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The best smart jewelry you can buy

Our favorite smart jewelry is as brainy as it is beautiful

dt-best-of-150_smartjewel

Smartwatches and fitness trackers may get all the attention, but there’s another class of wearables that’s much better looking and just as high tech. Smart jewelry is the answer for many a fashionable woman who wants the activity tracking of a fitness band without the bland silicon strap, or the woman who wants the notifications of a smartwatch without the chunky design and glaring screen.

We’ve gathered together all the best smart jewelry from smart rings and bracelets, to pendants and necklaces. Here are our favorites.

At a glance

Product Category Rating
The Bellabeat Leaf Urban The best overall 4 out of 5
Ringly Aries Smart Ring The best smart ring Not yet rated
Ringly Aries Bracelet The best smart bracelet Not yet rated
Caeden Sona Connected Bracelet The best smart jewelry with a heart rate sensor Not yet rated
Apple Watch Series 2 The best smartwatch for women 4 out of 5

The Bellabeat Leaf Urban

The best

Bellabeat-Leaf-Urban_0010

Why should you buy this: It’s the most versatile, subtle piece of smart jewelry you can buy.

Who’s it for: Women who want to keep tabs on their activity and mindfulness practice

How much will it cost: $120+

Why we picked the Bellabeat Leaf Urban:

Bellabeat makes our absolute favorite pieces of smart jewelry. The Leaf Nature and the new Leaf Urban are subtle and smart fitness trackers that look like jewelry. Despite the beautiful design, the Leaf packs all the power of a Fitbit and adds its own hint of flair with meditation exercises.

The Leaf is a versatile little clip that you can wear on a chain as a necklace, as a bracelet with Bellabeat’s leather strap, or as a brooch clipped onto your clothing. Its versatility is refreshing and ideal for women because it accommodates a variety of styles and looks like a real piece of jewelry.

The Leaf Nature is made of wood and its metal clip is fashion in the shape of a leaf. Meanwhile, the Urban is made out of a composite of wood and eco-friendly degradable plastic that looks like stone. The Urban is more environmentally friendly and it is water resistant. You can even shower with it on without ruining it. The pretty abstract leaf design on the front looks lovely and the included bracelet or necklace are both high quality. The metal clip comes in two finishes, including rose gold and silver.

To see your data, you have to sync the Leaf to the companion app. In the app, you can set goals for your active minutes, calories burned, distance traveled, sleep, and mindfulness meditation sessions. You can also set up silent alarms to wake you up peacefully and track your period or fertility in the app. It’s a wonderful experience because Bellabeat gives you encouragement and tries to help you meet your goals.

Whether you buy the Urban or the Leaf Nature, you won’t be disappointed by this gorgeous piece of smart jewelry. The main difference is design and the fact that the Urban is water resistant. It’s truly the best piece of smart jewelry you can buy.

Our full review

Ringly Aries Smart Ring

The best smart ring

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Why should you buy this: Ringly’s new smart ring serves up notifications and fitness tracking in a gorgeous, glittering package.

Who’s it for: Women who want to keep up on notifications and fitness in style

How much will it cost: $195+

Why we picked the Ringly Aries Smart Ring:

Ringly is a leader in the smart jewelry space. The startup makes the most gorgeous wearables that look exactly like real jewelry. They even boast semi-precious stones and some are coated in 14K gold. Ringly’s latest smart ring, the Aries, comes in five different styles to suit all tastes. The rings are available in 18k gold or gunmetal plated stainless steel varieties, and they ship in ring sizes of 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. You can choose between lapis, black onyx, rainbow moonstone, and tourmalated quartz gemstones.

The ring charges up in its jewelry box at night, which saves a lot of hassle, and it’ll last you a couple of days before you need to recharge it. The new Aries rings not only offer up customizable notifications for more than 100 apps, they also track your activity.

The Ringly app is very easy to use. You can view your activity metrics, set up how you want notifications handles for different apps, and set different vibrations and colors for each notification type.

It’s the best smart ring we’ve ever used and it looks absolutely classic. This is a real piece of jewelry you can be proud to wear anywhere. We guarantee you’ll get lots of compliments.

Read more here

Ringly Aries Bracelet

The best smart bracelet

Ringly Aries
Malarie Gokey/ Digital Trends

Why should you buy this: It has all the style of a high-end bracelet with all the smarts of a Fitbit and then some.

Who’s it for: Women who want a stunning bracelet that offers notifications and fitness tracking

How much will it cost: $235+

Why we picked the Ringly Aries Bracelet:

If you’re not into rings, Ringly also has a line of stunning smart bracelets called Aries. The bracelet offers all the same functionality of the smart ring, so you can customize notification vibrations and colors for more than 100 apps. It’ll also track your fitness metrics.

The app is well designed and setting your bracelet up to your preferences is easy. Just like the ring, it charges up in a special box and should last you a couple of days on a charge.

Ringly makes the Aries bracelets in a variety of styles, including 14K gold or polished stainless steel for a silver look. The stone options include, lapis, rainbow moonstone, labradorite, blue lace agate, snowflake obsidian, and tourmalated quartz.

It’s a stunning piece of jewelry that’ll please bracelet fanatics and go with any outfit.

Read more here

Caeden Sona Connected Bracelet

The best smart jewelry with a heart rate sensor

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Why should you buy this: It’s more stylish than your average fitness tracker, but it can still track your heart rate.

Who’s it for: Women who want heart rate tracking for full fitness metrics and meditation

How much will it cost: $180

Why we picked the Caeden Sona Connected Bracelet:

If you want smart jewelry that offers a more traditional wearable experience, but still looks like jewelry, you’ll like Caeden’s Sona Connected Bracelet.

It’s a slim leather band that looks like a bracelet. You can get it in either white and rose gold, black and gold, or black and gunmetal finishes. It straps around your wrist with a butterfly clasp. You can also take out the band and swap it for silicon when you work out.

The Sona has a heart rate sensor to track your heart beat variation and give you a better idea of both your activity and stress levels. The app tracks normal fitness metrics like steps, heart rate, calories burned, and so on. However, the real draw is the Sona’s meditation programs.

Caeden’s meditation sequences are based on the same Resonance training that the Soviets used to train astronauts. The programs are built to not only relieve your stress, but teach you how to deal with stressful situations as they arise.

It’s a very neat idea, and the Sona is a very capable wearable. It also looks much nicer than a Fitbit and it does a whole lot more for your mental health.

Read more here

Apple Watch Series 2

The best smartwatch for women

Apple Watch Series 2
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Why should you buy this: It’s the best-looking smartwatch for women with the most style and the best apps.

Who’s it for: Women who want a smartwatch

How much will it cost: $370+

Why we picked the Apple Watch Series 2:

The tech world likes to pretend women don’t like smartwatches, but it’s patently untrue. For those of you who want a smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 2 is the best hands down.

It comes in a variety of styles and sizes to fit even the slimmest of wrists and the most discerning of fashionistas. The $370 Sport model comes in a few finishes: black, rose gold, and silver. You can choose from a wide range of bands in leather, silicon, fabric, and metal. The silicon bands are nice for workouts and the others are for when you want to class it up. There are also a number of third-party bands you can buy.

The Apple Watch Series 2 doesn’t just look great, it’s also fully functional and runs the best software we’ve seen on any smartwatch. Its waterproof up to 50 meters, so you can swim with it and it has built-in GPS for tracking your runs outside. Apple added a meditation breathe feature to help you relax, too. You can store a lot of songs on it, along with your apps.

You’ll get notifications, the ability to send messages from your wrist, and amazing fitness tracking all in one great-looking smartwatch. You do have to own an iPhone to have an Apple Watch, though.

If you want the best smartwatch with the most style, the Apple Watch Series 2 is the one for you.

Our full review

How we test

We get a lot of wearables in the office here at DT. Most of them look terrible on women. That’s why we get excited when a new piece of smart jewelry comes out. We are proud to wear any of these great pieces of smart jewelry, and we’ve personally tested every one. We consider style, functionality, versatility, and the app experience to determine which ones are worth your time and money. If there are fitness features, we test them out. The smart jewelry that’s notification-based is judged on the amount of apps it supports, how easy it is to set up notifications, and whether the notifications actually prove helpful.

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