If you’re one of the many people who have an Apple Watch and are also interested in using Whoop, you may be wondering how the two devices can work together.
In this article, we have answered some of the frequently asked questions about the compatibility of the Whoop strap and the Whoop app with other popular apps starting with Apple Health.
We also answer some of the frequently asked questions regarding the functioning and features of Whoop. Let’s begin!
Whoop Strap fitness tracker doesn’t have a screen to start with. So, the distraction due to notifications and alerts is long gone. Further, it takes a scientific approach to monitor the human body via strain, recovery, and sleep analysis which makes much more sense than other pedantic details acquired by the rest of the fitness bands and watches.
Whoop strap primarily works with the Whoop app. But, with the evolution and development of many other awesome health and fitness apps, it is only necessary for fitness devices to be compatible with them too.
In this article, we answer some of the frequently asked questions about the compatibility of the Whoop strap and the Whoop app with other popular apps starting with Apple Health. We also answer some of the frequently asked questions regarding the functioning and features of Whoop. Let’s begin!
Does Apple health connect to Whoop?
The integration between Apple Health and Whoop started recently in 2022 and is still in Beta mode. All the Whoop iOS members can use this integration and be a part of the testing phase of the integration.
Whoop members who own an iOS device (iPhone / Apple Watch) are called iOS Whoop members and they can sync their Whoop account to their Apple Health app to allow the automatic import of activity-tracking data from the Apple Health app to the Whoop app.
This is specifically useful for people who use multiple activity tracking devices like Apple Watch, Garmin bike computer, and other smart workout apps like Peloton, Strong, Calm, or Headspace. They can automatically import data collected by the Apple Watch to Whoop through this functional integration.
Whoop uses the imported data like start and end-time for activity along with activity type with its own heart rate tracking to create personalized activities in the WHOOP app for you.
Connecting Whoop to Apple Health
- Make sure the WHOOP app is installed on your phone and updated to its latest version
- Now, Open the Whoop app and tap the menu icon present in the bottom-right corner of the screen
- Scroll down and find Integrations. Once you find it, Tap on it.
- Now, Tap, Apple Health from the list
- Next, Tap on Connect
- Click “Turn on all” or choose what kind of data you would like to share between Whoop and Apple Health app.
- Finally, Tap Allow.
- You are done!
Can you use Whoop with an Apple watch?
Whoop and Apple are pretty exclusive and restricted when it comes to third-party integration and syncing. They work mostly with the apps designed for them and it is rare to connect them to other fitness apps. However, according to recent development, Whoop can be used in coordination with Apple Health. The whole process is in Beta mode for now.
Since Apple Health is an integral part of the Apple Watch, this means you can use your Whoop smart band with Apple Watch to import data from it to your Whoop app.
If you want to use the Whoop app with Apple Watch or Apple Health you can follow the steps provided above. It is pretty simple and straightforward.
You can manage the categories of data that can be shared between WHOOP and Apple Watch/Health. Here is how to do it.
- Open the Apple Health app on your Apple Watch
- Click on the profile icon
- Click on Apps
- Next, Tap Whoop
- Now, you can select the categories of data you would want to share between Whoop and Apple Health.
You can select different kinds of data that you want to share between the two apps. The kind of data that are imported from Apple Health to Whoop are –
- Basic info like weight, height, and date of birth
- Workout data including source, distance covered, and the routes of workout
- Mindfulness data
Whoop vs Apple Watch: Sleep Tracking
Fitness enthusiasts looking for a quality sleep tracking feature in their smartwatches and fitness bands. Sleep tracking can be essential for those who have a problem getting a good night’s sleep or has a haphazard sleep routine. They can track their sleeping habits and manage them accordingly to improve.
Apple watches weren’t great for sleep tracking earlier due to limited battery life as they could last only for a day and needed to be recharged every night. But, with the launch of the Apple Watch Series 7, this scenario took a change for good. Now, you can track your sleep with Apple Watch without completely draining the battery. Apple claims that, with 9 minutes of charging, you can track 8 hours of sleep.
The sleep tracking by Apple Watch is done using sensors that track your movement and heart rate during sleep to figure out the depth of your sleep. The information acquired can be then relayed to the Sleep Health app on your iPhone or iPad to provide you with a detailed analysis of your sleep. Thus, you will get an idea about the quality and duration of your sleep along with the number of times you woke up at night.
With Apple Watch, you can use the Sleep Health app further to create a custom bedtime routine or schedule. This will allow you to achieve your sleep goals while the watch measures your respiratory health throughout the night.
Sleep tracking on Whoop 4 is a little more comprehensive and detailed. While it uses similar sensors and collects the same data as Apple Watch Series 7, it will draw out finer details for better management of your sleep habits. It will track things like how much time you spent in bed, how long you took to fall asleep, and the number of disturbances you went through during sleep. Overall, it measures the efficiency of your sleep.
The Whoop 4 breaks down your sleep pattern into four sleep cycles- awake, light sleep, REM Sleep, and deep or slow-wave sleep. The amount of time you spend each cycle while sleeping is the key to a great sleep habit.
You also get a personal sleep coach with Whoop 4 and you don’t have to enter your sleep goals manually like in Apple Watch Series 7. You don’t have to set a goal for sleep in hours. Instead, you can set realistic goals like peak sleep (100 percent of the sleep that you need) or perform sleep (80 percent of the sleep that you need), and get by sleep (70 percent of sleep that is needed by your body).
Verdict –
While both Apple Watch Series 7 and Whoop 4 are great at tracking sleep using similar sensors and metrics, the additional feature in Whoop 4 gives it an edge over Apple Watch. Further, Whoop is a dedicated fitness band without any other feature which makes it more dependable when it comes to sleep monitoring, unlike Apple watch. Nevertheless, the multifunctional Apple Watch has its own perks and fan following.
Whoop vs Apple watch: Calories Burned
Whoop Fitness Strap and Apple Watch follow different philosophies regarding the tracking of calories burnt by the user.
The Apple Watch is built to track your entire calories burnt. This is not dependent on the fact whether these calories were burnt during a workout or due to your everyday chores. You can see your active calories in red as shown by the “Move” metric.
You won’t get any measure for the total or gross calories burnt which is the sum of your BMR calories and active calories. BMR calories are the calories that are burnt by the user every day with minimal activity (the calories burnt for survival).
With Whoop, the method changes entirely! You will always see the total or gross calories burnt on the Whoop app dashboard. But, the Whoop app will only show the active calories burnt for the activity it tracked or you added manually. This means you won’t get info about active calories burnt while doing chores like walking up a flight of stairs or bringing groceries to the kitchen.
What apps are Whoop compatible with?
While Whoop was not compatible with many apps in the past, the scenario has changed over the past few months. The whoop app can now be synced with multiple other fitness apps to import data related to fitness, activity, and health tracking.
Some of these apps are Whoop compatible –
- Peloton
- MOVE
- ELEMNT
- X-POWER
- TRAIN2PEAK
- ENDOMONDO
- STRAVA
- TIMEX SMART
- MIO
- CONNECT
- SUUNTO
- POLAR BEAT
- STRYD
- ZWIFT
How does a Whoop strap work?
When it comes to health and fitness tracking, the Whoop Strap 4.0 is all about focusing on three major areas.
- Strain
- Recovery
- Sleep
The monitoring of strain can be categorized into two finer sections –
- Strain monitored for the whole day
- Strain monitored for a specific workout or activity
For each of the strain measurements, there is a proprietary rating system from 1 to 21. To obtain a strain score for you, the Whoop strap tracks the cardiovascular load that your body has undergone and compares it with the total load (cardiovascular) your body was capable of handling. The heart data is used as auxiliary data to figure this out. The reading of energy you have spent when entering various heart rate zone helps to figure out the strain parameter.
At a first glance, this might seem random but you will soon understand the mechanism once you track some of your activities with the Whoop strap. For instance, an intensive workout session that tests your limits will produce a maximum heart rate. This can be quantified with a strain score of 17. A moderate exercise can hit a score of 10 to 14 whereas a stroll might score below 10. The scale is personalized, considers the user’s fitness and ability, and calibrates itself to become more accurate over time.
The next area of focus for Whoop Strap is Recovery which means how ready your body is to take on the strain. The recovery is measured in percentage. A green zone means high recovery (more than 67 percent). You can work out intensively as your body is ready for it. When the score is below 33 percent, you are in the red zone. You should relax as intense workouts can lead to injury or overtraining.
Different vital metrics like resting heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and sleep tracking are used to calculate the Recovery level. The accuracy for Recovery assessment gets better over time when the Whoop adapts to your baseline and way of living.
Sleep is the third area where Whoop specializes. The sleep score is displayed as a percentage and is determined by hours of sleep, heart health, and respiratory health during the night. Analysis of different sleep stages also helps in the accuracy of sleep tracking.
Can you buy a Whoop strap without a membership?
First of all, you don’t buy a Whoop strap, you get it for free. What you buy is a Whoop subscription plan and you will receive the Whoop Strap. So, No, you cannot buy (get) a Whoop strap without a membership.
The Whoop subscription will cost you $30 per month if you plan to commit to a monthly-basis membership. You will get all the latest updates, personal coaching features, and community support.
If you plan to commit to an annual plan, it will cost you $24 per month and for a subscription of 18 months, the monthly charges go down to $18 per month.
Does Whoop track blood pressure?
Whoop Strap 4.0 cannot measure blood pressure as it doesn’t have the required sensor. You will need specific devices or equipment to measure blood pressure which is difficult to accommodate in a wrist-based fitness sensor.
However, Whoop monitors what is called your “Heart Rate Variability” which is a good measurement of your cardiovascular health. With the reading of “Heart Rate Variability,” you can get a good idea about your heart condition.
Can I shower with my Whoop?
Whoop Strap 4.0 is rated both waterproof and water-resistant. The depth rating for Whoop strap 4.0 is 3 ATM (30 meters depth or approx. 100 feet). It also dries fast which means it won’t be an issue to wear it in the shower. Other water-based activities like baths and swimming won’t harm the Whoop Strap 4.0.
There are a few cautions you can take to keep your Whoop strap clean and dry.
- You can wash the band and sensor with the Fast Link Slider but make sure you don’t wash the stainless metal portion.
- You can hang the Whoop Strap 4.0 to dry or wring out the excess water using a towel.
- Regularly clean the underbelly of the sensor (2 to 3 times a week) with sanitizing wipes.
- If you own a Superknit band, you should clean it with soap and water after every 3 to 4 wear. This will prevent the band from retaining moisture.
Does it matter which wrist I wear my Whoop on?
Users have not noticed any significant difference in the monitoring of their health by changing their wrists to wear their Whoop straps.
But, As per Whoop, it is important to place Whoop correctly on the wrist. The Whoop strap should be far enough up so that it fits snugly and feels comfortable all the time.
It is also recommended to wear it on your non-dominant hand as some users have reported higher (unusual) spikes of strain while wearing Whoop on the dominant hand. The strap should be placed at least at a distance of two finger-width above the wrist bone for accurate and quality data collection.
Can you wear a Whoop on your ankle?
Fitness buffs and enthusiasts have posted that wearing a fitness band on the ankle increases the accuracy of the sensors that measure body movement. The accelerometers and the gyroscope are less prone to error readings when worn on the ankle.
Although the Whoop website recommends wearing a whoop on the wrist or bicep, there has not been any prohibition or warning regarding wearing it on your ankle.
So, you can wear a Whoop Strap on your ankle too. All you have to make sure it that the fit is solid and the quality of the strap is good. This will further ensure accurate monitoring.
Whoop Strap is for people who love to engage in intense workouts and test their limits all the time. Whoop compliments such a mindset pretty well by accurately tracking all the vital stats and fitness activities. The whoop app does most of the heavy lifting of analysis and drawing out insights from the data collected by the Whoop Strap. So, if you are looking for a minimum distraction when you work out, Whoop is the correct fitness band for you. The subscription system provides the users with lot more features to keep them motivated on their fitness journey.
