WHOOP 5.0 and MG models require new bands that are not compatible with WHOOP 4.0.
Another reason why WHOOP owners should be mad. These bands are not cheap, especially if you’re trying to make it look like a fancy bracelet. The one thing about the Apple Watch is the bands have been compatible for the last 10 years, across all their watches, which is commendable. At least WHOOP still makes their expensive bands out of “Genuine Italian Leather.”
Apple’s “WHOOP 5.0 day” will eventually come and band compatibility will be broken, and everything will hit the fan, but hopefully that day is still a long ways away.
Another reason why WHOOP owners should be mad. These bands are not cheap, especially if you’re trying to make it look like a fancy bracelet. The one thing about the Apple Watch is the bands have been compatible for the last 10 years, across all their watches, which is commendable. At least WHOOP still makes their expensive bands out of “Genuine Italian Leather.”
Apple’s “WHOOP 5.0 day” will eventually come and band compatibility will be broken, and everything will hit the fan, but hopefully that day is still a long ways away.
WHOOP could have gotten away with their paid upgrade change with one simple word…
Wes Davis from The Verge:
Whoop is in damage control mode. After debuting its Whoop 5.0 fitness tracker, users were angered to find it had reneged on a promise of free hardware upgrades. In a new Reddit post, the company now says users who have more than 12 months left on their subscription can get the Whoop 5.0 for free.
Part of the outrage was prompted by Whoop’s confusing messaging. Early yesterday morning, my colleague Victoria Song reported that to get a Whoop 5.0 band, users would need to extend their existing membership by an additional 12 months or pay a one-time upgrade fee. However, until at least March 28th of this year, Whoop’s website had a blog post that said users would only need to have been a member for at least six months to get a free upgrade to next-gen hardware.
After the backlash, Whoop is now changing its tune — somewhat. Those with “more than 12 months remaining” are “eligible for a free upgrade to WHOOP 5.0 on Peak,” one of its new subscription offerings. Those with less than 12 months left still have to either extend their membership another 12 months or pay a one-time upgrade fee, the company says. The same information is reflected in an update on its membership pricing page.
The company addresses the earlier blog post, writing that “a previous blog article incorrectly stated that anyone who had been a member for just 6 months would receive a free upgrade. This was never our policy and should never have been posted.” Whoop goes on:
“As noted above, our policy for upgrades from WHOOP 3.0 to WHOOP 4.0 was that members with 6 months or more remaining on their membership were eligible for a free upgrade to WHOOP 4.0. We removed that blog article when it came to our attention and updated WHOOP Coach with the proper information. We’re sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”
Here is what it said in their now deleted blog post:
Additionally, instead of purchasing new hardware every time an updated model is produced, WHOOP members receive the next-generation device for free after having been a member for six months or more.
If all this sounds confusing to you, it’s because it is.
Even if the blog post was not supposed to be the official policy and was a genuine mistake, all WHOOP needed to do to avoid this backlash was to come out with a simple statement regarding, yes you guessed it, tariffs. I can’t think of a single company that isn’t using tariffs as an excuse to charge higher prices in one way or another.
It’s the ultimate (legitimate) scapegoat and probably is the reason why WHOOP changed their policy in the first place. All WHOOPs are made in China.
Wes Davis from The Verge:
Whoop is in damage control mode. After debuting its Whoop 5.0 fitness tracker, users were angered to find it had reneged on a promise of free hardware upgrades. In a new Reddit post, the company now says users who have more than 12 months left on their subscription can get the Whoop 5.0 for free.
Part of the outrage was prompted by Whoop’s confusing messaging. Early yesterday morning, my colleague Victoria Song reported that to get a Whoop 5.0 band, users would need to extend their existing membership by an additional 12 months or pay a one-time upgrade fee. However, until at least March 28th of this year, Whoop’s website had a blog post that said users would only need to have been a member for at least six months to get a free upgrade to next-gen hardware.
After the backlash, Whoop is now changing its tune — somewhat. Those with “more than 12 months remaining” are “eligible for a free upgrade to WHOOP 5.0 on Peak,” one of its new subscription offerings. Those with less than 12 months left still have to either extend their membership another 12 months or pay a one-time upgrade fee, the company says. The same information is reflected in an update on its membership pricing page.
The company addresses the earlier blog post, writing that “a previous blog article incorrectly stated that anyone who had been a member for just 6 months would receive a free upgrade. This was never our policy and should never have been posted.” Whoop goes on:
“As noted above, our policy for upgrades from WHOOP 3.0 to WHOOP 4.0 was that members with 6 months or more remaining on their membership were eligible for a free upgrade to WHOOP 4.0. We removed that blog article when it came to our attention and updated WHOOP Coach with the proper information. We’re sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”
Here is what it said in their now deleted blog post:
Additionally, instead of purchasing new hardware every time an updated model is produced, WHOOP members receive the next-generation device for free after having been a member for six months or more.
If all this sounds confusing to you, it’s because it is.
Even if the blog post was not supposed to be the official policy and was a genuine mistake, all WHOOP needed to do to avoid this backlash was to come out with a simple statement regarding, yes you guessed it, tariffs. I can’t think of a single company that isn’t using tariffs as an excuse to charge higher prices in one way or another.
It’s the ultimate (legitimate) scapegoat and probably is the reason why WHOOP changed their policy in the first place. All WHOOPs are made in China.