It was once a case of just buying a fitness tracker, strapping it on your wrist, and going about your business. You paid one price, and that was that. Unfortunately, this familiar, clear, and simple buying process is disappearing, and being replaced by one that’s far more complicated. No longer is it enough to pay once for your new piece of tech; the new way is to pay again and again to track your health.
Related The thing is, you usually know exactly what you’re getting into with one of these services. The monthly costs are pretty clear, there are often multiple choices to suit different budgets and needs, and very few have any kind of upfront payment because there’s no special hardware involved. If you cancel, then you lose access to the platform or service, as expected.
Perhaps you fancy the Oura Ring instead? It starts at $300, but after six months, you’ll have to pay $6 per month to access almost all the features in the app. Maybe the cheap $80 Amazon Halo View has caught your eye; just be aware that price is really just for a year of ownership — if you want all the features in year two, it’ll cost you $4 per month.
Think long-term Think of it like this. You pay $400 for an Apple Watch Series 8, and whether you wear it for two months or two years, you’ll have only ever paid $400. This is not the case with a subscription-based fitness tracker. The Fitbit Luxe costs $130, but if you want Fitbit Premium on day one and day 730, the actual cost will be more like $270. It’s even more expensive and more complicated with the Whoop 4.0.