The market for wearable fitness trackers nearly doubled this year, growing 88%, according to a September report from analytics company Circana. Although the technology has been around for a while, with the first modern fitness tracker originating in 1970s Japan, there’s been rapid growth and innovation in this sector recently.
Sophomore Alexander Dhanraj wears a Whoop, which is a wrist-mounted health tracker. He used to own an Apple Watch, until he heard about Whoop from a friend. He said he feels his Whoop is superior to the Apple Watch at tracking workouts and overall fitness.
“It tells me how fit I am, and I can see the progress in a better way than on an Apple Watch,” Dhanraj said.
Whoop, incorporated in 2012, is one of the newer wearable manufacturers. Their products have been worn by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James and Michael Phelps, and are relatively unusual in that they don’t have any screens or buttons. Instead, all functionality is incorporated into an app, with the user paying a subscription fee to utilize it.
One of the latest trends in fitness monitoring also doesn’t have any buttons. However, their design completely leaves behind traditional wrist-mounted trackers. These are smart rings.
Finnish company Oura was the first to develop a smart ring, releasing the Generation 1 ring in 2015. However, it was relatively bulky, and sales were mostly limited to a niche customer base. Later generations, however, slimmed down the design, and these have gained traction with the public.
These rings work much like other fitness trackers, which mostly operate on the same basic principle. They rely on shining infrared light through the finger, then analyzing how the light changes as it passes through. This gives the device clues to how blood flow is changing over time, allowing it to compute heartrate. Changes in light absorption also allows the ring to analyze other factors, such as blood oxygen levels, to high degrees of accuracy.
The ring then connects to an app which wirelessly receives the ring’s telemetry, allowing the user to view long-term trends in their biometrics.
Google reports that searches for smart rings are at an all-time high, up nearly 50% from last year and up over 90% since the start of 2023. This increase in popularity has led many large technology companies and startups alike to pursue smart ring development.
Chemistry teacher Stacey Chaillou wears an Ultrahuman Air ring.
“I wanted something that could give me some information about my health stats every day without having to wear an Apple Watch or a Fitbit,” Chaillou said.
She wears the ring 24/7, except to charge it. Overall, she feels it’s changed the way she lives, especially due to its sleep tracking features.
“I think it’s great,” Chaillou said, “It really helps gear yourself to be mindful of what you’re doing with moving your body, what you’re doing that’s affecting your sleep.”
With the integration of AI features into these devices, such as the OpenAI-powered Whoop Coach, wearable manufacturers seem to be trying to stay at the cutting edge. How long they stay there remains to be seen.