Whoop's Strap 2.0 has proved to be one of the most popular fitness trackers for hardcore, professional athletes. However, its up front cost made it a wearable for those who had big money splash. It was $500 if you were a regular joe and around $1,000 to $2,000 per player if you were a pro team and needed advanced analytics.
Now Whoop is completely changing how it's selling its wearable and data analysis. A new subscription service will now give you access to both the Strap and data services for $30 a month.
Read this: What athletes really want from wearables
The Strap features sensors that'll tell you your heart rate, measure heart rate variability, ambient temperature and more. It also comes with three days of battery life that can be boosted with an optional power pack you can plug in to the device while still wearing the Strap.
You'll also get access to Whoop's suite of software, which can give you data points on your recovery time, strain, sleep and more. It can also tailor its analytics and suggestions to your workout style. Even better, there's a Sleep Coach that can help you recover faster so that you can optimize peak performance.
The third element you'll be able to tap into to is the Whoop community, which counts athletes and CEOs among their ranks. You'll be able to join teams and challenges and measure up against people who really, really try to push themselves to be all they can be.
As for that subscription, there is a six-month commitment for newbies. So you'll have to pay at least $180 for the Strap 2.0 and accompanying services. Still, that's less than half of what the Strap 2.0 currently costs, making it an overall better deal - at least in the short term.
As wearable devices increasingly rely on services and software to be the ultimate digital companion, it'll be interesting to see whether other companies, such as Fitbit, also move toward subscription services. But for now, this is great news for anyone that wanted to get a Whoop but didn't want to cough up all that cash.
How we test
By Husain Sumra
Husain joined Wareable in 2017 as a member of our San Fransisco based team. Husain is a movies expert, and runs his own blog, and contributes to MacRumors.
He has spent hours in the world of virtual reality, getting eyes on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR.
At Wareable, Husain's role is to investigate, report and write features and news about the wearable industry – from smartwatches and fitness trackers to health devices, virtual reality, augmented reality and more.
He writes buyers guides, how-to content, hardware reviews and more.