Last week, Google launched the Google Fitbit Air, its much-talked about screenless fitness tracker, designed to be its entry into the set-it-and-forget-it “focus wearable” market. I really should say reentry, because the original Fitbit and Fitbit Flex were exactly that type of device: minimalist pucks or wristbands, with very limited interaction range and no screen to speak of.
Currently, the category of simple, screenless wearables is dominated by the best smart rings and fitness trackers such as Whoop, which is undoubtedly the most popular screenless fitness bracelet on the wrist. Whoop has been in the screenless tracker game for years and is a popular choice among serious athletes, biohackers, and wellness enthusiasts.
Google Fitbit Air vs Whoop: Specs
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Device | Google Fitbit Air | Oops 5.0 | Oops MG |
Price | $99.99 / £84.99 / AU$199 for the device. Google Health Premium: $99.99 / (around £75 / AU$140) with monthly plan options. | Whoop One Membership: £169 / $199 / AU$299 per year. Whoop Peak: £229 / $239 / AU$419 per year | Whoop Life Membership: £349 / $359 / AU$629 |
Weight | 12g | 27g | 27g |
Case | Recycled plastic | Plastic, stainless steel | Plastic, stainless steel |
Display | None | None | None |
GPS | None | None | None |
Battery | Up to 7 days, 90 minutes of charging (5 minutes of fast charging for 1 day of battery) | Up to 14 days with power supply | Up to 14 days with power supply |
Connection | Bluetooth | Bluetooth | Bluetooth |
Water resistant | 50 meters | IP68 (10 meters) | IP68 (10 meters) |
ECG | No | No | Yes |
Above is a table comparing some of the specifications of the Google Fitbit Air to the premium Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG bands. Weight may be a good place to start, as Google says the Fitbit Air weighs just 12 grams with a band or five grams on its own, hence the name. Whoop devices weigh more than twice as much. The Fitbit is also much better for diving, as according to Google it is waterproof to 50 meters.
The Google Fitbit Air can last a week, while the Whoops each only offer a few days of battery life. However, they come with a battery that can fit onto the device while you’re wearing it to charge the device, meaning you can get 14 days of constant data without needing to remove the device to charge it at all. In theory, the only time you would need to take off your Whoop is to change groups, if you wish.
As more expensive devices, the Whoops incorporate stainless steel into their clasps, while the Fitbit is made entirely of plastic.
Google Fitbit Air vs Whoop: Price and Value
Where Google wins straight away is that the Fitbit Air is relatively cheap – you can pre-order it now for $99.99 / £84.99 / AU$199. Even if you choose not to subscribe to Google Health Premium, Google’s fitness service, which gives you access to its full AI Health Coach feature, once the free trial included with your Fitbit Air ends, you can still log your data using the band on the free tier of the Google Health app and use it as a basic fitness tracker without a screen.
If you choose to subscribe, you’re essentially paying for the tracker again on an annual basis in order to get the full AI features and unlock tips to help you use those metrics. There’s no doubt that this is a core feature rather than an optional extra, but you have the option not to subscribe. You can also pay monthly, but you end up paying about US$20 more per year than an annual subscription (international pricing TBA).
Whoop, on the other hand, requires a subscription to work, starting at a fairly reasonable £169 / $199 / AU$299 per year for the basic Whoop One subscription, which comes with the Whoop 5.0 device but locks metrics such as Stress and Whoop Age behind a paywall.
You get them (along with a nicer Whoop MG band and wireless charger puck) with a Whoop Peak subscription, which costs £229 / $239 / AU$419 per year. Then, at the highest tier, you get the Whoop Life subscription plan, at £349 / $359 / AU$629 per year, which includes the Whoop MG band and heart health features.
There’s no doubt about it: Over time, the Whoop will be significantly more expensive than the Google Fitbit Air. While the Google Fitbit Air is the cheaper option of the two, the AI Coach’s breadth of features might also make it a better value prospect, unless you want specific features like Whoop’s Stress Score, the Workout Generator, or the MG’s electrocardiogram (ECG) functionality.
Google Fitbit Air vs Whoop: Features
The Fitbit Air, Whoop 5.0, and Whoop MG all contain PPG LED heart rate sensors and all the best smartwatch features like heart rate, step counting, calorie burn estimation, skin temperature, and blood oxygen monitoring. I haven’t tested the accuracy of the Fitbit sensor yet.
The main difference between the two Whoops, however, is that the Whoop MG has an advanced “Heart Screener” sensor feature that can be used for ECG exams, which can help detect atrial fibrillation or irregular heart rate. According to Whoop, it “meets and exceeds clinical accuracy standards.”
The Fitbit Air doesn’t have this feature, but the Fitbit Charge 6 does – so if you want to keep tabs on your heart health, you’ll need to opt for the Charge series or a more expensive Whoop MG.
The Google Fitbit Air feature set includes much of the same stuff as the Fitbit app, including historical graphs of your movement and sleep data as well as a daily readiness score, but a lot of actionable insights are locked behind Google Health Coach, the AI coaching service that comes with a Google Health Premium subscription. The coach shows you demonstrations of different exercises, advises you on how to sleep better, can generate meal and exercise plans, and can integrate medical records.
Whoop also has a long list of features to rival this one. In terms of the amount of features it offers, it surpasses Google’s, with all sorts of scores for metrics like effort, recovery, sleep (along with actionable insights on how to reduce the need for sleep), Whoop Age (the biological age of your body, only accessible if you subscribe to the mid-level Peak membership or Life membership), Cardiovascular Age, and much more.
Whoop’s AI coach also offers useful, actionable insights, and its workout generator is based on a comprehensive library of fitness moves that also includes demonstrations. While Google lets you upload your medical records to the app, serious biohackers can send blood tests to the United States through the Whoop app, to get results on biomarkers like hormone levels and vitamin deficiencies that Whoop’s AI can integrate. New features are rolling out that will also allow you to contact approved clinicians through the app.
However, even though Whoop has a longer feature list, I’m looking forward to spending time with Google’s health-focused LLM Coach to identify the extent of its capabilities. I’m willing to bet that the flexibility of the Coach service, along with the ability to provide it with your data, will make it a great value proposition.
Early verdict
The Google Fitbit Air is a fairly inexpensive tracker that looks like a great value proposition for those who don’t want to shell out for an expensive Whoop subscription, especially since over time it seems like the expense of a Whoop will only increase compared to the cheaper subscription and one-time purchase of the Fitbit. As a consumer, you also have the choice of subscribing to the AI coach or simply using the device as a tracker.
The Whoop devices have some innovations that Fitbit doesn’t have, such as this innovative charger, the metal physicals, and a more comprehensive feature set, but during testing I’ll be specifically testing the extent of Fitbit’s AI Coach, trying to see if it can replicate some of the best features of the Whoop bands.
