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Apple Watch Alternative for Android: My Honest Anyloop Band 2 Review (Under $50)
- Emma Mattison
- Feb 17
- 6 min read
The Apple Watch is highly sought after—not just for basic fitness tracking but also for its lifestyle features.
But what if you’re an Android user? Or you simply don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for an Apple Watch?
That’s what I set out to answer with this review of the Anyloop Band 2.
Quick disclosure (because I don’t do fluff)
I was sent this watch to review. I’m not getting paid to make this review. They did offer an affiliate commission—like most affiliate programs, it’s basically enough to buy me half a taco if you purchase through my link. That’s it.
So yes: this is a completely honest review.
If you want to check it out:
Unboxing and setup experience
Overall, it felt high-quality right out of the box—especially for the price point (around $50), given how outrageous Apple Watch pricing has gotten.
A couple of notes:
The packaging could be “spicier” with clearer branding (my opinion), but the product itself looked solid.
Setup was simple: scan the QR code, download the app (available on the Google Play Store), pair the device, and go.
Total setup time was about 10 minutes, including attaching the band.
The band attachment uses a tang buckle system (a spring you pull back, hook, and secure). Also worth mentioning: I didn’t even have to charge it out of the box, and it comes with a charger and the basics you need.
Apple Watch alternative for Android: Anyloop Band 2 features (what it can and can’t do)
Here’s what stood out from the hardware and daily-use features:
Display and durability
1.5-inch touchscreen LED display
IP68 rating, meaning it’s water resistant up to 1.5 meters for about 30 minutes, and it’s dust-protected—so you don’t need a case for normal use
GPS
It does not have GPS (important if you’re hoping to track outdoor mileage without your phone)
Notifications and “smart” features
You can enable notifications for emails and texts, but:
You can’t respond directly from the watch
You can’t read the full email—you’ll typically only see the subject line
It also includes:
Data storage in the watch + within the companion app (Android and iPhone compatible)
Find my phone feature (makes your phone vibrate)
Weather display
A “pressure” feature (I’m not fully sure what they’re doing here—my guess is something stress-related pulled from heart metrics, but that’s not confirmed)
Music, camera, and controls
This is a theme with this device:
You can control music from the watch, but the audio plays through your phone
Same idea with messages and camera: controlled via the watch, executed via the phone
Health tracking features
It can collect:
Sleep data
Heart rate
Blood oxygen (SpO₂)
Menstrual cycle tracking
“Breath training” (simple guided inhale/exhale timers)
Customization
You can adjust:
Watch faces
Brightness
Screen on/off time (battery saving)
Vibration strength
Goals inside the app
You can set goals for:
Mileage
Step count
Calorie burn
Accuracy: what you should (and shouldn’t) expect
Now for the part people usually want to skip… but it’s the part that matters.
I’m going to use the word relative a lot here, because I’m a sample size of one. That’s not strong scientific validity. It’s still useful, but it’s not a lab study.
Step count accuracy (wrist pedometers are a known limitation)
Wrist-based step tracking is typically driven by an accelerometer, so arm movement can be counted as steps.
I literally watched it count steps while I was talking and moving my hands.
That’s not uniquely an Anyloop problem. It’s a wrist-wearable issue in general: placement on the wrist is usually less accurate for steps than pedometers worn at the waist or in a pocket (depending on the tech).
So yes: you may end up with extra steps simply because you’re expressive with your hands.
Calorie burn: treat it as trend data, not truth
I’ll be blunt: research consistently shows energy expenditure estimates from wearables have poor accuracy. In a large review of wrist-wearables, energy expenditure errors were high across brands (often >30% mean absolute percentage error).
Here’s the only way I recommend using calorie burn numbers from wearables (Anyloop, Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit—doesn’t matter):
Use them for general trends (day-to-day comparisons)
Do not use them for precise calories-in/calories-out math
One interesting thing I noticed comparing Anyloop vs my Polar device during the same workout duration:
It seems like Anyloop may be estimating something closer to net calorie burn (exercise-only after subtracting resting energy)
Polar often reports something closer to gross calorie burn (including baseline “energy of existence”)
But I can’t confirm how Anyloop calculates it, because it’s not clearly stated in a convenient place.
And the longer the workout, the more those calorie differences can widen between devices—because the estimate compounds over time.
Heart rate: “fine” at low intensity, questionable when it matters most
Anyloop uses PPG (light-based) heart rate monitoring. PPG is common for wrist wearables, but it’s not the same as ECG/EKG-based measurement from a chest strap, which directly captures electrical signals.
In my side-by-side use with a Polar ECG chest strap:
Below ~100 bpm: Anyloop was pretty consistent
Above ~100 bpm: Anyloop became more inconsistent
A couple of times, it appeared off by ~30 bpm, which is a big deal if you’re targeting training zones or monitoring a condition.
Two key reasons wrist HR can get worse during workouts:
PPG limitations (especially with motion and sweat)
Fit/position problems — even if you start with the watch properly placed, sweat and movement can cause it to slide onto the wrist bones, where readings can degrade.
This isn’t to say wrist wearables are useless. It’s to say: don’t treat wrist HR as medical-grade—especially at higher intensities. Even research and professional org summaries commonly note chest straps tend to be more accurate during exercise, particularly as intensity changes.
ECG feature comparison (Apple Watch)
Anyloop Band 2 does not have an ECG feature.
Some newer Apple Watch models include an ECG function that can capture a short ECG tracing and has been studied for irregular rhythm notifications related to atrial fibrillation (AFib). For example, the Apple Heart Study evaluated an irregular pulse notification algorithm in a large cohort.
Important nuance (because marketing loves to blur this):
ECG on Apple Watch is a spot-check feature, not continuous ECG monitoring during workouts.
Sleep tracking: helpful for patterns, not a clinical verdict
Quality sleep is a pillar of health. Tracking sleep can help—especially if it improves awareness and consistency.
But peripheral sleep tracking (wrist-worn devices using movement + temperature + optical signals) has known accuracy limitations compared to gold-standard polysomnography and EEG-based approaches.
So Anyloop is likely best used for:
sleep duration trends
consistency (bedtime/wake time patterns)
rough disturbance tracking
If you want higher-fidelity sleep stage data, research comparisons often still point to PSG/EEG-based methods as the reference standard.
Who this watch is actually good for
Here’s my big takeaway:
Apple Watch alternative for Android. Anyloop Band 2 is a cost-efficient, feature-rich option for Android users who want general health and activity trends—without Apple Watch pricing.
If accuracy is not critical and you want:
notifications
step trends
basic sleep trends
general health metrics
a solid-looking device for a low price
…then this is a strong contender.
But if accuracy is critical (heart rate zones, cardiac monitoring needs, exact step count goals, precise sleep staging):
use more accurate tools for the specific metric that matters most
chest strap ECG for HR
better pedometer placement for steps
higher-grade sleep tracking if sleep is a medical priority
And if you’re comparing apples to apples and most wrist wearables give you similar types of features, the argument becomes simple:
Why pay premium prices if your goal is mostly trends and convenience?
If you want to check out the exact model I reviewed:
Thanks for watching/reading—and as always: your health is an investment, not an expense.
About the Author
Emma Mattison is the founder of Emma Mattison Fitness, where she helps adults 40+ improve strength, mobility, and long-term health through functional training and science-informed coaching. Her approach is practical, direct, and focused on sustainable progress—because the goal isn’t just to “work out,” it’s to stay capable for life.
References
Germini, F., et al. (2022). Accuracy and acceptability of wrist-wearable activity trackers for step count, heart rate, and energy expenditure (systematic review).
Fuller, D., et al. (2020). Reliability and validity of commercially available wearable activity trackers… (systematic review).
Perez, M. V., et al. (2019). Large-Scale Assessment of a Smartwatch to Identify Atrial Fibrillation. New England Journal of Medicine.
Lee, T., et al. (2023). Accuracy of consumer sleep technologies compared with polysomnography.
Kainec, K. A., et al. (2024). Evaluating accuracy in commercial sleep-tracking devices.
Schweizer, T., et al. (2025). Wrist-worn and arm-worn wearables for monitoring heart rate compared with ECG chest strap.
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