Whoop review: can a wrist strap without a screen really make you fitter, healthier and faster? We put it to the test

What sort of insights does the celebrity-endorsed fitness tracker give you - and how useful are they? We tested Whoop 4.0

Whoop band
(Image credit: Tom Epton)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

The device is useful, but has limitations which Whoop’s marketing and educational content tends to gloss over. Whoop has the power to improve your wellbeing, no doubt, but you need to think carefully about the data, and its quality, that the app is presenting back to you. In my opinion, Whoop's ability to provoke positive behaviour change is its main selling point, rather than continuous day-time tracking. Quantifying my sleep habits, encouraging me to change them and then me feeling improvements based on this is valuable.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Useful sleep tracking

  • +

    Slick, fast app which presents data clearly and interactively

  • +

    Portable charging and multi-day battery life

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Social media-style ranking based on biological metrics

  • -

    Inability to connect a chest strap

  • -

    Wrist-based sensor not consistent when sweaty and moving

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Whoop is a company that anyone who’s watched cycling over the last few months will be thoroughly aware of. They have an active publicity arm - with viewers regularly seeing riders' ‘strain’ score, one of Whoop’s own variables, mid race. 

Whoop is a device which is worn on the wrist which tracks your heart beating, measuring resting heart rate, respiratory rate and heart rate variability. On top of this, it tracks your heart rate throughout the day and auto-detects activities. Whoop’s device has no face, it’s not a smartwatch and you can’t see what it’s doing without logging into the app. 

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