Apple Watch vs Whoop, and what a weekly scan adds
What Apple Watch and Whoop read around the clock, which features the FDA has cleared, what they cost and where a weekly whole-body scan fits.
Soma Labs4 min read
Most people who follow their health closely already wear something, and in the US it's often an Apple Watch or a Whoop band. Both read a lot more than steps now. Here's what each one measures, as Apple and Whoop describe them in September 2026, and where a weekly scan like Soma Axon fits beside them.
What Apple Watch reads
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 went on sale on September 18. Apple says they take your heart rate every five seconds and your heart rate variability as often as every five minutes. At night they record your sleep stages, a sleep score and your overnight vitals: heart rate, breathing rate, wrist temperature and blood oxygen.
Some of its features are medical devices. The FDA has cleared the ECG app, which records something close to a single-lead ECG while you hold a finger on the Digital Crown for 30 seconds. It has also cleared irregular rhythm notifications, AFib History, sleep apnea notifications and, since September 2025, hypertension notifications, which look at 30 days of readings from the optical sensor at a time. In Apple's own study, 41% of people with hypertension got a notification, and 92% of people without it got none. The label says plainly that no notification doesn't mean no hypertension.
The SE 3, from $249, has no ECG, no blood oxygen and no hypertension notifications. Series 12 starts at $399 and Ultra 4 at $799, and none of the health features needs a subscription.
What Whoop reads
Whoop has no screen. You wear the band around the clock, and it comes with a yearly membership that includes the device: $199 for One, $239 for Peak and $359 for Life. During sleep it records your resting heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature, which feed a Recovery score each morning. During the day it tracks strain and steps.
WHOOP MG, on the Life plan, adds two things. One is an ECG you take on demand, which the FDA cleared in April 2025. The other is Blood Pressure Insights, which estimates a daily range after you calibrate it with three cuff readings. Whoop says that feature isn't a medical device. The FDA disagreed in a warning letter in July 2025, then closed the matter in June 2026 after Whoop changed the feature.
How the two differ
Apple Watch is a watch first, with a screen, apps and notifications, and its medical features can alert you during the day. Whoop drops the screen for a band you wear around the clock, and it's built around recovery and training load, with the scores to match. Apple charges once for the watch. Whoop charges every year, device included.
Both read you from one spot on your body, all day. Neither lists a way to measure body composition, photograph your skin or test your grip and balance.
Where a weekly scan fits
Soma Axon is a pod we're still building. You'll step in once a week, in underwear or a fitted garment, with your hands on two grips and your feet on a plate. In a few minutes, cameras, thermal imaging, EEG and ECG will read your skin, heart and breathing, body composition, balance and strength. You'll turn a quarter at a time so the cameras can photograph your skin all the way around. The light, the positions and the instrument will stay the same every week, so when a number moves, the change should come from you.
The Soma app runs on iPhone and reads Apple Health between visits. Apple Watch saves its readings there, and Whoop writes its sleep, resting heart rate and workouts there too. The watch or the band covers the days, and the pod covers the week.
Soma won't diagnose anything. It's a general wellness product and it isn't a medical device. It also won't warn you about your heart rhythm in the middle of the afternoon. If you want those alerts, a watch or a band is the right tool, and both are on sale now.
Side by side
| Apple Watch | Whoop | Soma Axon | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you use it | Worn day and night | Worn day and night | A pod you visit once a week |
| ECG | Series 12 and Ultra 4, FDA cleared | WHOOP MG on Life, FDA cleared | At every visit |
| Body composition | Not listed | Not listed | At every visit |
| Skin photos | No | No | At every visit, compared week to week |
| Price | From $249, no subscription | $199 to $359 a year, device included | Shared before the first pod opens |
| Available | Yes | Yes | First prototype being built |
Sources, as of September 26, 2026. Apple: its Apple Watch lineup, Series 12 page, Series 12 announcement, hypertension notifications and ECG app pages, and its hypertension validation study. Whoop: its memberships, the WHOOP 5.0 and MG launch and its Apple Health page. The FDA: K250507, K243236, its warning letter to Whoop and the close-out letter. More on Apple Watch vs Soma Axon and Whoop vs Soma Axon.