WHOOP review: If you really want to learn about your body, there’s no better health tracker than the WHOOP 4.0
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TRACKING your fitness has never been more popular, but the WHOOP 4.0 band claims to be the smart wearable of the future, boosting performance by digging deep into your personal health data.
I've done a WHOOP review to see if the wearable matches up to its competitors.
As a seasoned tracker, monitoring my steps, calories and activity rate for years, this advanced piece of performance tech is something I’ve wanted to get my hands on for a while.
While many fitness trackers focus on steps, heart rate and calorie burning, the WHOOP 4.0 wants to coach tracking addicts like me into wannabe athletes.
To get your hands on the latest WHOOP 4.0 band and access all the data, there’s a membership fee. Choose from an annual 12-month membership at £229 or pay £27 per month.
There’s also the option to trial a pre-owned device for 30 days at zero cost.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -
Pros:
- Lightweight design: The WHOOP 4.0 boasts a sleek fabric strap design that complements any outfit, making it a stylish accessory.
- Advanced biometric tracking: Beyond traditional fitness metrics, the tracker monitors biometrics like skin temperature and blood oxygen, offering insights that go beyond most of its competitors.
- Intuitive app design: The WHOOP app's elegant design transforms data exploration into an enjoyable experience, making it easy to delve into your health insights.
- Wireless charging: The tracker's wireless battery pack, which conveniently attaches to the wrist, ensures effortless and efficient charging and when fully charged, should provide five days of battery life.
- Optimised learning: The more you wear the WHOOP 4.0, the more it learns about you, providing tailored recommendations to enhance your athletic performance.
- Coaching features: The tracker offers coaching on optimal workout times based on your body's readiness, helping you make the most of your fitness routine.
- Wake time alarm: A vibrating alarm nudges you awake at the ideal time, aligning with your body's sleep cycles for a refreshed start to the day.
- 30-day free trial: You can get a taste of the WHOOP 4.0's power with a risk-free 30-day trial, including the smart band and full data access via the app.
Cons:
- Data overload: The plethora of tracked data might overwhelm fitness novices, requiring time to understand and leverage it effectively.
- Calibration challenges: Frequent removal of the tracker can hinder its calibration, impacting the accuracy of the collected data.
- Subscription pricing: The expensive monthly or annual subscription costs more than many one-time payment smartwatches, deterring budget-conscious users.
Rating: 4/5
WHOOP review: full review
The WHOOP 4.0 utilises advanced biometric tracking including skin temperature, blood oxygen levels and heart rate variability (HRV) which is known as the king of metrics when it comes to understanding body health and performance.
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The WHOOP 4.0 collects that data and translates it under three main pillars: sleep, recovery and strain. By wearing the discreet, stylish band 24/7 those pillars tally up to a bespoke performance report that can identify sleep and recovery issues and take your training to new levels.
The more you wear it, the more it learns, unlocking new health and fitness data at set points throughout your first month.
We tested the WHOOP 4.0, the latest release, which is smaller in size than its predecessor but with enhanced accuracy.
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What is WHOOP?
The WHOOP 4.0 is a comprehensive wearable tracker collecting biometric and fitness data, providing each user with a personalised performance report.
Unlike other trackers, the WHOOP 4.0 lacks a traditional watch interface. Instead, discreet sensors within the fabric band collect data, which is then uploaded to the WHOOP app upon connection.
WHOOP builds your own insights report, learning more about the level of activity you undertake and how much sleep you need. Over the course of extended use, it aims to become your personal health coach.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -
First impressions
Unboxing
Arriving in a slick, black box, the WHOOP 4.0 is unlike other smartwatches.
It comes in separate parts (the sensor, fabric band and clasp) and there are no instructions within the kit, which is slightly intimidating.
However, once I downloaded the WHOOP app and followed the in-app guide videos, the set-up only took me 10 minutes.
To maintain the data collection already in progress, I needed to charge the sensor. It was simple to plug in the battery pack before sliding it over the sensor while on my wrist.
Set-up
The sign-up process is easy, with a clear walk-through on how to get going with the tracker and prompts such as ‘set up your personalised sleep alarm’ start right away.
The band can be worn wherever it suits the wearer but it’s recommended that it be worn snugly on the wrist, approximately two inches below the pulse point.
The data collection begins immediately and it’s quite addictive to keep checking the app, although the notifications help.
Design
The slick design is honestly where I fall for the WHOOP 4.0.
The black band is discreet enough to be worn with any outfit, even on a night out.
The fabric band is also much more comfortable to wear throughout the night than the silicon straps of other trackers.
My order also came with the superknit band, which is made from micro-filament yarn for enhanced comfort and is supposedly better for wearing during contact sports. I prefer the black band, so it’s down to personal style and performance preference.
For keen athletes, extra pro-knit bands in colourful options are available at £54 each. Additional free bands are available at set times throughout your membership, depending on your chosen Whoop membership package.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -
Performance
As a previous wearer, I’ve become accustomed to regularly seeking that flashing approval from my smartwatch when I reach the 10,000 steps mark and I like to manually log every workout and see the calories burned.
But, secretly, I’m all too aware of the inaccuracies of calorie and step obsession. This is what led to my fascination with the WHOOP 4.0 band.
Research-grade data is where WHOOP stands out. As a health-tech company, the company's wearable is the culmination of years of data and tech science.
The key is also making this advanced data understandable for everyday users.
The pillars of sleep, recovery and strain all have their own clear percentage or score performance and I am able to see quickly where I need to adapt.
Separate scores for stress monitoring are a helpful addition. A hen do in Brighton means I peak at a 2.7 stress score, which is high; a chilled Friday relaxing at a spa, meanwhile, is a much more normal 0.5.
I managed a 70 per cent sleep performance score over the month I reviewed the WHOOP and this was really helped by the little nudges telling me I needed more sleep after busy weeks at work.
An additional WHOOP 4.0 extra is the personalised optimum sleep alarm; the band vibrates gently on my wrist when I have reached the optimum amount of sleep needed after the previous day. I just have to tap the band’s sensor to turn it off.
It's admittedly dicey if you have an early meeting (although you can set a cut-off time) but it's great waking up gently, knowing you’ve reached the amount of sleep needed. It starts the day off well.
The graphics used to present the data are also seamless, a nifty trick when the data overwhelms is to flip your smartphone horizontally to see a full-screen graph of your day. Satisfying does not cut it - it’s glorious.
What’s most exciting is how it just starts to know your body. WHOOP knows if I’ve had a stressful day and it reminds me to try and go to bed earlier to get good results in the gym tomorrow.
Occasionally, I did feel a bit like it was nagging me; but if you want to improve your fitness and health, that’s a good thing.
There is also a community feature, where you can check your scores against a huge global community of WHOOP band wearers, but I didn’t love this or use this much. Those who are already using the likes of Strava to show off their running achievements would probably get more out of this feature.
Another sadly predictable but unavoidable aspect of wearing the WHOOP 4.0, is being recognised while wearing by other users. A few times, I was asked in the gym about how I was finding it and it did give me a sense of real-life community that I haven’t experienced with any other wearable.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -
WHOOP 4.0 and sleep
To gain insight into your sleeping patterns, you need to log seven days of wearing the WHOOP band consistently to build up your data, which can be irritating at first.
However, once this has been completed, the insights are fascinating.
The WHOOP 4.0 identifies how much sleep I need in hours and pits that against my actual sleep time with a performance percentage.
It’s smart enough to know if I take a nap (read: terrifying), seems to know if I’m looking at my smartphone in bed and it tells me exactly how much of the ‘best’ restorative sleep I had experienced.
One of the surprising features as the month went on was finding out how much my respiratory rate (breaths per minute while resting) lowers during the night after drinking alcohol. It really made me consider the next glass of wine on my next night out.
As the month went on, I was able to see that not using my phone in bed dramatically improved the amount of restorative sleep I could get.
WHOOP 4.0 and recovery
This is the WHOOP measurement of how well your body adapts to physical, emotional and mental stress, and an overall account of general wellbeing.
This data is gathered based on an amalgamation of HRV, resting heart rate, hours of sleep and respiratory rate and can be improved by drinking more water, more sleep or even activity.
Based on your determined ‘sufficient, low or adequate’ there are coaching tips throughout the app to help you improve.
There’s also a daily two-minute survey to help when you log into the app which includes questions such as ‘How much caffeine did you drink today?’ and ‘Mood today?’.
I liked being able to check in with myself, although I used this section less.
If I really wanted to make tiny incremental changes for optimum gym performance, the recovery section is something I would pay attention to more.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -
WHOOP 4.0 and strain
Strain is a score based on the exertion you place on your body, so it also tells you when you might need a bit of rest to get better results the next day and it relates to your recovery score.
This is quite advanced data, even for a fitness-tracking lover like me, but it is quite addictive to keep looking at your scores.
If I had a good night’s sleep, the app might advise me to work a bit harder in the gym today and that boost sometimes really helped me attack my next class.
Calorie burn is also logged within this section. While I add my own calorie intake manually during my daily journal (which is a bit annoying), I am able to see what has been ‘burned’.
It’s clear though, that WHOOP doesn’t see this as a primary factor for overall health data as it’s a bit hidden.
I found the accuracy for activities particularly good and I had a sense of satisfaction when WHOOP recognised even light activity, such as housework. Is my house cleaner because of WHOOP? Potentially.
One benefit of the subscription model is the continually updated workout session section.
There are full lifting, running and training programmes all embedded within the app and you can log individual workouts or amount of lifts and weights used to help boost your strain scores.
It’s great that this is included in the subscription, as it is such an expensive item.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -
Does WHOOP track steps?
The WHOOP 4.0 does not count steps.
Despite many of us aiming for the goal of 10,000 steps a day and the likes of the Fitbit and Apple Watches monitoring step-count, WHOOP believes step-tracking is irrelevant to performance and health.
It’s a nice way to ‘step out’ of the mindset that the number of steps taken in a day is a universal fitness goal for all.
Is WHOOP waterproof?
Yes, you can jump in the shower while wearing your WHOOP band.
The WHOOP 4.0 sensor is water-resistant at depths of up to 10m for two hours. This means you can stay consistently wearing your band in the shower and even while swimming.
The WHOOP 4.0 battery pack is also water-resistant for depths of up to 1m.
Either way, it’s advised that you wash your band and sensor with gentle soap and remove it during showers to wash the skin where the sensor touches before putting it back on.
How much is WHOOP?
There are three WHOOP 4.0 subscription options you can choose from: monthly with a 12-month commitment, annual and 24-month.
The actual WHOOP 4.0 tracker is included in the subscription cost.
The monthly plan allows you to pay £27 per month with a 12-month minimum commitment, which is a total of £324.
The annual plan allows you to pre-pay 12 months of subscription for £229. The 24-month subscription (the best-value option) allows you to pre-pay for two years of WHOOP access for £384.
If you do want to trial the WHOOP 4.0, you can do that for free for 30 days using a pre-owned band, and if it’s not for you, return it after the trial period.
All subscriptions include a lifetime warranty for the device.
- See all WHOOP subscription options
Where to buy Whoop
Unlike most other smartwatches or wearables, the WHOOP 4.0 is only available via a subscription model on WHOOP.com or Wit-fitness.com.
The actual device is included when you sign up for either monthly or annual membership.
If you want to end your membership, you can return your tracker to WHOOP via a prepaid returns label.
Whoop Alternatives
The main competitor for the WHOOP 4.0 is the Oura Ring. The Oura Gen3 Horizon ring has several of the same biometric tracking capabilities including HRV, sleep and activity monitoring.
Oura Ring Gen3 Horizon starts at $299 (£238) for a silver finish or $449 (£357) for gold.
In addition, there is a monthly membership fee of $5.99 (£4.77) a month but the first month is free.
Another alternative is the This is an armband that covers your entire arm.
The sleeve monitors HRV, sleep, workout and stress levels by using an electrocardiogram (ECG) which is a different method to the WHOOP 4.0, which gives you a score for HRV instead.
The AIO Smart Sleeve 2.0 costs £122 and access to the AIO Health App 2.0 is currently included in the cost of the band.
The at £369 is also a contender.
The WHOOP 4.0 focuses on health, stats and metrics while the Apple Watch 8 Series has the watch interface and some gym lovers prefer its fitness tracking abilities.
However, the obvious difference is down to style and comfort. It depends on whether you want to wear a more chunky ring device, a watch, a sleeve or a band.
The verdict: is Whoop worth it?
Yes, but this is not a device for novices.
If you’re looking to improve your health and fitness, there are plenty of more affordable options on the market such as Fitbit, Garmin or Apple watches and most smartphones are now equipped with basic step-tracking, sleep-monitoring and heart rate data.
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But if you want to learn about your body, pinpoint how to train more effectively and really understand your sleep patterns and the effects on your day-to-day living, there’s no better wearable than the WHOOP 4.0.
- Annual Membership, £229 (or £27 per month) from WHOOP -
- Trial a pre-owned WHOOP device for free -