The Google Fitbit Air has been launched and the fitness tracker is not looking at hard-core fitness enthusiasts at all. It is targeting just about anyone who is health conscious these days. And honestly, that means everyone who is digitally aware and willing to spend on themselves and their family members' health. This gadget is said to be the first real competitiion for Whoop - the king of the realm, so far. Can the newcomer floor the champ? It is a question many are asking. Fitbit Air price is quite low, when compared with rival Whoop, but then their business models are quite divergent. Here we take a look at both Fitbit Air and Whoop from price, specs to what they can and can't do.
Before we get deeper into what it promises to do for you, know that Fitbit Air price is $99.99 (approx. Rs. 9,400). The gadget is already available for pre-orders. It comes with one band, but you can swap them. The range is large and the cost starts at $34.99. There is a special Stephen Curry strap available that the company claims “increases airflow.” And yes, it is an eye-ball grabber. However, if you are thinking about rushing online and ordering one just now, hold your horses. As far as availability is concerned, you may start getting the gadget, if you pre-order now, by May-end. Sales will actually start on May 26. And one more thing, the Fitbit Air comes with a 3-month trial to Google Health Premium (aka Fitbit Premium). More on that later.
Whoop price? Well, Whoop One subscription in India, on the other hand, is priced at Rs 20,849 to start with and the most premium subscription called Life is not available here. That leaves Peak and it costs Rs 27,539. Globally, prices start at $200 and reach up to $360.
The Fitbit Air tracker, which many believe is the perfect Whoop killer, its toughest rival, is screen-less. Yes, it has taken minimalist fashion to its zenith. But having said that, Whoop itself does not have a screen. By getting rid of the display, the attention has been shifted to apps as the heart and soul of the fitness tracking system. Catch them and keep them locked into your ecosystem is the mantra.
Before you get up close and personal with Fitbit Air, know what Whoop has to offer and maybe you may think news of its impending death may have been a bit overblown. Well, the similarity between both ends with the look of the two gadgets. So, when you buy the Air, you get everything in one package. However, with Whoop, the gadget is a virtual giveaway and what makes money for the company is the subscription. So, while Whoop is targeting top athletes, Google is going for the bottom of the pyramid - the masses. In effect, that means you.
The launch of Fitbit Air for Whoop may have come as a dampener, but it has been going from one high to another over the previous months. At the end of March, it was reported that Whoop had tripled its valuation to $10.1 bn after a successful $575 mn Series G funding round. The deal had got together top wealth funds, institutions and athletes including Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, Rory McIlroy, Reggie Miller, Virgil van Dijk, Nelly Korda among others. Will it get bigger still? Well, CEO Will Ahmed has not really provided an answer about whether an IPO is the next big step for the company.
Fitbit numbers are nothing to sneeze at, but the trend has been downhill. It has some 33 mn active users, while over 130 mn people have registered on the app. That sounds huge, but know that Fitbit sales dropped by 21.8% to 4.3 mn units in 2025. The company's estimated revenue in 2025 dropped 15.3% from the previous year to $770 mn, according to Business of Apps.
Notably, the Financial Review, quoting Whoop, recently revealed that Whoop bookings jumped 103% in 2025. It closed the year at $1.1 billion revenue. Its membership has been surmised at around 2.5 mn.
Fitbit Air is cheap and there are no subscription costs attached and that is where it scores over Whoop. Having said that, Whoop scores with some special tech, for example it has GPS while Air does not. One more thing. Whoop will detect light exposure, hydration and caffeine, and even a different time zone, if you happen to fly into it, but not the Air.
What Fitbit Air does is provide some holistic insights into your sleep patterns, workouts and other activities. The Air packs an optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, skin temperature sensor, accelerometer, and a gyroscope. What all this gadgetry gets you is the ability to monitor heart rate variability and detect deadly ailments like atrial fibrillation (AFib). For those who do their workouts religiously, this gadget can autodetect and track running, walking, swimming, and cycling. While these are auto-detectable other workout types can be manually selected, courtesy the companion app.
Fitbit Air sleep tracking facility lets you know your total sleep time, signs of restlessness, and how much time you spent in each sleep stage. The takeaway is a numerical sleep score out of 100.
The gadget monitors your sleep pattern and even records stresses, recovery, strains and more as well as provides actionable points to improve. Whoop says it offers "a complete view of your health" and will optimise your health and fitness. The benefits include quantifying how your body is feeling, optimise your sleep, measure the impact of every step you take, and understand your unique cycle to extend the prime of your life as much as possible. Finally, it transforms your body’s data into clear recommendations, helping you improve your health and fitness performance.
Being such a minimalist fitness tracker, you'd expect the Air to be a lightweight battery carrier. Well, not really. Google says it will last for 7 days (Whoop's lasts 14). Its magnetic charger is fast to, fuelling it up from 0% to 100% takes just 90 minutes.
Don't worry about sweat running the gadget, in fact, you can take it 50 meters under water.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Be that as it may, Google seems to have decided that a screen-less avatar, much like what Whoop has, is the future of fitness trackers. Yes, it has no buttons either and the only thing running there is a an onboard motor for feedback for alerts. The only time the device shows any light is when it is charging and a small status lamp gets illuminated.
Why did Google call it "Air"? Well its dimensions for starters (1.4 x 0.7 x 0.3 inches) and weight too (12 g without strap). Not just that it is the smallest tracker ever made by Google. It is 25% smaller than the Fitbit Luxe.
For reasons best known to the company, the Fitbit app has been renamed Google Health. Fitbit Premium will now be known as Google Health Premium and it is priced at $99 per annum. For these Premium users, Google has rolled out its AI powered "Coach", which is a personalized fitness training tool. As can be imagined, the Coach will help you set up workout plans, decide fitness goals and even help you improve sleep quality. Notably, Whoop offers its own AI assistant without asking for a heftier fee - it is included with no additional cost. Its AI coach analyses your biometric data, behavioral patterns, and provides recommendations. It allows you take better and more logical training and recovery decisions. It can even help you make lifestyle decisions based on the data it collects.
The battlelines have been drawn, may the best fitness tracker win.