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On May 8, 2025, WHOOP launched its latest fitness tracker, the WHOOP 5.0, alongside the medical-grade WHOOP MG, marking the company’s most significant update since the WHOOP 4.0 debuted in 2021. With a sleeker design, extended battery life, and groundbreaking health features like blood pressure monitoring and ECG capabilities, the WHOOP 5.0 aims to compete with industry leaders like Garmin and Apple. This article explores the WHOOP 5.0’s features, subscription model, recent updates, and its impact on the wearables market.
Key Features of WHOOP 5.0
The WHOOP 5.0 introduces several advancements over its predecessor, focusing on both hardware and software improvements:
Extended Battery Life: The WHOOP 5.0 boasts a 14-day battery life, a significant leap from the 4–5 days of the WHOOP 4.0, reducing the need for frequent charging.
Healthspan and WHOOP Age: This feature calculates a user’s physiological age based on nine metrics, including sleep, exercise, and body mass, offering personalized recommendations to slow aging and improve long-term health. It’s now available to WHOOP 4.0 users as of August 5, 2025.
Blood Pressure Insights: Exclusive to the WHOOP Life subscription, this patent-pending technology provides daily systolic and diastolic estimates using thousands of biometric data points collected during sleep.
ECG and Heart Health: The WHOOP MG model includes FDA-cleared ECG functionality for on-demand heart rhythm analysis and irregular heart rhythm notifications, enhancing its medical-grade capabilities.
Women’s Hormonal Insights: Offers tailored insights into how hormonal fluctuations affect recovery, sleep, and performance, supporting users through menstruation, pregnancy, and perimenopause.
Improved Hardware: The WHOOP 5.0 is 7% smaller and lighter, with enhanced accelerometers and gyroscopes for more accurate step tracking. It features a waterproof wireless power pack but lacks onboard GPS.
Health Monitor and Stress Tracking: Provides detailed sleep, strain, and recovery analytics, alongside stress monitoring and VO2 Max estimates, all accessible via the redesigned WHOOP app.
These features position the WHOOP 5.0 as a comprehensive health coach, emphasizing recovery and long-term wellness over traditional fitness metrics like step counting.
Subscription Tiers and Business Model
Unlike most fitness trackers, WHOOP operates on a subscription-based model, with the hardware provided free with a membership. The WHOOP 5.0 introduces three tiers to cater to different user needs:
WHOOP One ($199/year): Includes basic sleep, strain, and recovery tracking, steps, women’s hormonal insights, and haptic alarms.
WHOOP Peak ($239/year): Adds Healthspan with Pace of Aging, stress monitoring, and health monitor features. Existing WHOOP 4.0 users were automatically upgraded to this tier.
WHOOP Life ($359/year): Unlocks ECG, blood pressure insights, and irregular heart rhythm notifications, exclusive to the WHOOP MG model.
New users can try the WHOOP 5.0 with a one-month free trial, including Peak membership benefits, starting August 5, 2025. Existing users with over 12 months remaining on their subscription can upgrade to the WHOOP 5.0 for free, while others pay a one-time fee of $49 ($79 for WHOOP MG).
This tiered approach has sparked debate, as some users felt the initial upgrade policy contradicted WHOOP’s promise of free hardware upgrades after six months. After backlash, WHOOP revised its policy to offer free upgrades for members with over 12 months remaining, addressing community concerns.
Recent Updates and Features
Since its launch, WHOOP has rolled out significant updates to enhance the 5.0 and support legacy users:
Healthspan for WHOOP 4.0: As of August 5, 2025, the Healthspan feature, initially exclusive to WHOOP 5.0 and MG, is now available to WHOOP 4.0 users, providing physiological age tracking and personalized coaching.
Firmware Updates: The latest firmware (50.32.1.0) fixes connectivity issues with Concept2 devices, improves sensor-app stability, and enhances heart rate and SpO2 accuracy. Previous updates improved battery life and reduced app battery usage.
Advanced Labs: Announced for a US rollout later in 2025, this feature allows users to integrate blood test results into the WHOOP app, offering a holistic view of health metrics alongside 24/7 tracking data.
Strength Trainer Trends: Updates to the Strength Trainer feature enable tracking of performance progression, total weight lifted, and personal bests, addressing previous limitations in strength workout analytics.
Journal Trends and AI Coach: New features include visualizing behavioral impacts over time and a smarter WHOOP Coach for personalized guidance.
These updates reflect WHOOP’s commitment to enhancing user experience across both new and older devices, ensuring long-term value for its community.
Community Reception and Challenges
The WHOOP 5.0 has been praised for its advanced health insights and long battery life, with endorsements from athletes like Rory McIlroy and Cristiano Ronaldo boosting its credibility. However, some users have reported issues with heart rate accuracy, as noted in X posts and WHOOP community forums, prompting calls for further firmware improvements. The subscription model, while innovative, has drawn criticism for its cost and tiered feature access, particularly for users needing to extend memberships for upgrades.
The FDA’s scrutiny of WHOOP’s health-focused features, like physiological age tracking, highlights the delicate balance between wellness and medical claims, but WHOOP continues to position itself as a proactive health tool.
Impact on the Wearables Market
The WHOOP 5.0 and MG challenge competitors like Garmin and Apple by focusing on recovery-driven analytics and medical-grade features. Its screenless design, reliance on the app, and subscription model differentiate it from traditional trackers, appealing to athletes and health-conscious users. The addition of blood pressure and ECG capabilities positions it as a leader in next-gen wearables, though the lack of onboard GPS may deter users needing precise route tracking.
The rollout of Healthspan to WHOOP 4.0 users and the free trial for WHOOP 5.0 demonstrate WHOOP’s strategy to broaden its reach while retaining loyal customers. The upcoming Advanced Labs feature could further disrupt the market by integrating clinical-grade data into daily health tracking.
Conclusion
The WHOOP 5.0, launched on May 8, 2025, represents a bold step forward in fitness tracking, blending advanced hardware with a subscription-based ecosystem. Its 14-day battery life, Healthspan feature, and medical-grade capabilities like ECG and blood pressure monitoring make it a standout choice for those prioritizing holistic health. Despite initial upgrade policy controversies and reported heart rate issues, WHOOP’s responsive updates and community engagement solidify its position as a top contender in the wearables space. As the company continues to innovate, the WHOOP 5.0 sets a new standard for personalized health tracking.
