Polar Debuts Wearable Subscription-Free Fitness Band

Fitness hardware brand Polar has introduced a screen-free, subscription-free fitness band.

The Finnish company on Wednesday (Sept. 3) debuted its Polar Loop, which tracks activity, sleep and other health metrics.

“There’s growing demand for more discreet, screenless experiences that fit seamlessly into everyday life,” Polar CEO Sander Werring said in a news release. “This trend has been quietly building, and Polar is ready to meet it.”

A report on the launch by Bloomberg News notes that the Loop looks like and competes with a popular model from Whoop, offering similar features such as sensors to track and record workouts, as well as insights about sleep and fitness habits.

Whoop, the report added, requires users to sign up for a subscription, while Polar’s approach involves charging an upfront fee for the hardware, but no membership program.

PYMNTS wrote about Polar last year when the company entered the world of “B2B wearables” with the debut of Polar 360, a business-to-business platform aimed at helping companies improve employee health and productivity.

As the market for wearable technology expands, that report said, the demand for devices is evolving as both businesses and consumers embrace new applications. This growth offers both opportunities and challenges in addressing the diverse needs of different sectors.

“Wearables represent one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing segments of the tech and consumer products industry,” said Zachary Robichaud, instructor, School of Retail Management, Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University.

“Fueled by advancements in technology, increasing consumer demand for health and fitness monitoring, and expanding applications in workplace productivity, the wearables market continues to see substantial growth. Notably, we’ve seen the adoption and integration of Meta’s eyeglasses on social media and adopted into pop culture.”

Also last year, PYMNTS spoke with Whoop Chief Technology Officer Jaime Waydo, after the launch of the company’s Whoop Coach. That tool uses proprietary algorithms, a custom-built machine learning model and unique biometric data to generate individualized, conversational responses to your health, fitness and wellness questions within seconds.

For instance, instead of going to a wedding, having a cocktail and ending up with a poor recovery score the next day, users can tell Coach about their plans and get suggestions on how to maximize recovery.

“As AI advances, there are more and more benefits to be had, and consumers are showing an increased desire to adopt AI-enabled technologies in all parts of their lives,” Waydo told PYMNTS. “We worked to build the best possible AI-enabled coach as it relates to our product, at a time when highly personalized, data-backed insights are increasingly desired by consumers.”