Whoop 5.0 targets regular folks with 14-day battery and EKGs

For years, wearing a Whoop was basically a badge of honor for hardcore athletes willing to stomach a screen-free strap and a steep $30 monthly fee.

Now, the company is finally trying to break out of that niche. On May 8, Whoop unveiled the new Whoop 5.0 alongside a medical-grade variant dubbed Whoop MG. The update brings major battery upgrades, advanced health metrics, and a full overhaul of its subscription pricing.

Two weeks of juice and medical-grade sensors

On the hardware front, the Whoop 5.0 is seven percent smaller than its predecessor, packs 60 percent faster processing, and samples sensor data roughly 26 times per second.

The real headline is battery life. Whoop claims a 10x leap in power efficiency, pushing estimated runtime to 14 days on a single charge. A redesigned wireless battery pack can hold another 30 days of backup power. For a tracker designed to never leave your body, two weeks between charges is a massive quality-of-life fix.

The lineup is now split into two models. The standard Whoop 5.0 handles routine tracking, while the Whoop MG (Medical Grade) adds FDA-cleared EKG capabilities to detect atrial fibrillation and flag irregular heart rhythms. There are also new leather straps and updated Whoop Body garments with hidden pockets, though older 4.0 straps are unfortunately incompatible.

Biological age and clinician-reviewed blood tests

The software is shifting hard toward longevity and broader wellness. A new metric called Healthspan looks at nine biological markers to calculate your physiological "Whoop Age," showing whether your daily habits are aging you faster or slower than your birth certificate.

Whoop is also adding blood pressure insights that calibrate against a traditional cuff, enhanced cycle and hormonal tracking for women, and redesigned sleep tools. The most ambitious addition is Whoop Advanced Labs, an experimental beta feature that lets members book clinician-reviewed blood panels and view the lab results directly inside the app for an extra fee.

To match the new hardware and software tiers, pricing is getting restructured into three annual plans. The entry-level Whoop One costs $199 a year with basic fitness tracking and wired charging. Whoop Peak sits at $239 annually, matching the previous standard rate while adding the Healthspan score, stress metrics, and the wireless charger. The top-tier Whoop Life runs $359 a year and includes the Whoop MG hardware, EKG access, and blood pressure insights.

Why it matters

Whoop had to make this move because the wearable market has cornered it from all sides.

Endurance diehards are sticking with dedicated GPS watches from Garmin and Coros. Everyday consumers lean toward Apple and Samsung for smartwatch apps. Meanwhile, smart rings like Oura have been steadily eating into Whoop’s core appeal of discreet, screen-free recovery and sleep tracking.

Dropping the baseline annual entry price to $199 and leaning heavily into longevity and medical metrics is a clear play for the health-conscious mainstream. We think doubling down on a screen-free form factor while stretching battery life to 14 days is exactly the right call, as it keeps the device out of your way.

That said, locking life-saving features like EKGs behind a $359 annual paywall is a tough pill to swallow when smartwatches offer them for a one-time hardware purchase. If you already live and die by Whoop’s recovery data, the 5.0 is an easy recommendation. For everyone else, it remains a serious recurring investment that requires real lifestyle commitment to be worth the cash.