In a sea of nearly identical fitness trackers, Whoop stands apart. Since it started in 2012, the company has understood that the hardware was secondary to software. For a pricey monthly membership, you get access to a (theoretically) never-ending series of new features in the Whoop app, and the company throws in the small, screenless sensor for free.
This was once a pretty good bargain, but for the past several years, Whoop hasn’t done much. In 2023, the company released its OpenAI-powered personalized fitness service, Whoop Coach. As with most other AI-enabled fitness services, you had to think really hard about how to frame your questions to get useful advice. I didn’t find it particularly helpful.
This year, the company finally released an updated Whoop that comes with a bevy of new features that make it a much more versatile tracker for people who don’t post their gains every day. Most notably, it has a proprietary algorithm for blood pressure tracking. I’ve been testing the new Whoop MG for a few weeks now, and it reminded me why people like this tracker so much.
Screen-Free Solution
Photograph: Adrienne So
If you’re not familiar with a Whoop tracker, it’s a small wearable with photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors to measure heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV); accelerometers to measure movement, strain, and activity; and skin temperature sensors to capture variations during sleep or recovery. The new Whoop units are smaller and purportedly more power-efficient than the last one, although I’m not getting anywhere near the claimed 14-plus days of battery life. In 21 days, I’ve had to charge it twice.
It doesn’t have onboard GPS. It’s not super-annoying, given that, you know, it doesn’t even have a screen, so I’m not exactly using the Whoop to clock my pace on a run. But you do have to use GPS on your phone to unlock certain features within the Whoop app, like a more accurate VO2 max. (Just toggle “Track Route” in the app when starting to log a run.) You can also insert the Whoop into Whoop Body garments.
Whoop sent the new MG training bra ($59) and training shorts ($54), which captured my data while I was running and rowing, but if you’re a returning Whoop customer, you do need the new Whoop Body clothes because the MG is smaller than the last iteration, the Whoop 4.0.
It’s also important to note that Whoop changed its membership structure. You used to pay a blanket $30 per month membership fee for everything Whoop had to offer, but now features are paywalled behind a tiered subscription plan. Whoop One ($199/year) gets you the regular Whoop 5.0, which is the upgrade from the Whoop 4.0, Whoop Coach, and sleep, strain, and recovery tracking. Whoop Peak ($239/year) gets you the Whoop 5.0 with the new Healthspan and Pace of Aging features, and Whoop Life ($359/year) gets you the new Whoop MG, which unlocks the new cardiac features like ECGs, heart screeners, blood pressure monitoring, and AFib detection.
