Fitness tech firm Whoop has undone at least half of its unpopular hardware upgrade policy in the face of massive criticism from its users.
The firm now says that customers with more than 12 months left on their subscription can get the new Whoop 5.0 tracker for free, a complete about-face from its original policy.
The drama started when Whoop released its latest fitness tracker, the Whoop 5.0, but did not deliver on what the majority of its members felt was a promise of complimentary hardware upgrades.
Members quickly complained online upon realizing they had to either extend their current membership by a year or pay a one-time upgrade cost in order to receive the new device.
Kindling the fire was a now-deleted Whoop blog post that, until at least March 28, had said members simply needed to be subscribed for six months to get free upgrades to new-generation hardware. That was directly at variance with the new 5.0 launch policy of the company.
Facing increasing pressure, Whoop made a statement on Reddit regarding its stance. “Members with over 12 months left are eligible for a free upgrade to WHOOP 5.0 on Peak,” the company stated, citing one of its membership levels. But members with less than 12 months left on their membership must still renew for another 12 months or pay to upgrade.
Whoop Faces User Backlash Over Confusing Upgrade Policy and Communication
Whoop tried to clarify the confusion regarding its previous blog post, stating that it “mistakenly wrote that all who had been members for only 6 months would be upgraded for free. This was never our policy and should never have been written.”
The company went on to clarify: “As noted above, our policy for upgrades from WHOOP 3.0 to WHOOP 4.0 was that members with 6 months or more remaining on their membership were eligible for a free upgrade to WHOOP 4.0. We removed that blog article when it came to our attention and updated WHOOP Coach with the proper information. We’re sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”.
This description appears to match previous remarks. During a Forbes interview, Whoop CEO Will Ahmed had earlier indicated that members of Whoop 3.0 would be able to upgrade to version 4.0 if they had “at least 6 months of membership remaining on their account.” The same language was employed in a 2021 blog post announcing the release of Whoop 4.0.
Despite the clarification and partial policy rollback, many users are still upset. On Reddit, consumers have been reporting ongoing frustration, specifically those who have a lot of time remaining on their subscriptions—e.g., 11 months, but still do not meet the criteria for the free upgrade as per the new policy. Some have threatened to cancel their subscriptions entirely.
Even those who are accepting of the policy change have criticized Whoop’s response to the controversy. One Reddit user wrote that although they were “happy with the change,” they didn’t think the blog post was posted in error, stating the company “should just own up that they changed their mind/policy rather than stating it was an error posting to begin with.”
The experience also highlights the dangers of launching new products to a subscription-based hardware company. For Whoop, which is a membership company rather than direct device sales, customer trust is particularly vital. The company now has to rebuild that trust with its user base, many of whom feel betrayed by what they see as changing policies and confusing rhetoric.
As wearable fitness technology develops at a breakneck pace, how Whoop navigates the situation might establish a crucial precedent for how subscription-based hardware firms manage hardware refreshes without turning off customers.
