Apple Is Reportedly Building a Screenless Fitness Tracker to Take On Whoop
A new Bloomberg report says Apple is testing a fabric-band fitness tracker with no screen at all, aimed squarely at Whoop and Oura. Here is what is known so far.
Apple Watch has always been a smartwatch first and a fitness tracker second. According to a new report, that might be about to change, with a second device built to do only the fitness tracking part, and nothing else.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is in the early stages of developing a screenless health and fitness tracker designed to compete directly with Whoop and Oura, the two devices that have built a following among athletes and biohackers by stripping the smartwatch back to sensors, data and nothing on the wrist to look at.
What it reportedly looks like
The device described in the report is a thin fabric band with a small, sensor-equipped computing module attached. There is no display. Instead of checking notifications or a watch face, the idea is that you wear it continuously and check your health data on your phone, the same way Whoop and Oura owners do today.
That is a genuinely different approach for Apple, whose entire wearables strategy has been built around the Apple Watch's screen. A screenless design usually means smaller, lighter and more comfortable to sleep in, which is exactly the gap Whoop and Oura have exploited: people who want to track sleep and recovery without a bulky watch getting in the way overnight.
Who is behind it
The report says the project has the backing of Eddy Cue, who leads Apple's health initiatives, and chief executive Tim Cook. That level of sponsorship suggests Apple is taking the idea seriously, even if it is a long way from becoming a real product.
Don't expect it soon
Apple is described as being in a "technology investigation" phase, the earliest stage of product development, and Bloomberg's sourcing suggests the device would not launch before 2028, if it launches at all. No final decision has been made internally on whether to actually bring it to market.
That timeline matters because it puts real distance between this report and anything you can buy. Apple frequently investigates hardware concepts that never ship, and even Bloomberg's own framing treats this as a possibility rather than a confirmed roadmap item.
Why it makes sense anyway
Whoop and Oura have both built a genuine subscription business out of continuous health tracking, something Apple has watched from the sidelines. A screenless tracker would let Apple compete for that audience without cannibalising Apple Watch sales, since the two products would serve different habits: one for people who want notifications and apps on their wrist, another for people who just want the data.
It would also give Apple a second hardware subscription opportunity alongside Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+, at a time when the company has been leaning harder into services revenue.
What to actually take from this
Nothing here is close to a product you can pre-order. What it does show is that Apple is paying close attention to the space Whoop and Oura have carved out, and is willing to consider a hardware form factor that looks nothing like its most successful wearable to date. If you are shopping for a recovery tracker today, this report changes nothing about your decision. If Apple does eventually build it, expect the announcement years, not months, away.
Source: 9to5Mac, citing Bloomberg
