Whoop Inc., the company known for its popular fitness bands that don't have screens, has just unveiled updated hardware. These new devices feature slimmer designs, better battery life, and — notably — blood pressure monitoring in the highest-tier model.

With these latest versions – the Whoop 5.0 and the Whoop MG (short for "medical grade") – the company is aiming to attract a broader range of users, positioning the bands as an alternative to smartwatches. Both new bands offer improved sleep tracking features, a set of tools specifically for women's health, VO2 max measurement (which shows how efficiently your body uses oxygen), and the ability to estimate your physiological age. The medical-focused MG model also adds advanced heart health monitoring capabilities, which are a big selling point for many competing wrist-worn devices.

The new bands are available now, but they come with a subscription model. After a one-month free trial, you'll need to pay an annual fee of $199. There's no upfront cost for the core device hardware itself, but you'll pay extra if you want additional bands, which cost between $49 and $199 depending on the style. Whoop is also offering different membership tiers: a $239 per year "Peak" plan that includes the physiological age estimate, and a $359 per year "Life" offering specifically for the MG model. The Life plan provides access to blood pressure tracking, an electrocardiogram (ECG) function, detection for atrial fibrillation (AFib), and notifications for irregular heart rhythms.

These are Whoop's first new hardware releases in over three years. They arrive in a market increasingly populated by devices that serve as alternatives to traditional smartwatches – gadgets without screens that you can wear on your wrist or other parts of your body. Companies like Oura Health (maker of the Oura Ring) have seen significant success, projecting half a billion in sales this year and holding a valuation over $5 billion. Even major players like Samsung have entered this space with their own fitness rings.

Business Evolution

Founded back in 2012, Whoop initially focused heavily on elite athletes, even receiving investments from well-known sports figures like Kevin Durant, Eli Manning, and Patrick Mahomes.

However, Whoop's current marketing materials are designed to appeal to a much wider group of people, including groups like pregnant women. (Although the images often still feature individuals with toned physiques). By including insights related to women's hormone cycles – relevant to users who are pregnant, menstruating, or in menopause – the company hopes to attract a more diverse customer base.

This effort to market the device to everyday users seems to be working. Whoop reported a significant jump in subscriptions recently, with founder and CEO Will Ahmed mentioning a 70% increase in members last year. Ahmed suggested that this expansion could potentially lead to the company becoming publicly traded in the future, though he didn't give a specific timeline.

The Hardware Rundown

The updated bands, while perhaps not visually stunning, are comfortable and subtle – qualities desirable in a wearable device. The author tested a band with a gray knit strap, but various colors and materials, like leather, are available for purchase separately.

Wearing the tracker continuously, including while showering, proved its water resistance. Whoop states the device is safe for swimming up to 10 meters deep for as long as two hours, but advises against high-impact water activities like diving.

To use the blood pressure monitoring on the Whoop MG, you first need to calibrate it. This involves taking three readings using a standard medical blood pressure cuff and manually entering them into the Whoop app. After this initial setup, the app will automatically record daily blood pressure readings from the Whoop band itself. Like other metrics in the Whoop app, your blood pressure is shown on a color-coded gauge for a quick understanding of your status. Scrolling down provides information on potential factors influencing your readings.

The "Health" section in the app also includes the Heart Screener with the ECG feature. To get a reading, you start a new scan in the app, confirm which wrist the Whoop is on, and use your opposite hand to gently press two small indentations on the side of the device for 30 seconds. During this time, the device checks for atrial fibrillation, very high or low heart rates, and captures your heart rhythm. This process is similar to how ECGs work on devices like the Apple Watch, requiring you to start the scan manually and hold your finger on the device for a set period.

Whoop's choice to exclude a screen on its trackers is intentional. It helps differentiate the product, reduce manufacturing costs, minimize distractions, and most importantly, significantly extend battery life. The author observed 23% battery remaining after 14 days of use on a single charge with the new model. (A wireless charging pack, included with the Peak and Life memberships, can stretch the battery life to about a month). This is a notable improvement over the Whoop 4.0's estimated six and a half days per charge.

Not having to design software and manage the complexity of a tiny display also saves Whoop considerable engineering effort. While devices like the Apple Watch only last a day or two on a charge, they offer advantages like full-color screens and direct phone notifications, which the author noted missing on the Whoop.

Despite the lack of a screen, logging activities is still handled reliably. The tracker did a good job automatically detecting runs and walks, although the estimated calorie burn might be less precise compared to manually starting a workout in the app. Whoop integrates with various third-party services like Apple's Health app, Withings, Strava, TrainingPeaks, Pliability, and Cronometer. However, some big names like Garmin and MyFitnessPal are currently not supported for direct integration.

Exploring the Software

Where Whoop truly excels is its mobile app, available on both iOS and Android. This is where users can dive deep into metrics like respiratory rate, resting heart rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen levels, and heart rate variability.

Based on this biometric data, the app calculates how much physical and mental exertion ("Strain") you're experiencing. It also uses the data to assess how well you slept and how effectively you've recovered from previous days, taking stress levels into account. These calculations inform Whoop's daily suggestions on how hard it thinks you should push yourself.

While there's a vast amount of data, the app simplifies things by providing three key headline numbers: your Sleep Performance Score, Recovery Score, and Strain Score. Each score is presented as an easily understandable color-coded circle. You can dig into the detailed metrics if you wish, but you don't have to in order to get value.

The Sleep Score has received specific upgrades. It now considers four main factors: whether you got enough sleep relative to your personal needs, how consistent your sleep schedule is, how efficient your sleep was (time asleep vs. time in bed), and how much sleep was affected by high stress levels. The app also continues to show how much time you spent in different sleep stages (like REM and deep sleep).

Beyond presenting data, the app's tone is a strength – it avoids being overly critical if you don't meet sleep or strain targets. It's also notable that metrics like weight and Body Mass Index (BMI), which many health experts consider flawed, are not prominently featured.

The new Whoop Age system attempts to estimate your physiological age based on nine factors, including sleep consistency, strain levels, VO2 max, and lean body mass. This feature requires about three weeks of wearing the device to gather enough data to provide what Whoop considers an accurate assessment. While being told you have a younger physiological age is nice, even receiving a higher age score is data you can work with, as improving your fitness can lower your Whoop Age and slow what the company calls your "pace of aging."

Potential Challenges

As comfortable as the band is to wear, assembling the hardware and securing the clasp can be surprisingly difficult – the author even describes it as "infuriating." The company provides instructional videos, and many users have created their own, indicating this has been a recurring issue with previous Whoop versions that hasn't been fully addressed in these latest models.

Another drawback is the slow charging speed. It takes about two and a half hours using the wired charger and just under two hours with the wireless battery pack, according to Whoop. The author noted minimal battery gain after even short charging periods, suggesting it's best to charge the Whoop overnight or during longer periods of inactivity, which is quite different from devices like Apple Watch or Garmin that can get significant charge quickly.

It's also critical to understand the service's structure: if you stop paying for the subscription, the hardware becomes completely unusable. Furthermore, simply maintaining your subscription doesn't get you new hardware for free down the line; you typically have to either extend your subscription contract or pay an additional $49 fee to upgrade.

Key Takeaways

Having trained for marathons in the past but currently focusing on different fitness goals as a parent, the author found that Whoop's app successfully appealed to both scenarios: the dedicated athlete tracking every detail and the individual simply trying to get back into shape. Given that Whoop is still a somewhat specialized product, there's likely a large potential audience of new users who might have missed earlier versions of the device.

Whoop's primary challenge going forward will be crafting its marketing to convince average consumers that the product is relevant to them and worth adding yet another monthly or annual subscription fee. Additionally, the company needs to continually compete against mainstream smartwatches, dedicated sports watches, and the growing number of free or lower-cost fitness apps that offer overlapping features.

However, if users can overlook the fiddly clasp and commit to the subscription model, they might find that the data analysis and insights provided by Whoop's software are more intelligent, more actionable, and less intrusive or "judgey" compared to much of the competition.