WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG: The Wearables With a Medical Mindset Make Their Aussie Debut
In a market already teeming with fitness gadgets promising everything short of immortality, WHOOP has launched its boldest salvo yet with the arrival of WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG in Australia. Promising to take wearables from glorified pedometers to pocket-sized longevity labs, this latest release could reset expectations around personal health tech.
Boston-based WHOOP—still private, cashed-up, and with Cristiano Ronaldo in their corner—has launched not one, but two devices tailored for the biohacking brigade and health-conscious everyperson alike. The WHOOP 5.0, alongside the new flagship WHOOP MG, is designed not just to measure performance but to help extend healthspan, that elusive grail of living well for longer.
“We’ve taken everything we’ve learned over the past decade and built a platform to help our members perform and live at their peak for longer,” said Will Ahmed, WHOOP founder and CEO. “We’ve held nothing back.” It’s a characteristically ambitious pitch from a company that has never shied away from high-performance rhetoric.
So what’s new? For starters, both devices boast a sleeker form factor—seven percent smaller—and a 14-day battery life, extendable to a month with the new Wireless PowerPack (included with Peak and Life memberships). Under the hood, enhanced sensors now capture biometric data 26 times per second, feeding WHOOP’s overhauled app experience.
But it’s the health features that steal the show. WHOOP MG comes with a medical-grade ECG sensor—think at-home heart checkups without the GP visit. Then there’s the new “Heart Screener”, which enables on-demand ECG readings and can detect signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib), a leading cause of stroke. Add to that Blood Pressure Insights (patent pending), giving daily systolic and diastolic estimates from your wrist.
The “Healthspan” feature, developed with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, offers a twist on age: your WHOOP Age and Pace of Aging, based on nine health metrics. If your real age is 42 but your WHOOP Age says 35, congratulations—your lifestyle might just be adding years to your life, not subtracting them.
WHOOP has also stepped up for women’s health with hormone-linked insights across menstruation, pregnancy and perimenopause—something few wearables tackle comprehensively. And a revamped Sleep Score aims to nudge the sleep-deprived toward better nights.
On the fitness front, it’s no slouch either. With support for over 145 activities, from VO₂ Max tracking to strength-based muscular strain, WHOOP wants to be your performance coach and health adviser rolled into one snug wristband.
The pricing model is also noteworthy. WHOOP now offers three membership tiers for Australian users:
WHOOP One: Fitness insights at $299 per year.
WHOOP Peak: Deeper health and longevity features at $419 per year.
WHOOP Life: The full suite, including medical-grade features, at $629 annually.
This tiered approach may appeal to both cost-conscious athletes and those chasing granular data and peace of mind.
Ronaldo—an investor and now official WHOOP evangelist—says the device helps him monitor and refine his habits. “It’s like a doctor on my wrist,” he said, adding a bit of star power to a launch clearly aimed at the global stage.
With mounting pressure on healthcare systems and consumers increasingly turning to proactive health tools, WHOOP's entry into the local market is timely. Whether Aussie consumers will buy into its data-heavy pitch en masse remains to be seen, but WHOOP 5.0 and MG mark a definitive step forward in the wearable tech arms race—not just tracking steps, but perhaps, rewriting the rules of ageing.
WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG are available in Australia from May 9th via WHOOP.com.