<p>Hydrogel coatings integrate the high water content and softness of hydrogels with engineered surface functionalities, enabling diverse applications in soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and biomedical devices. However, their high water content and softness, thin-film geometry, and substrate confinement make them susceptible to delamination, cracking, fatigue, and wear, which compromise long-term reliability. This review summarizes the current understanding of fracture in hydrogel coatings. We first overview the experimental methods commonly used to characterize adhesion toughness, adhesion fatigue threshold, and adhesion strength. We then discuss fracture phenomena that are particularly relevant to coating geometries, including thickness-dependent adhesion, swelling- or stimulus-induced debonding, sliding-induced wear, and fatigue fracture under cyclic loading. Finally, we review emerging toughening and fatigue-resistant strategies for robust hydrogel coatings, including double-network designs, hierarchical architectures, nanocrystalline domains, and phase-separated structures. We conclude by outlining key challenges and opportunities for translating laboratory concepts into durable hydrogel coatings for practical applications.</p>