Introduction
It didn’t take long for Huawei’s Watch Fit wearables to morph from basic fitness bands to direct shots across the bow of the Apple Watch. The latest generation now has enough smarts to rival dedicated GPS sports watches, having borrowed some internals and software features from the firm’s Watch GT line.
Unlike those models, which look like traditional timepieces and are more targeted towards athletes, the Watch Fit 5 Pro (and its Watch Fit 5 baby brother) is aimed at a A hipper, more youthful audience. One that isn’t looking to set PBs on the regular, but wants to keep at least one eye on their general fitness levels.
Landing at £250 in the UK and €299 in Europe (as is now the norm for all Huawei kit, there’ll be no US launch) it commands slightly more cash than the Apple Watch SE 3 – but has its rival licked for battery, promising up to 10 days per charge. With plenty of other smarts behind-the-scenes, is it deserving of a spot on your wrist?
Design & build: don’t call it a clone
While Apple doesn’t have ownership over square-faced smartwatches, there’s no denying the Watch Fit 5 Pro has a lot in common style-wise with the Apple Watch lineup. I think Huawei has arguably done a better job here, though, with far skinnier bezels meaning more of the face is filled by screen. The crown guard between the digital crown and secondary button is a welcome touch that meant I saw very few accidental presses.
The 2.5D sapphire glass is very subtle, only curving at the extreme edges and not giving me any issues with reflections or glare. It blends smoothly into the titanium alloy bezel, which itself sits flush with the aluminium casing. This is a watch that feels more premium than its price suggests.
It’s a skinny thing, protruding less than 10mm up from your wrist. I thought it looked a little small on me, but that’s partly because I usually wear a massive 51mm Garmin Fenix 8 Pro; most people will probably be right at home here. I definitely found it easier to sleep with it on my wrist than the chunky Garmin.
My black review unit arrived with a colour-matched fluoroelastomer (ie rubber) strap, which has a buckle clasp that stayed secure during exercise and proprietary lugs that’ll limit your options when it comes to replacements. I’d be more tempted by the white version, which has a micro-arc oxidation surface treatment that looks and feels like ceramic, or the orange variant, which ships with the same fabric strap as the Watch GT Runner 2. It’s lighter and more breathable, though it does take longer to dry after getting wet (or sweaty).
Screen and interface: hip to be square
At 1.92in the Watch Fit 5 Pro’s OLED display is bigger than any previous edition. Slimming down the bezels between generations has made quite the difference, and means Huawei’s wearable now has a higher screen-to-bezel ratio than the Apple Watch Series 11.
It’s a lovely display, with a sharp enough resolution to make even small text legible at arms’ length and punchy colours. OLED tech helps the screen blend almost perfectly with the bezel when using darker watch faces and the scratch-resistant glass stayed free from scrapes or scuffs throughout my testing.
Huawei reckons peak brightness is a retina-searing 3000 nits; I had no complaints about outdoor visibility, even while wearing sunglasses. Viewing angles are fantastic too.
Because it’s an LTPO panel, the refresh rate can drop from 60Hz all the way down to 1Hz for static content. That helps the always-on display mode from becoming a major battery drain, although I still stuck with the ‘raise-to-wake’ mode in order to eke out an extra day or two between charges.
Square shape aside, I found the general layout virtually unchanged from Huawei’s other wearables. The HarmonyOS interface puts widgets, notifications and quick settings a single swipe away from the homescreen, while a handful of quick cards for things like music controls, calendar appointments and weather updates viewable to the left.
The app drawer pops open with a press of the digital crown. Huawei’s usual long list of health and fitness apps are all present and as usual you’ll have to open each one individually to grant it access to the watch’s sensor suite. Why this can’t be a one-and-done thing during the initial setup is beyond me. Still, it reacts to taps and swipes very quickly, with apps loading in a blink.
Other apps include music controls, either for tracks saved to your phone or those on the watch itself, a remote camera shutter, and the option to answer incoming phone calls. Notifications pinged through instantly when paired to an Android handset. Contactless payments are now supported through Curve, which is very welcome, and with the right map packs downloaded you can also have phone-free navigation. Huawei’s App Gallery is otherwise more restrictive than either the Google Play Store or Apple Watch app store.
That the Watch Fit 5 Pro plays nicely with iOS phones is a big advantage over the Android Wear alternatives. It’s also great to see the Huawei Health companion app being easier to install on Samsung phones, now you can find it through the Samsung Galaxy Store, but anyone with another Android handset must still sideload it. This is something Google is actively trying to make harder in the name of user safety, which could be a real headache once Android 17 makes it official.
Approving all the right access permissions is also particularly tricky on less popular makes of handset, as the app can’t direct you straight to the relevant Settings screen. These are issues rival smartwatches simply don’t have to worry about.
Health & fitness: breathe easy
With Huawei’s dual-band Sunflower GPS module and latest Trusense sensor suite, you’re really not missing out on anything by picking the Watch Fit 5 Pro over the firm’s Watch GT series. You’re getting SpO2, afib detection and skin temperature tracking on top of the standard heart rate, steps and sleep. The Pro then stands out from the regular Watch Fit 5 with ECG tracking and checks for arterial stiffness.
The pricier model is also certified for diving down to 40m, with the ability to record freedive logs, set a depth limit, and measure hang time for watersports. Its golf mode can pull from a database of over 17,000 courses, comes with a dedicated driving range mode, and has animated demonstrations to help you perfect your swing. There’s also a dedicated trail run mode.
Considering Huawei is pitching this as a watch for more casual fitness fans, it’s almost impressive to see such hyper-specific features still make the cut. The firm continues to support popular third-party services like Strava, Komoot, Intervals.icu, URUNN and FiiT too; you even get trail memberships for the big hitters as part of your purchase.
There are over 100 sports modes in the workout list, with many getting guided warm-up and stretch animations to follow before you get going. Cycling was a personal highlight for me. I loved how the Watch GT 6 Pro could estimate power to an impressive degree without needing a dedicated power meter; that ability has been carried over wholesale here. Swimming tracking isn’t always a given on more affordable fitness trackers either.
In my testing both GPS and heart rate tracking performed on a level I’d expect of a much pricier wearable. Daily step counts were in line with my Garmin, and sleep tracking was consistently great too. A new nap recap mode is neat if you like a mid-afternoon snooze.
Dialling things back a bit with the new Panda-themed watch face showed the Watch Fit 5 Pro’s other side. The cutesy, Pixar-like animated character incentivises smaller mini-workouts throughout the day. There are 30 to pick from at launch, covering arms, waist, abs, glutes, legs, neck and face. It’s a fun way to take a break from your desk during a work day, and the way completing more workouts unlocks backgrounds for the watchface should appeal to that younger target audience Huawei is courting.
Battery life: week-long wear
With an in-house operating system and relatively high capacity batteries, Huawei’s wearables are usually able to last as long as some dedicated sports watches. The Watch Fit 5 Pro is off to a good start, using a non-standard shape cell and high silicon content in order to max out at 471mAh. That’s more than a 45mm Google Pixel Watch 4 or Samsung Galaxy Watch8 Classic, which can usually only manage two days tops between charges.
With the Huawei on my wrist, I was seeing almost an entire week of use before I needed to refuel. Six days was a given, even with an hour of exercise tracking per day, while seven was doable with a few rest days in between. The battery saver mode can extend it to ten, at the expense of functionality. That’s a fantastic showing for a mainstream smartwatch.
Charging is speedy enough on the supplied magnetic charging puck, which yet again ends in a USB Type-A connector. I’m sure Huawei will make the leap to type-C eventually, but for now the wait continues.
Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro verdict
The price might have jumped between generations, but you really are getting an awful lot of watch for your money here. While Huawei might talk a big game about approachable exercises and not aiming at athletes, anyone that’s serious about their health and fitness won’t feel at all short-changed. Tracking accuracy is consistent and you don’t have to try hard to get a week out of the battery.
If you just want the basics it absolutely has you covered, and while the styling may not exactly be original, it’s sleek and well-built. Even with the usual Huawei caveats of extra initial setup hurdles and limited third-party app support, it’s still well worth a look if you want a wearable that doesn’t try to mimic the look a traditional timepiece.
Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro technical specifications
Scroll to see more →
Specifications
Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro
Screen
1.92in 60Hz OLED
Sensors
Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, optical heart rate sensor, barometer, temperature sensor
Connectivity
GPS, Bluetooth, NFC (country-dependent)
Storage
On-board, capacity not stated
Operating system
HarmanyOS
Battery
471mAh
Dimensions
9.6mm thick, 32g (case only)
