If you search for fitness tech, for example, one of our favorite fitness trackers, or hint at running or weightlifting while you’re online, fitness ads will follow you around platforms like Facebook and YouTube. Fitness has become a subscription product and each new customer could be worth thousands of dollars. We reviewed the Whoop 4.0 band last year. A year later, the software behind it and its competition have evolved. Does it make sense to buy a Whoop subscription in 2024? What are the benefits and drawbacks of the tech in light of its alternatives, like smartwatches?
Read our review
Whoop 4.0: This fitness tracker skipped leg day
Whoop is great for runners and swimmers, but if your workout regimen includes weightlifting, it’s not worth the price
Whoop in 2024: The advantages
Data with meaningful recommendations
The Whoop ecosystem offers lots of data and usable coaching. Many trackers monitor steps, calorie burn, blood oxygen, and heart rate variability. However, the Whoop app is laser-focused on telling you what to do with that info. In my testing, it told me I wasn’t getting enough sleep to maximize performance and made time suggestions for when to get to bed each night, given my goals. It also revealed my long-term habit of using the weekends to make up for sleep debt accumulated during the week. Getting to bed in sync with the app’s recommendations gave me more energy at the gym.
You’re encouraged to fill out daily checkbox journals to judge other factors that might affect you. No matter what, the app is always on the lookout for stress. It can tell if I’m anxious, whether I’m conscious or asleep. If you haven’t been diagnosed with anxiety issues, Whoop’s data could be a sign that it’s time to visit a doctor. The same goes for other stats that fall outside the app’s Health Monitor ideals or if the Strain metric seems out of control.
24/7 wearability
Source: Whoop
To my knowledge, the Whoop 4.0 is the only fitness tracker you can legitimately wear all day, every day. It’s slim, lightweight, waterproof, and screenless. More importantly, you charge it by sliding on a waterproof battery pack. That means you can keep doing most activities as long as the pack doesn’t get in the way. The only limitation is diving. Owners report going as far as 30 meters (about 98 feet), but probably with a wetsuit or Whoop’s hydrosleeve.
Whoop sells all sorts of accessories if you want to wear the tracker somewhere other than your wrist, even underwear. You may be better off buying a bicep band, but having the flexibility is nice.
Planning and community options
The Whoop app supports custom and auto-generated weekly plans based on your goals, such as recovery, pushing harder, or maintaining the status quo. You can also plan your vacation, which wouldn’t be notable except that Apple recently introduced the option to take breaks or adjust daily goals in its iOS Fitness app. Google Fit is missing something like that.
Competitive types can create or join teams, which may inspire you to work harder or see how you fare against similar people. For example, I’m a part of the Men 40-50 and Powerlifters teams and above the halfway mark in both. It’s satisfying to know my work is paying off.
Related
Google Fit: How to track your fitness goals and stay healthy
It’s time to burn those summer calories
Whoop in 2024: The disadvantages
Accuracy that’s only good enough
There are more scientific views, but in my experience, the accuracy of Whoop’s heart rate and sleep tracking is debatable. It’s often substantially different from the data my Apple Watch Ultra 2 recorded, especially on workout days. Apple suggests I’m burning more calories than Whoop does. I tend to believe Apple because I’m eating to bulk and growing slowly using that company’s estimates. Eating according to Whoop’s estimates would automatically see me lose muscle.
For the most part, Whoop’s data is good enough to improve your habits, but it may fall short if you aren’t focused on cardio.
People have complained that Whoop’s tech isn’t well-adjusted to weightlifting, so that could be the reason. The company lets you refine results using its post-launch Strength Trainer feature, but you shouldn’t have to enter data every workout to get a realistic analysis.
For the most part, Whoop’s data is good enough to improve your habits, but it may fall short if you aren’t focused on cardio activities.
That lousy latch mechanism
I don’t like the latch mechanism used on the standard wristband. It feels cheaply made, and it isn’t intuitive. If you decide to swap bands, be careful how you reassemble the latch. If you do it backward, users like myself have complained about having to use massive force to separate the parts again. That isn’t an issue with Apple, Garmin, or Fitbit devices.
A byproduct of Whoop’s design is that it isn’t easy to tighten the wristband while wearing it. I have to slide it higher on my arm to get it to stay put for several hours. Even then, it tends to come loose overnight or when I wear a shirt or coat over the top of it.
Whoop’s data focus may not matter to you
Source: Whoop
If your main fitness concerns aren’t recovery and overall energy, you might as well go elsewhere. You can ask Whoop’s AI chatbot to help with things like marathon training or increasing your deadlift. Still, many metrics available from high-end alternative trackers are missing (such as running cadence or VO2 max), and they aren’t what Whoop assumes you care about.
The chatbot’s advice can be vague or inconsistent with what I know from practical experience. On the deadlift question, for instance, it suggested that I needed two or three strength sessions per week. Any serious powerlifter knows that three is the minimum, which means doing a full-body workout each time.
Whoop doesn’t offer video workouts or training templates, which you can get from other subscription products like Peloton.
No screen, no apps, no GPS
Some people enjoy the idea of a distraction-free fitness tracker, but one of the perks of a smartwatch is checking the time and notifications without pulling out your phone. That’s impossible without a screen, and apps are impossible, too. Forget about offline music, checking your heart rate, or opening your garage door.
The Whoop 4.0 is linked to your phone, particularly if you’re a runner. It temporarily stores data if you run without your phone. When it syncs later, you’ll no longer have the location data. There isn’t an onboard GPS receiver. I’d buy something else if I wanted the best running metrics or mid-route directions.
Should you pay for Whoop in 2024?
A very big maybe
The Whoop may be worth it if you’re interested in recovery and energy and want something you can wear 24/7. I didn’t notice how badly my sleep patterns affected me until the Whoop app pointed it out. That’s saying something, given that I know how important sleep is for a weightlifter. You might learn about other aspects of your life, such as whether you consume too much caffeine or are over-stressed from work and other factors.
I’ll stick with my Apple Watch Ultra 2. While the coaching aspect is missing, without paying for Apple Fitness+, there are plenty of free coaching sources. My Ultra offers better raw data and app support for a one-time fee. At $800, my watch isn’t cheap. Still, a discounted two-year plan from Whoop is $399, and I can’t use the Whoop 4.0 to pay for groceries, text my wife, or tell the time.
A Whoop subscription entitles you to an upgrade when new hardware launches. However, there’s no word on when a Whoop 5.0 band might happen or what upgrades are guaranteed. For now, it’s best to assume that what you see is what you’ll get.
Whoop 4.0
- Display
- N/A
- Battery Life
- 4 to 5 days
- IP rating
- IP68, up to 10 meters for 2 hours
- Health sensors
- Blood oxygen, skin temperature, heart rate
- Dimensions
- 1.7″ x 1.1″ x 0.4″
- Colors
- Black, various band colors
- Price
- $300 to $480, depending on membership