In what appears to be a first for a sports tech company in recent months, Whoop has lowered their subscription price for their fitness-focused wearable service. Unlike most companies, Whoop doesn’t actually cost money to buy the device itself, but rather, the device is included in the subscription fee. And going forward, for 12-month and 24-month renewals, that price has been lowered by ~20% and 17% respectively. The existing monthly rate remains the same however at $30/month. These price drops carry over into other markets including GBP and EUR pricing.
Concurrently, the company also announced a new “lifetime warranty policy”, which aims to cover replacement of devices “no matter what happens”. But, as I dig into later in this post – it seems like their actual written legal policy is almost the inverse of that – you’re on the hook for everything that happens.
Finally, the company has lowered the price for a ‘lost device’ to just $50, which is incredibly reasonable (it was over $100 previously). While I’ve yet to lose my Whoop permanently, I’ve had a number of close calls (mainly when I briefly took it off for whatever reasons and then accidentally left it behind).
From a pricing standpoint, here’s the new USD pricing:
Further, here’s the GBP pricing:
– Monthly Membership (12-month commitment): £27, VAT included
– 12-Month Membership: £229 upfront, VAT included
– 24-Month Membership: £384 upfront, VAT included
And here’s the EUR pricing:
– Monthly Membership (12-month commitment): €30, VAT included
– 12-Month Membership: €264 upfront, VAT included
– 24-Month Membership: €444 upfront, VAT included
Notably however, for all of these monthly subscriptions, Whoop has gotten rid of the 6-month commitment option. Previously, the device effectively required a 6-month membership; now it requires a 12-month commitment. I can’t figure out exactly when that change occurred though. They still offer a 30-day return policy though.
The company noted in the video if you recently bought a Whoop, remember, they’ll be extending your membership “1 to 3 months”, and that you’ll see that in your app shortly.
Of course, the likely real reason we’re seeing price decreases isn’t out of the goodness of Whoop’s heart to help ya out. Instead, it’s likely that renewal rates have begun to decrease. Given the high subscription cost of Whoop (far beyond any other wearable subscription cost), it’s an easy line item target for most home budgets, especially given the device requires constantly checking the phone app – as the device itself has no actual screen/display. It’s just a band with a slate of sensors inside. Nothing wrong with that, Whoop has done a lot with those sensors, but due to that lack of screen (which many people like), it’s easier for a consumer to ‘forget’ about the benefits of the device.
Nonetheless, no matter the reason – I think all of us agree that a price decrease instead of a price increase is generally a good thing!
Upcoming New Features:
Only briefly hinted at in the video posted on their social media feeds, the company says they’re adding:
1) A stress monitor “with Dr. Andrew Huberman”
2) A weightlifting feature to track reps and “a bunch of stuff related to your workout”
3) The weightlifting feature will also show muscular strain
4) New Recovery details
5) New home screen redesign
Literally what I listed here is almost word for word all they announced in terms of details. So there aren’t any further details beyond that. The recovery bit though is probably one of the most interesting components. Many technically astute reviewers have noted the many flaws with Whoop’s recovery algorithms (both their previous ones, as well as the most recent/current) – primarily around just how heavily detached it is from reality, focusing almost entirely on sleep HRV, rather than having a more heavily weighted component being tied to your recent strain (training load).
As other companies have come onto the scene in this arena, they’ve generally done a better job of managing the balance between training load and training recovery. So it’s no surprise Whoop is probably trying to address their shortcomings.
The Lifetime Warranty:
Now ironically, it was actually the new warranty policy that caught my eye first. Mainly because Whoop e-mailed that out, versus deciding to go with a social media-only approach for their price-lowering policy. Frankly, I don’t entirely understand that logic – I mean, wouldn’t you want to sing from the ceilings a new lower price? Perhaps though, they didn’t want to deal with the floodgates of people asking for refunds/etc on recently renewed 12/24-month subscriptions. Either way, that aside, they did send out a short and sweet e-mail about the warranty policy, shown in full below:
And here’s the written text:
I’m excited to share some good news with the WHOOP community today.
We’re announcing a new lifetime warranty policy that will help you prioritize your health, no matter what happens. As long as you’re a WHOOP member, you’ll get free replacements on defective devices or batteries — whether that’s tomorrow or 10 years from now. Lost your WHOOP? Great news. Replacing your lost WHOOP device will now cost €54 – nearly 50% less than before.
Thanks for being a member of the WHOOP community. Here’s to many more days in the green.
Best, Will
Will Ahmed
Founder & CEO, WHOOP
Now, on the surface, this is a pretty solid deal – especially including the line items “no matter what happens” followed by “whether that’s tomorrow or 10 years from now”. There’s no caveats or further text on the e-mail (except for the Unsubscribe button and social media icons). How on earth they managed to get this e-mail past their lawyers is beyond me (in a good way). But hey, I’m here for it!
It does of course link to their lifetime warranty policy. Actually, it links to an in-between page first, which in turn has the full warranty policy linked further. This in-between page though doubles down again on the ‘no worries’ aspect, saying:
“WHOOP is designed to be worn 24/7 — and designed to last. We back our WHOOP devices with a lifetime warranty — meaning any issues or problems, and our team will replace your WHOOP device as long as you purchased directly through WHOOP and have an active membership. Terms and conditions apply. For our full warranty policy, see our Terms of Use.”
Cool, still on team ‘this sounds interesting’. Except, then you click onto the Terms of Use, scroll past a million bits of lawyer dribble, and finally arrive at the actual warranty exemptions section:
Ahh yes, and we find the real caveats. As you can see, it doesn’t cover a bunch of things. Some of those things make sense (like trying to modify the unit). I’ve got no problem with excluding that. But it’s these two line chunks I’ve got issues with exclusions for (I’ve snipped it to the parts I’m focused on):
– Damage or failure through misuse or malfunction, normal wear and tear…
– Damage or failure due to accident, acts of God, …. unusual atmospheric conditions;
I mean, these two line items are kinda like the entire point of a warranty? What other possible scenarios could an item fall under besides “malfunction” or “misuse”? Seriously, every possible reason a unit could die falls under it either malfunctioning normally, or somehow being misused. Further, the core of Whoop CEO’s very short e-mail says “no matter what happens”. This doesn’t seem to be a “no matter what happens” type of thing. This is literally the exact opposite of that. It’s “everything that happens isn’t covered”.
But arguably the most important: What in gopher’s name are ‘unusual atmospheric conditions’? I asked Google, and it was like ‘shrug?’. So, then I actually asked ChatGPT (mainly to see if for once it could give me a truly accurate answer related to something sports tech, most of the time it just spews out really pretty bullshit that’s riddled with inaccuracies.)
So basically, ChatGPT is telling me that if I get snow or a bit of wind on my Whoop, it exempts it from the warranty policy? Obviously, it’s trying to be helpful here, and it actually is mostly. I’m a bit sad neither Whoop nor ChatGPT included “balloons falling from the atmosphere” in the list of exemptions. Seems like a missed opportunity.
By the way, funny aside while researching this – another wearable company, albeit for horses, called HorsePal and their horse heart rate monitor strap has a near-identical legal warranty, including the acts of atmospheric conditions. In fact, their warranty bullet points are in the exact same order and wording as Whoop’s. I don’t know which legal team came first: The Horse or the Human, but I found it funny to see this plagiarism occur within the heart rate sensor industry (someone is copying someone).
In any case, around this time, I shot off a note to Whoop’s PR team, asking what the deal-e-o was with their warranty details. No, not asking about the horse part, nor the atmospheric conditions part, or even the odd $50 restocking fee listed in there. But rather, just the general ‘malfunction’ aspect. As of the moment, I haven’t heard back quite yet. However, once I do, I’ll insert their response here. Update, I’ve heard back! Here’s what they had to say:
“The actual terms of what define a warranted loss or failure have not changed. And we understand life happens, and as stated in our comms, we are here for our members when it does. Our Membership Services team has been trained to act thoughtfully and generously to resolve member warranty claims, working through every warranty ticket with the benefit of our membership base in mind. Maintaining the original definition of what constitutes a loss or failure allows for discretion if needed. Support is a key benefit of the WHOOP membership and quick and satisfactory resolution of warranty claims is no exception.”
Look, I intended to write a post showing how cool this new lifetime-forever-and-ever policy was after receiving the e-mail like any other consumer. And further, I fully understand lawyers have to get in the way to keep companies (and individuals) safe from purposefully trying to break things or whatever. But in this case, the terms, be it horse-inspired or otherwise, simply go too far. They give Whoop FAR too many reasons to say no, be it in their CEO’s words – “tomorrow or 10 years from now”.
With that, thanks for reading!
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I’m guessing Whoop was first! That “atmospheric conditions” appears in their May 19, 2021 Terms of Use (link to web.archive.org) but not in their 2015 TOU (link to web.archive.org)
Doh! May 21, 2019, not May 19, 2021!
And our hearty horse friends? 🐎
Well, the oldest archive capture of that URL is May 16, 2022 (link to web.archive.org). The earliest mention of the HRM product I could find on their site appears in Oct, 2021 (link to web.archive.org). Prior to that, it appears to have just tracked temperature and humidity, and I can’t see anything mentioning a warranty on the site prior to the launch of the HRM.
They made it up on the hoof…
It’s funny the reason I got rid of my Whoop is that I lost my charger and they wanted $50 at the time for a new one. Felt like gouging and I lost the last few months of my subscription and just moved on. This info was shared and they didn’t care.
Unbelievable!! I Just canceled my subscription after 2.5 years and bought a Garmin watch!
Mine is sitting in a drawer. I missed my watch and wasn’t about to wear two bands, one onnesch arm. I loved the data, but couldn’t overcome missing a smart watch.
I had a subscription for 2 years. The latest generation is the worst. The charging pod was worthless as it wouldn’t hold a charge. What’s the point when you have to plug it in?
I got an Apple Watch Ultra and paid for a FITIV app subscription. Pretty much all the same features now and I don’t spend $20 a month.
Apple could be the Garmin & Whoop destroyer if they wanted to. I don’t understand why they just don’t do it already….
Garmin costs completly nothing and an FR255 lasts 2 days battery with every health systems on.
The apple watch ultra is heavy, only with Iphone to connect.
Exactly – they’re not much use if you’re an Android user…
BBB ratings for Whoop are terrible. Buyer beware!
I’ll take Andrew Huberman. They can keep the Whoop.
Chat GPT base date is before all the balloon stuff.
As a new customer in Europe the cost has actually gone up. As of last week the 2 year subscription was € 480, but if you hade the referral code of a podcast/athlete that would normally get you 15% off. So thats € 408.
But now the cost is at € 444 for the same 2 year subscription. Referral codes only gets you a maximum € 44 discount on accessories, not on the subscription. I tried the code BESENWAGEN, but as I have heard the ads in several podcast, they seem to be all the same.
While there’s often been various referral/discount/sales codes, it’s the base price that’s gone down.
Base price doesn’t matter if most don’t pay the base price. Also if the problem is renewal rates have gone down they haven’t given any price cut to help encourage people to renew as it’s still $360 a year
Or misread the way $30 was listed. the options to renew are:
link to app.whoop.com
Yes, all the codes I know of have been discontinued or converted to discount on accessories only, so for people that used them this has been in fact a price increase…
Today I learned – there’s an HR strap for horses.
You can get an EKG with a polar strap:
link to play.google.com
Any HRM will work on a horse, case in point the polar offering is the same H10 that they sell for human use, it’s just the strap that needs to be bigger
Hi Ray,
Will you stick with using Whoop still ? Also would you be beta testing any of the new features ?
I have enjoyed my whoop as an acceptable piece “functional jewelry” and I do like the sleep tracking which I find is more “stingy”, and therefore potentially more realistic, than my fenix 5. But, after looking the results from my wife’s 955 I can see myself dropping the whoop when subscription expires and getting a 955.
I let my Whoop subscription lapse last month. Too pricey for a non-pro, and I was tired of wearing/charging two bands all the time (Apple Watch).
If it was an Apple Watch app, and cost half as much, I’d probably be back. Although I did purchase Athlytic to replace Whoop, and have barely been paying attention since. Not sure if that’s me, broken habit, or just not getting into the new app.
I would tell people to stay away from this company. You can’t remove the subscription if you don’t like it after 30 days. You have to pay for it for a year. It’s in the drawer and I wear an Apple Watch now. You try and call and can’t get anyone. It’s has terrible customer service or none at all really. I will tell everyone… stay away!
I’ll try anything and have generally found interesting / redeeming qualities associated with a lot of different devices. Polar, Fitbit, garmin, AW have all been solid for me. I liked the wahoo element rival too. But the whoop was garbage. It was a $30/month magic 8 ball. Recovery, HR, sleep, uploading, nothing worked consistently. I can’t believe there are suckers who pay for it, especially with the progress that garmin and Apple are making.
I got suckered into a 6 month subscription to whoop a few years ago, it made my life more complicated with it’s constant failures to sync to my phone and chats with tech support.
Even when it does work you have to wait an age to get any data (I don’t sleep near my phone) so no sitting on the toilet after waking and getting a simple breakdown like from say a fenix.
I’m surprised it’s still popular with the inclusion of HRV in Garmin watches now which is basically the only reason I tried it.
I guess it looks cool/different and people ask what it is which is another reason I stopped wearing it as I felt like a bellend with a Garmin on one arm and this on another, it’s difficult to leave the Garmin ecosystem behind when you have 10+ years of data.
I’d like to see more horse-related content on this website.
Hello
My renewal will be May 2023 and I won’t renew.
As clearly mentioned above the recovery/strain for me is not useful, from my point of view mainly because of HRV main factor.
Also the HR sensor is far from been accurate, I did tested and compare between chest strap, apple watch and whoop, whoop is currently not enough fast to follow interval training heart rate, Apple Watch is much more efficient.
The other reason for not renewing is the inconfort the bad brought me, I have skinny arms thus need to tight the band for “accurate” reading by doing this it create pressure and generate a kind of kist in my middle finger that disappeared once whoop remove.
People may like the customer service of Whoop but they are absolutely not receptive when an issue occurs, answers are always the same, send a picture of where your whoop is placed, whoop sensor is the most accurate skin sensor…. violon in the background.
Cheers Guys
My 5 weeks with Whoop was an absolute nightmare. 30-40 watt spikes in HR during workouts. Made up, autodetect workouts where I did workouts(sitting on my couch) with a sustained HR I can’t even tickle for a second, and continual disconnections. After 4 weeks, Whoop sent me a new sensor and it was terrible from the beginning. Happy they finally refunded my 2yr subscription. Pretty sad because I loved the metrics but the data was absurdly inaccurate and it’s the worst tech experience of my life😅
The sad thing is that I’d happily pay 50% more if the numbers were close to accurate. Instead, I wouldn’t pay $10 a month for it as I only 70% trust it for sleep and 5% trust it for everything else
Hi Jeremy,
How did you get refunded ? I trapped in 1y subscription, cancelled it but it will be over in a year (facepalm). Along with it, they say “we will refund..”
Whoop as mentioned in the comments is completely overpriced, you’d have to be a complete moron not to understand this.
The price of Oura is also creeping up. I also have a feeling they are degrading the battery post warranty period (in the same way Apple did). My 2 year old Gen3 Oura ring will now not hold a charge for longer than 1 day.
A Fitbit Inspire 2 is another inexpensive option at approx $65 for the watch and a low yearly subscription cost and ‘The Quantified Scientist’ (YouTube) shows the accuracy of the sleep data is very good.
Eh, money has different importance to everyone. A $3k set of wheels is the norm but many of us use them 2-5x a year and will replace them as soon as something faster is available. Many people will spend $1k-5k on a bottle of wine without thinking about it while others complain about a $10 beer
I had a whoop for 1 year. The UI in the app was great and I loved how they displayed all data with a beautiful laid out pdf report. All was well till I went down the rabbit hole of reviewing HR data in comparison to the rest of my devices. The report is only as good as the data that it’s built on, Ray’s own review showed the same issue. Sadly, with the HR / strain data being so far off from reality I decided to cancel my membership. Beyond the incorrect data the cost was really expensive, almost $40 CAD a month. This was another reason why I cancelled. A year goes by and I just purchased a Garmin Epix 2 (also thanks to Ray’s review) and I couldn’t be happier! As the rest of the fitness tracking companies catch up or even surpass WHOOP I wonder where they will be in the next 12 -24 months.
After using mine for close to a year its just not worth it for me either. This should be at least 15 or less per month, and by the looks of it i cant see this company surviving longer than another 2 years . Apple Watch and Garmin have been advancing very fast, so they will either buy out Whoop or have better metrics eventually.
Your article is amazing. It covers the many issues I’ve been reviewing prior to purchasing the subscription and absolutely reinforced my research and useless, inconsistent calls, texts, and e-mails with Whoop. I’m fine with the subscription fee, as expensive as it is, if it came with a genuine lifetime warranty. Note that the device and battery pack do not include the band – which inevitably wears out. Just so frugal. They probably spend millions on advertising, yet they don’t seem to see the value of spending a bit here and there so customers don’t feel ripped off. Whether the device is accurate, I never got that far. I read from many that maybe it isn’t. But I was willing to try before realizing I can’t get a straight answer – or – I get an answer that is very customer unfriendly. Thanks for your perfect article to help me make a decision!
When I said it doesn’t include the band, I meant that the lifetime warranty doesn’t include the band. Just to be clear. Thanks.