Ticwatch Pro 5 Review: a chunky Wear OS watch with real battery life for once

I’ve been using the Ticwatch Pro 5 as my daily watch for a couple of weeks, coming from older Wear OS watches and a basic fitness band. In short: this is the first Wear OS watch I’ve used where I’m not constantly stressed about the battery. It’s not magic, but going from 1-day battery anxiety to 3–4 days in real use is a big deal if you’re used to charging every night.

The watch targets people who want the full Google ecosystem on their wrist: Google Wallet, Play Store apps, Spotify offline, proper notifications, navigation, and health tracking. It’s not some lightweight fitness band; it’s a full smartwatch with a big screen, a thick body, and a lot of sensors. That also means it’s not the smallest or prettiest thing you can buy, but it feels more like a tool than jewelry.

During my time with it, I used it for the usual stuff: notifications, calls, Spotify offline while running, GPS tracking, sleep tracking, and a bit of tinkering with watch faces. I didn’t baby the battery; always-on display, 24/7 heart rate, and regular workouts were on. The watch handled all that without freezing or lagging, which is honestly where a lot of cheaper Wear OS watches fall apart.

It’s not perfect though. The software is fast but still has some Mobvoi quirks, the app is just okay, there’s no Google Assistant, and the watch is on the bulky side. For the price, you really need to be the kind of person who will actually use the smart features and not just count steps. If you just want basic health tracking and a slim design, this is probably overkill.

Price-wise, the Ticwatch Pro 5 sits in the same zone as Samsung’s Galaxy Watch line and not too far from the Pixel Watch, depending on deals. For that money, you’re getting strong hardware, long-ish battery for a Wear OS watch, and a pretty complete feature set: GPS, NFC payments, decent health tracking, offline music, and a big screen. On paper, it stacks up well against the competition.

Where the value gets a bit fuzzy is software support and extras. Mobvoi’s track record with updates on older models isn’t great, and that makes me a bit cautious about how many years of proper updates this will see. On top of that, their Mobvoi Health app tries to push some paid features for advanced insights, which feels cheap when the watch itself isn’t exactly budget. You’re not forced to pay, but it leaves a bit of a bad taste.

If you’re the kind of person who really uses what a full smartwatch offers—Google Wallet, navigation, voice assistant (via Alexa), offline Spotify, installing apps, custom watch faces, etc.—then the Pro 5 is pretty solid value. You get battery life that beats most other Wear OS watches and hardware that doesn’t feel outdated in a year. If you mainly want step counting, notifications, and heart rate, there are clearly cheaper and lighter options that will do the job just fine.

So in my opinion, the Ticwatch Pro 5 is good value for power users and tech fans, decent value for casual users who want something nicer than a basic band, and probably overkill for people who just want something small and simple. The Amazon rating around 3.9/5 makes sense: it’s a strong product with a few rough edges, not a flawless device.

Design-wise, the Ticwatch Pro 5 is very much a "big round smartwatch". If you’ve seen the Ticwatch Pro 3, this one looks very similar, just a bit more refined. The case is not tiny, and if you have a very slim wrist it’s going to look and feel large. On my average male wrist, it looks like a normal sports watch, similar in size to a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro or a mid-sized Garmin.

The main difference from the Pro 3 is the rotating crown. You only get one big crown and one smaller side button. The crown is honestly one of the best parts of the design: scrolling through long menus, notifications, or lists is way easier than swiping with a sweaty finger. The haptic feedback feels decent, not cheap. I just wish Mobvoi let you fully remap the buttons in the app. You can tweak some shortcuts, but not everything, which feels like a missed opportunity for a watch at this price.

The bezels are not razor-thin, but they’re fine. It looks like a typical rugged-ish smartwatch, not like a dress watch. The lugs are standard enough that you can swap in other 24mm bands easily, which is good because the included silicone band is more "sports" than "office". The watch is 5ATM water resistant, so showering, swimming, and rain are no problem. I used it in the shower and on runs in light rain, and there were no issues with water getting in or the touchscreen acting crazy.

In terms of colors and style, the black version is pretty neutral. You can dress it up a bit with the leather band, but it still clearly looks like a tech watch. If you’re chasing a super minimal, ultra-thin smartwatch that passes as a classic analog watch, this isn’t it. If you’re okay with a slightly chunky, functional watch that looks like it means business, the design gets the job done.

Battery is the main selling point here, and in real life it holds up pretty well. With always-on display enabled, 24/7 heart rate, sleep tracking, a couple of short GPS workouts per week, and normal notifications (WhatsApp, email, calls, calendar), I was seeing around 3 full days before I felt the need to charge at about 20–25%. If I went lighter on workouts and turned down some health checks, I could stretch it closer to 4 days. If I hammered GPS and music streaming over Bluetooth, I’d land more in the 2–2.5 day range.

The trick is the dual-layer display and Essential Mode. When the watch is idle, it uses the ultra-low-power LCD layer that shows time, steps, heart rate zones, and some extra info. This screen barely sips power. You can also schedule Essential Mode at night, so it uses almost no battery while you sleep but still tracks basics. In my case, a full night in Essential Mode only shaved off a few percent. If you’re really trying to stretch it, you can run mostly in Essential Mode and get way more than 4 days, but then you’re basically using it as a fancy digital watch with limited smarts.

Charging is fast enough to be convenient. From roughly 20% to 100% took me around 45–50 minutes. A quick 15–20 minute top-up in the morning easily covered a full day, which is nice if you don’t like leaving devices on chargers for ages. The downside is the proprietary charger: lose it and you’re stuck until you buy another one. No Qi wireless charging, which at this price would have been nice.

Overall, compared to Samsung or the original Pixel Watch, the Ticwatch Pro 5 clearly wins on battery. Compared to basic fitness bands or some Garmins, it still loses, but those don’t run full Wear OS or support as many apps. So if you want real smartwatch features and still be able to skip the charger for a couple of days, this is one of the better options right now. Just don’t expect a full week with heavy smart use unless you really tweak the settings.

On the wrist, the Ticwatch Pro 5 is comfortable enough, but you never forget you’re wearing a fairly big watch. It’s not absurdly heavy for a smartwatch, but this is not a featherweight fitness band. The weight is distributed well and the underside is smooth, so it doesn’t dig into the skin. I wore it 24/7 except for showers at first, then ended up keeping it on in the shower too once I trusted the 5ATM rating.

The included silicone strap is soft and flexible, more in the "sporty" category. It’s fine for workouts and daily use, doesn’t rub, and dries fast after sweat. For office or casual wear, the leather band in the box is a decent upgrade, but I personally swapped to a third-party metal band after a few days because I like a more solid feel. Standard spring bars make it easy to change bands, which is a big plus. If you hate the stock strap, you’re not stuck with it.

For sleep tracking, the size is the main drawback. The watch is just big. Lying on my side, I could feel the watch press into the pillow, and the first two nights I woke up aware of it. After a few days I got used to it, but if you’re very sensitive to anything on your wrist while sleeping, this might bother you. On the flip side, the ultra-low-power display is nice at night: you can raise your wrist and read the time and basic stats without a bright screen blasting your eyes.

During workouts, comfort was good. The watch stays in place, the heart rate sensor makes solid contact, and the strap holes give enough adjustment to find a snug fit without cutting off circulation. It’s not as invisible as a slim Garmin or Amazfit, but if you’re used to wearing a regular sports watch, you’ll be fine. Overall, comfort is decent, but the size is something to think about if you have small wrists or hate bulky watches.

This is where the Ticwatch Pro 5 really feels different from older Wear OS devices. The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip plus 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage make the watch feel fast and responsive. App launches, scrolling through notifications, switching watch faces, and opening settings all happen without that annoying half-second delay you often get on cheaper or older watches.

In daily use, I had multiple apps installed: Spotify, a couple of fitness apps, Google Maps, and some utility stuff. Multitasking between them was smooth. No random reboots, no freezes, and no lag when raising the wrist to see the time. The crown scrolling feels tight and immediate, which helps a lot when you’re going through long lists like workout types or notifications. The haptics are firm enough that you can feel them without being buzzy or loud.

GPS performance was solid for me. Lock-on time was usually under 10–20 seconds outdoors, and distance tracking on runs and walks matched my phone and a Garmin within a few meters over 5–10 km. The compass is handy if you hike or just have a bad sense of direction. The built-in speaker and mic worked fine for quick calls; you’re not getting hi-fi sound, but people could hear me clearly and I could hear them without cranking the volume to max indoors. Outside in noisy streets, you’ll struggle a bit, but that’s normal for any wrist-based speaker.

The biggest downside on the performance side is software support and updates. Mobvoi doesn’t have the best track record for fast updates on older models (Pro 3 users know the story). Right now, the Pro 5 is on a modern Wear OS version and runs well, but long-term support is a question mark. Also, there’s still no Google Assistant support officially, which for some people is a deal breaker. You can use Alexa as a workaround, but it’s not as tightly integrated as Assistant would be. Overall, pure speed and stability are good; long-term software policy is the weak spot.

On paper, the Ticwatch Pro 5 looks loaded: Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB storage, 1.43" OLED with a secondary ultra-low-power display, 628 mAh battery, 5ATM water resistance, built-in GPS, compass, speaker, mic, NFC with Google Pay/Wallet, and a pile of health sensors. It runs Wear OS 3.x, so you get proper Google apps and can install stuff from the Play Store directly on the watch.

In the box, you get the watch with a silicone band already attached, an extra leather band, the proprietary magnetic charger, and the usual paperwork. The extra band is a nice touch if you want something that looks a bit more "office" than sports. The charger is the same style as older Ticwatch models, which is handy if you’re upgrading and already have one on your desk or nightstand. Just be aware: no wireless charging, and you’re stuck with Mobvoi’s puck.

The big headline features Mobvoi pushes are the dual-layer display (OLED + ultra-low-power LCD), the 80-hour battery claim, and the one-tap health measurement that checks heart rate, blood oxygen, respiratory rate, stress, and heart health in about 90 seconds. In practice, those are the things that actually stand out. The dual-screen approach makes sense, the battery life is genuinely better than most Wear OS watches I’ve tried, and the one-tap check is handy if you’re into numbers but don’t want to dig through menus.

Overall, the presentation is "serious smartwatch" rather than fashion gadget. This isn’t a tiny, jewelry-style watch. It’s more in the same family as a Garmin or a chunky Samsung Galaxy Watch, but with a clear focus on giving you Google services plus long battery life instead of ultra-sleek design or hardcore sports metrics.

For health and fitness, the Ticwatch Pro 5 sits in a middle ground. It’s more capable than a basic band, but it’s not as deep or polished as a high-end Garmin or Polar. For everyday stuff—steps, heart rate, sleep, casual workouts—it does the job well. The new one-tap measurement that checks heart rate, SpO2, respiratory rate, stress, and a heart health score in about 90 seconds is actually useful if you like quick status checks. I ran it a few times a day out of curiosity, and the numbers were consistent with what my other devices showed.

Heart rate tracking during walks and runs was pretty accurate for me, usually within a couple of bpm compared to a chest strap on steady efforts. During intervals or fast changes in pace, it lagged a bit, which is normal for wrist-based sensors. The heart rate zone backlight on the low-power display is a neat touch: you can see your effort level by color without waking the full OLED screen. It sounds gimmicky, but during runs it was actually handy to glance at the color instead of detailed numbers.

Sleep tracking is okay. It gives you sleep stages, duration, and some trends. It’s not as detailed or as nicely presented as what you get from some dedicated sleep platforms, but for a general idea of how long and how well you slept, it’s fine. Stress tracking and VO2 Max are there too; take them as rough indicators, not lab-grade metrics. VO2 Max estimates were in the same ballpark as my Garmin, just a bit more optimistic.

The main weak point is the Mobvoi Health app. It’s functional but feels basic and a bit clunky compared to Garmin Connect or even Samsung Health. The data is there, but the interface isn’t very polished and some graphs feel shallow. Also, some advanced features and insights sit behind paywalls if you go deep into Mobvoi’s ecosystem, which is annoying when you already paid a premium price for the watch. If you just want simple tracking and sync with Google Fit, it’s okay. If you live and breathe training analytics, this won’t replace a serious sports watch.