Whoop 5.0 wish list: Five things we want to see – and release date predictions

Whoop may have established itself as the preeminent platform for serious athletes and trainers in recent years, but the company’s tracker – the Whoop 4.0 – is beginning to grow old.

Whoop has managed to keep the experience fresh with the release of the Strength Trainer, Stress Monitor, Whoop Coach, and the expanded Whoop Journal, but subscribers are no doubt starting to wonder when Whoop 5.0 will be released.

In this guide, we’ll be tracking the latest release date rumors for Whoop 5.0 and providing a list of the features we want to see in the next-gen device.

Whoop 5.0 release date

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There is currently no official indication or rumors that suggest Whoop 5.0 is in development, despite Whoop 4.0’s release coming way back in September 2021.

When Wareable spoke to Whoop CEO Will Ahmed back in 2022, they suggested that new hardware wasn’t necessarily in the works, with the company instead focusing on software developments.

“We recently launched the Whoop 4.0 and that’s the technology for the foreseeable future,” Ahmed said.

“Our perspective is to keep adding more and more value over time, and true health monitoring is a bit misunderstood. It’s become a race to the bottom, but the consumer is not getting more value.”

Since then, Whoop has gone on to add the Strength Trainer, Whoop Coach, and stress monitoring. However, there’s been no word about anything upcoming in the hardware space.

It’s conceivable Whoop will continue its software-first approach for 2024 – after all, the current hardware still works mostly fine – but we would hazard a guess Whoop 5.0 will be announced later this year or early 2025.

Should you wait for Whoop 5.0?

No. Any new hardware is likely shipped out to existing subscribers, which means you would be able to upgrade from Whoop 4.0 to Whoop 5.0 immediately for free.

This was Whoop’s approach when moving from Whoop 3.0 to Whoop 4.0.

After the official announcement, it shipped out the upgraded device to subscribers, and, while it’s not certain this would be repeated, it feels unlikely Whoop will begin charging customers for a future tracker.

Whoop 5.0: Five things we want to see

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Whoop provided users with tons of meaty software upgrades in 2023, but features that arrive in the future are likely to rely on improved hardware. 

In that spirit, we’ve listed five things we want to see from the Whoop 5.0 tracker.

There are also plenty of additions we would like to see come to the app platform – such as the ability to create custom Whoop Journal entries – but we’ll restrict things to pure hardware here.

1. It’s time for a button

Part of the appeal of Whoop’s trackers has always been the lack of interaction required. There’s no display to distract you and it very rarely needs to be tapped. With that said, we think it’s time for a button.

We don’t want anything big or obvious, just a multi-functional button on the side of the Whoop 5.0 in the style of the iPhone’s Action Button.

Whether it’s used to skip to the next set in the Whoop Strength Trainer, start/stop a workout, or simply snooze your alarm, we think the experience would be greatly enhanced with one.

After all, while tapping the device does unlock some functionality, like turning off your morning alarm, it’s not the neatest implementation.

2. Extended battery life

No wish list would be complete without the vacuous request for more battery life, would it?

Whoop is by no means a culprit of poor battery life in wider wearable terms, but it’s not necessarily long-lasting, either – especially when you consider that there’s no screen to try and power.

We would love it if Whoop could enable the battery to last comfortably over a week instead of 4-5 days, though we’re skeptical it’ll be able to make such a big leap with the likely addition of more sensors and continued emphasis on all-day monitoring.

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3. Backward compatibility for accessories

While you can just about force the Whoop 4.0 into some old Whoop 3.0 bands, the company irked plenty of its customers by not making the latest tracker overtly compatible with last-gen bands. 

We’re hoping this is much simpler next time around, and any new design can incorporate the long list of Whoop 4.0 accessories.

After all, official bands don’t come cheap, and there’s a distinct lack of third-party offerings.

4. Improved heart rate monitoring

While we found the heart rate monitoring accuracy sorely lacking on Whoop 3.0, things improved considerably in the Whoop 4.0 sensor – especially when worn on the bicep, as opposed to the wrist.

Our hope for the Whoop 5.0 is that it continues this progression and can be considered one of the most accurate options for workouts. At present, we rank the accuracy just below the elite group (even when worn on the bicep).

However, if it can match what we see from Garmin’s Elevate 5 sensor and Apple’s smartwatches, it becomes a formidable prospect.

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5. More real-time health insights

At present, each metric in the Whoop Health Monitor is working to measure how your body deviates from its baseline overnight, and we’d love to see some of these expanded to the daytime for Whoop 5.0.

Whoop does obviously allow you to view your current heart rate in the app, but we suspect battery life is currently a concern in providing on-demand readings of blood oxygen, HRV, or skin temperature.

Getting a real-time view of your HRV could be useful for breathing exercises (currently available with Oura), while opening up live reads at skin temperature could be useful for athletes monitoring hydration or in women’s fertility monitoring.