Whoop MG puts a daily blood pressure estimate on the wrist, the feature the FDA just signed off on. | Image by Whoop
The FDA has dropped its complaint over Whoop MG's blood pressure estimates, so the feature stays after about 10 months of back and forth. Whoop is mainly relabeling the tool. It is the same wrist-based approach we covered when Samsung switched on blood pressure for the Galaxy Watch in the US, one of the best smartwatches right now.
How the standoff actually ended
According to Bloomberg (subscription required to view), the FDA gave Whoop the go-ahead to keep its blood pressure tool on Tuesday (June 23). The fight started back in August 2025, when the agency said Blood Pressure Insights on the MG band looked like an unapproved medical device. Whoop pushed back and never switched the feature off while the two sides talked.
We stand by Blood Pressure Insights and believe our members should be able to access data about their bodies.
Whoop, from its statement on Blood Pressure Insights, July 2025
To win the FDA over, Whoop is dropping the labels that called a reading normal or elevated and reframing it as wellness insights rather than a diagnosis. It is a real resolution, but the fix is mostly wording.
Where do you land on blood pressure from a wrist wearable?
Where this leaves Galaxy Watch and Apple Watch owners
For anyone already paying for Whoop Life, the worry that blood pressure might disappear is gone. Whoop cannot read it directly, so you calibrate once with a real cuff, then it estimates a morning number from your heart rate, HRV, and blood flow during sleep. In plain terms, it is a daily trend, not a reading you would act on like a cuff at the doctor's office.
Recommended For You
Whoop's Blood Pressure Insights gives a daily systolic and diastolic estimate pulled from your wrist overnight. | Image by Whoop
We have seen this before. Samsung's Galaxy Watch uses a cuff calibration too, and Apple took the cleared route with hypertension alerts on the Apple Watch back in September 2025. So if you own either, nothing about your setup changes, and neither company has much reason to worry while Whoop's version stays an estimate behind the $359-a-year Life plan.
Who actually needs to care
Strip away the regulatory drama and this lands on a small group. Existing Whoop Life members keep a feature they already pay for.
That said, anyone eyeing Whoop mainly for blood pressure should go in clear-eyed, since it is still a beta estimate behind the priciest tier. Either way, wrist-based blood pressure estimation stays on the menu for consumer wearables, which is good for the rest of us watching it.
Why I'm watching this from my Fitbit Air
I came across this while wearing my Fitbit Air, the screenless band I actually use, and my first thought was everything it cannot do yet. The Air leans on the Google Health app and has no blood pressure feature at all. If Google wants it to keep pace with Whoop, a second-gen Air probably needs something like this, and we just covered the first fixes reaching the current one.
The catch, of course, is the paywall. Whoop's estimate sits behind $359 a year, the same subscription wall we ran into when an app cracked Oura's yearly fee. I'm hoping the next Fitbit Air gets there without hiding the good part behind another subscription, since that is the version I would actually want on my wrist.
Johanna Romero is a Senior News Writer at PhoneArena, covering mobile technology news across Android, iOS, wearables, and the Google ecosystem she knows best. Drawing on 15 years in IT and tech support from 2007 to 2022, she brings a user-friendly eye for the practical features and lesser-known tricks readers care about. Google named her an official #TeamPixel member in 2022, and she also reviews the latest devices on her YouTube channel, JoJo the Techie.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: