Fitness tech has evolved beyond activity trackers like the Apple Watch and Fitbit. Today, there are hundreds of streaming workout and wellness apps from brands like Nike, Equinox, and ClassPass to help track your exercises and reach your fitness goals There’s also been a boom in connected fitness equipment like Peloton, Mirror, and Tonal that are paving the way for on-demand workouts from the comfort of your home, with additional content like meditation, yoga, and mobility training to boost mind and body health.
Unsurprising, given Oura’s discreet form-factor and its long-term relationships with several professional sports organizations. You likely won’t see it on the pitch during this year’s World Cup (FIFA is a no-go for wearables during play). That said, it is another example of how professional athletes are integrating wearables into their training.
Cook once said Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind would be ‘about health.’ If true, he’ll get much of the credit.
Multiple CEOs have insisted it’s not ‘just a fitness tech company,’ but maybe it should be.
Whoop and Oura are health tech trendsetters. But hurtling toward innovation can have some unintended ripple effects.
MAHA is obsessed with these wearables — for all the wrong reasons.
After scoring $575 million in funding earlier this week, Whoop is suing Bevel — a startup that has marketed itself as “Whoop, but for the Apple Watch.” The complaint centers on whether Bevel copied Whoop’s app, a claim the former denies. Can’t lie… I feel like I’ve seen 10,000 versions of this app design over the last decade.
The Polar Grit X2 Pro smartwatch that debuted in 2024 is now $999.99, but the company’s new Street X has launched at $249.99. It features a 1.28-inch AMOLED touchscreen, built-in GPS with a compass and barometer, a skin temperature sensor, fitness tracking for over 170 sports and activities, and up to 10 days of battery life.
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This time, the French newspaper found the location of an aircraft carrier because a sailor jogging on deck was recording their run on Strava. This isn’t even the first time. In 2024, Le Monde also found President Emmanuel Macron’s bodyguards also leaked his location by tracking workouts on the platform.
Disabled folks are using their devices to manage long Covid, POTS, and more — and it’s working
Swiss sportswear brand On has opened a new factory in South Korea expanding the manufacturing capacity for the company’s LightSpray sneakers partly made by robots spraying fibers. Previously only available to elite athletes, the expansion will help make the company’s new $280 LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper shoes available to everyone when they launch globally on April 16th.
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This is a great read about Runna — a popular running app that was bought by Strava last year. While many runners swear by it, several reported injuries from using the AI-powered running coach. (Including yours truly.) Runna’s now rolling out easier programs, which I’m going to start testing once this horrible cold snap lets up.
[Wall Street Journal]
A passionate group of women rediscovered fitness in VR. They’re furious with Mark Zuckerberg for killing their community.
When I wrote about Nike’s “neuroscience-based” Mind 001 and 002 shoes, I thought they looked uncomfortable. The 22 nodes in each shoe are meant to stimulate your foot’s pressure points and relax your mind, and those nodes “hurt,” according to shoe reviewer Chris Chase at WearTesters.
They might be a particularly bad match for Chase, who has arthritis in the balls of his feet. Still, the discomfort and general gimmicky vibe is a pass from Chase (and me).
Just like last year, Apple has announced new fitness content that will start rolling out next week (if you want to try another app, we’ve got suggestions).
There are new multi-week Strength, HIIT, or Yoga Fitness Comeback workouts, new music playlists, a Strava challenge for Apple Watch owners, and new Time to Walk audio episodes with Penn Badgley, Mel B, and Michelle Monaghan.
An AI coach is a terrible accountability buddy. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to ignore everything it says.
Food logging is tedious enough without AI making stuff up.
The wearable company offers paid blood tests to US users through its Advanced Labs feature, which launched in September. But now users worldwide can upload their blood results into the app for free, and see biomarkers alongside their daily data. Whoop-organized tests will roll out internationally “in the coming months.”
The new integration means you can access iFit’s workouts from the “fitness” tab on Samsung’s Health app, with videos spanning high-intensity interval training, Pilates, yoga, strength, recovery, and more. Samsung Health users can access one video per month for free, or pay $9.99 per month for a larger catalog of workout videos.
Fibit’s head of product Andy Abramson briefly teased new devices in the coming year during a media briefing covering the company’s new AI health coach. Mentioning that the health coach would roll out fully in 2026, he said it would be supported by “new Fitbit hardware” and that we should “stay tuned for an exciting year.”
I’m gonna put my money on a ring, only because I think that would be pretty rad.
[9to5Google]
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You may look ridiculous, but the feature set is perfect for gadget nerds who love the outdoors.
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After lagging behind for so long, it’s been wild to see Google come this far in the smartwatch game.
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Satellite, 5G, and longer battery are great, but aren’t good reasons for most Ultra owners to upgrade.
