As health and wellness accessories continue to make up an important part of our technology landscape, it’s easy to get locked into the all-purpose smartwatch category. We even recently asked the question whether smartwatches are actually making traditional watches obsolete. But what if your goal for a wearable device isn’t suitable for a smartwatch? What if you’re looking for something more subtle, with a stronger focus on health than on apps and notifications? This is where a Whoop group could come into play.
Whoop was originally launched in 2012 by a Harvard student with a strong tech background to transfer health and workout data to a modern wearable device. The group has begun to increase its share of early consumers in the elite athlete market. So it’s no surprise that today his focus remains on athletics and wellness. But today’s Whoop is actually a pretty worthy competitor to the Apple Watch, just not for its smart functionality. It’s Whoop’s obsessive focus on health tracking that really sets him apart. Plus, there are some practical benefits to its form factor, charging, battery life, and more. Here are the things it can do that an Apple Watch can’t.
Lasts up to two weeks on a single charge
One of the most common complaints you’ll hear about any full-featured smartwatch, including Apple’s flagship, is that it’s just another device you have to remember to charge. While some smartwatches offer solid smart features and decent battery life (like some Fitbit offerings), Apple Watches simply focus on features and hardware, meaning you’ll get at most a few days of real-world use from your watch.
Whoop, on the other hand, doesn’t offer a screen or apps on the device at all. This means it can focus all its battery power on health-tracking features and workouts. On all of Whoop’s modern band models, the company claims more than 14 days of battery life. That’s two weeks of functionality, tracking and reliability. So if you’re willing to sacrifice some of the at-a-glance functionality of an Apple Watch and you’re one of those people who really doesn’t like having to think about charging your devices, then the Whoop truly stands out in this category.
Charge while it’s still on your wrist.
If the long, reliable battery life isn’t enough for you, one of the Whoop’s most unique features is that you don’t even need to remove the band to charge it. Unlike an Apple Watch that must be removed and placed on a charging puck, Whoop’s Peak and Life bands come with a separate charging stand that snaps onto the top of the device. This charging stand has a built-in battery that provides extra juice, so you can recharge the bracelet if it’s dead.
However, it’s not just a battery backup. You can actually use the Whoop Clip-on Charger to essentially get a smart bracelet that you never have to take off. If you charge the battery backup component in the morning and continue your day with the bracelet, but notice that it is low, turn on the battery backup and continue your day. The device becomes a little bulkier to carry at this point, but once the battery has done its job you can remove it and put it back on its charger. You now have a fully charged wristband without ever needing to remove the host device. It’s a very lenient system for people who are chronically undercharged.
Track your health without competing for your attention.
One of the things a Whoop band can do that an Apple Watch can’t is actually focused on something the Whoop does less. Stick with us here: Since the Whoop doesn’t have a screen at all, there’s nothing that can pop up and grab your attention throughout the day. This is ideal for someone whose attention is easily drawn to wrist-buzzing moments throughout the day. However, you can still access health-tracking data, so you don’t need to sacrifice this feature of your wearable to avoid the notification.
The fact that it does not contain a screen also offers another advantage: it is more subtle to wear. Especially with the launch of the Apple Watch Ultra line, many smartwatches are moving in a decidedly maximalist direction. This means it won’t look stylish or subtle, and many users find it difficult to wear during workouts or in bed. The Whoop is designed as an ultra-lightweight fabric wristband that feels more like a simple bracelet than a smart device. This makes it perfect for tracking around the clock without feeling uncomfortable or looking like you have an entire computer strapped to your wrist.
Estimate your biological age and your rate of aging.
While the health and fitness tracking features of the Apple Watch are nothing to sneeze at, Whoop offers a truly unique approach to tracking your metrics and distilling them into a single, interesting, and impactful number. Whoop’s unique Healthspan system offers a series of insights that the company says will measure both your Whoop Age (a specific version of a biological age tracker) and the rate at which you’re aging.
These metrics are calculated based on nine key categories that cover sleep, fitness, and overall stress on your body (Whoop calls it “exertion”). While the Apple Watch can track many of these things, it’s not as comprehensive at combining and analyzing them as a unit and at leveraging research to determine what’s actually affecting your current and long-term health. Whoop even lets you download blood results from your real doctor, so it can take these numbers into account and give an even more accurate picture. All with the goal of living longer and healthier during this time.
Turn continued wear into long-term health insights
The other key area where the Whoop Band seems more well-rounded than the Apple Watch is its emphasis on long-term data and analytics. Both devices have similar sensors that track pulse, blood oxygen, and VO2 max (your overall fitness level). Apple Watch is, admittedly, the only one of the two to have some FDA-approved alerts for hypertension and sleep apnea. But what Whoop does well comes to life in its approach to “always-on” data.
This factor is partly due to the ease and portability of Whoop and partly due to the way the software manages and delivers data and trends. First, because a Whoop bracelet lasts much longer on a single charge and, with some models, is even rechargeable while you’re wearing it, it will naturally capture more data and better trends than the Apple Watch, which you have to take off to charge. Then the Whoop app focuses on collecting more data (some even report a full week) before delivering all of its key trends to you. The Apple Watch may offer long-term trend data, but it’s more about where your heart rate currently stands, what that means for a workout, and other stats in the moment.
