The Whoop Fitness Tracker Revisited: Powerful and Light-Efficient Charge Packing with 10×10 megapixel Capabilities
is a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 13 years of experience. She used to work for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
The new fitness tracker was announced yesterday, but some existing users are not happy about it. People who had been a member for at least six months would get free upgrade to next- generation hardware. The company says that members who want to upgrade to the next version of the game will have to pay.
Let’s start with hardware. The regular version of the Whoop is referred to as the “Tow 1.0” and the “Tow 2.0” is known as the “Tow 3.0”. It’s seven percent smaller than the tracker and is ten times more power efficient, as claimed by Whoop. There’s also a new wireless charging pack that holds another 30 days of charge. The processing speed is allegedly 60 percent faster, and the sensors can capture data 26 times per second. The main difference between the regular 5.0 and the MG is the latter has EKG capabilities. More on that in a bit.
New straps, leather and options for its body clothing allow you to place the tracker into specially sewn pockets, which is included in the main tracker. This can be used to dress you up for other occasions, such as formal events where a sporty tracker isn’t appropriate. The bad news is Whoop 4.0 straps are not interchangeable, though Whoop said in a press briefing that there will be an upcycling kit option for folks who upgrade.
Whoop: What is the Healthspan, Blood Pressure, and Prenatal Measurement? A Comparative Study in a Wireless Cellular App
Healthspan takes nine metrics to show how well users are aging physiologically compared to their chronological age. Along with giving users a Whoop age to represent this, the app will also offer tips on how daily habits impact the score. It’s a similar thought process behind blood pressure insights, which will require calibration with a cuff to get estimated readings and guidance. (Whoop says blood pressure is purely meant to be a wellness feature, and therefore doesn’t require medical clearance.) It is the same metrics that we have seen from Oura andSamsung, though they were specific to cardiovascular and metabolic health. Hormonal insights for women show how hormones may affect recovery, sleep, stress and performance during menstruation and perimenopause. The EKG feature is relatively straightforward, it’s just a first from Whoop.
Whoop Advanced Labs is the most dramatic new health feature. It will allow users to have their blood tests scheduled by clinicians, but they will not be able to use it at launch. Those results can be viewed in the Whoop app alongside other metrics. When it is launched, Whoop Advanced Labs will also require an extra charge outside of the monthly subscription.
Speaking of which, Whoop is redoing its subscription model. Previously, you had to have a subscription for a family membership or a 12- or 24 month commitment. The price and feature set are used to divide the subscription tiers. The entry-level Whoop One tier costs $199 annually, includes Whoop 5.0 hardware, a wired charging pack, and the basic fitness tracking metrics plus AI coaching. The current 12-month subscription costs $239, but the mid-tier subscription costs $239 annually. It includes everything on Whoop One, plus the new Healthspan metric, stress tracking, a wireless charger, and the Health Monitor dashboard for viewing your metrics. Adding in electrocardiograms and blood pressure insights comes with the premium Whoop Life subscription which costs $359 a year.
Smart rings are increasingly encroaching on Whoop’s territory for sleep and recovery tracking. It is not easy to take hardcore athletes away from their watches. Meanwhile, the average user likes that Apple, Google, and Samsung watches can do more than track health thanks to their screens, something Whoop deliberately avoids.
Existing members would be able to upgrade to the latest hardware for free if they had been a member for at least six months. However, that has since been scrubbed from Whoop’s site — though it was there as recently as March 28th this year, according to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
“I’m definitely cancelling mine now, over the Whoop hype. Was excited to see they had a nice update and deflated after I saw they went back on their word about not charging for future hardware,” writes another.
It’s another example of how changes to subscriptions often results in customer backlash. The paid tier has angered the customer base and prompted it to remove the free tier from its app. Oura also received hefty backlash when it introduced a subscription with its third-gen smart ring.