget’s own proprietary app.
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Apart from data and privacy you may also be wondering which smartwatches simply work with /e/os and with which apps? I would be interested in experiences, too - although I expect they simply all work same as they do on regular android. For me the xiaomi mi band 7 worked 100% fine with the Mi Fitness app (no longer in my possession, my teenager has it now). Of course the data go to some untraceable Chinese cloud, so there’s that. But I was the second owner and am very motivated about hardware longevity.
if I recall correctly, Garmin also contributed greatly to Trump ‘s presidential campaign.
Hi Marianne,
I opted as well for a Withings Scanwatch. My motivation:
I’ve had Garmin for some years, so when I got a Fairphone with e/OS last year in lieu of the current US president, I deleted my Garmin account and kept the watch offline. I used gadgetbridge for a while, but turned it off in the end, not really needing it. I use the watch for keeping track of health: bodybattery, stress and HRV. The sleep function is not useful. The only thing I miss is bodybattery history, the watch only keeps one month of data.