is a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 13 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
The tragedy of a niche product is if it sees any success, two things will happen. First, rivals big and small will copy its ideas. Then, to combat that existential threat and appease investors, there’ll be an appeal to the larger mass market. A handful of niche products survive the transition to the mainstream. Most don’t. (See: Nest, Mirror, VSCO, Vine, Birchbox, etc.) It’s a tale as old as products, and where we currently find Whoop.
Whoop is a fitness tracker, but it differs in a few key ways. It doesn’t have a screen, focuses heavily on sleep and recovery from physical strain, and notoriously relies on a subscription model. A few years ago, it had a viral marketing campaign and became a popular tracker among gym rats, outdoor enthusiasts, and even elite athletes like Michael Phelps and LeBron James.
But in 2025, these things that used to differentiate Whoop are no longer unique. Smart rings can accomplish most of what Whoop does in a much smaller and more affordable form factor. More wearables have since introduced subscriptions, and they’re significantly cheaper than the $30 per month that Whoop had been charging.
So it’s unsurprising Whoop came in hot with new messaging for its Whoop 5.0 and MG launch. The strategy made sense on paper — add in greater functionality, improve hardware to drive upgrades, and diversify the business model with broader subscription tiers. But after two months of testing and one PR kerfuffle, Whoop’s pivot isn’t hitting quite right.
Fresh paint, same foundation
Whoop upgraded the hardware, and here are the cliffs notes:
Both the base Whoop 5.0 and premium MG trackers are 7 percent smaller.
The processing power is 60 percent faster.
Battery’s been bumped from five to 14 days, with a new wireless charging pack that holds an extra 30 days if you’re on the Whoop Peak and Life tiers (more on tiers later).
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