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LifestyleHealthTechnologiesWatches

by Sofia Brontvein

Track Or Treat: Apple Watch Ultra 2 Vs Whoop — Choose Your Fighter

19 Jun 2025

Over the past six months, my life has changed dramatically. I have always been into sports and nutrition — it is something I have done since I was a kid — but it wasn’t really a lifestyle. More like a well-meaning hobby. Then, after a series of personal storms in December 2024, I realised I needed to shift my relationship with my body in order to preserve what was left of my mental stability. Because for me, sport and nutrition have never been about aesthetics. They are about psychological survival. The sculpted muscle and ability to run 10k? That is just a bonus.
I now train every single day, rotating between cycling, running, swimming and functional strength work at the gym. That is about nine workouts a week, or roughly 12–14 hours of physical activity in seven days. Yes, I know it sounds borderline obsessive, but this level of intensity actually works for me. I also monitor my protein-carb-fat balance and stick to a mild caloric deficit. Sadly, my mortal body parts with fat reluctantly, so even after 50 kilometres on a saddle I can’t really justify washing down my matcha with a slice of coconut cardamom babka.
To be fair, I was managing this lifestyle just fine without any tracking devices. But I recently decided it was time to understand my body more precisely — to get a clearer sense of how this level of exertion affects my physiology. I started with a month of Whoop (yes, I know it is AI-based and gets smarter over time, but a month is enough to get the gist), then switched to Apple Watch Ultra 2. Spoiler: I stuck with the latter.
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Comfort

Let’s start with the basics — comfort and design. Whoop is a nearly weightless, screenless band that, after two days, genuinely feels like part of your body. You forget it is there — sleeping, showering, running, jumping, standing, collapsing — it moves with you. There is a wide range of straps and shells so you can match it with your aesthetic. Plus, you can wear it on your wrist, your bicep, or even… inside your underwear. In that sense, Whoop is beautifully discreet. It never clashes with a tuxedo or an evening dress.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 is something else entirely — it is basically your iPhone colonising your wrist. Its functionality is nearly limitless, depending on how you configure it. Personally, I start by disabling every notification from messages, calendars, email, social media — everything. My brain already juggles enough digital noise on my laptop and phone; I have no desire to let work vibrate through my bloodstream. For me, Apple Watch is about physical activity, sport, and vital stats.
Of course, Ultra 2 is considerably bulkier than Whoop. It is a 49mm titanium unit that takes some getting used to, especially for sleeping. But even that sensation fades after a week. You adapt. Design is always subjective, but I happen to love the sleek, futuristic look of the Ultra 2 — more than the minimalist Whoop aesthetic. Some adore Whoop precisely for its lack of screen, but I want more than passive tracking. Especially when swimming, controlling your workout via phone is incredibly impractical. If you wear Whoop, taking your phone on a run becomes non-negotiable. And after a coffee ride on your bike, you will want to be able to pay for your matcha. With Apple Watch, you can do everything — music, payments, calls, GPS — without needing to shove your phone in a jersey pocket. And when I want the watch to go fully silent and inert, that is just one tap away.
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Apple Watch Ultra 2From 3,199 AED

Battery

Here is where Whoop clearly wins. Even with almost all notifications disabled, I still charge my Apple Watch daily — and that means taking it off for at least 40 minutes. The hardest part? Remembering to put it back on. More than once, I have left it charging for three hours and completely forgot. Whoop 4.0, on the other hand, lasts almost four days, and the newer versions stretch up to two weeks. The charging capsule clips onto the band without needing to take it off — genius, really. You can literally wear Whoop 24/7/365, which improves data accuracy significantly.

Fitness

As I mentioned, Apple Watch is miles ahead of Whoop when it comes to workout control. It is a mission control centre on your wrist. You don’t need a phone at all. You can set parameters, goals, timers for any sport — pause, adjust, check zones, track distances — all on the fly.
My main sport is cycling, and I tested workouts using all three tools: Whoop, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and a Wahoo heart monitor (yes, I looked like a wearable-tech cyborg). Wahoo, which straps to my bicep, syncs with my cycling computer and delivers accurate pulse, distance, gradient and wattage. In terms of heart rate and calorie burn, Wahoo is the most precise — but unless you want to invest in a full cycling computer (which costs about the same as an Ultra 2), Apple Watch does an excellent job. It has minor discrepancies in distance and speed tracking compared to Wahoo, but nothing dramatic. It displays everything except power data — Apple doesn’t currently sync with pedal-based power meters — but it is still fully capable of supporting complex workouts. Whoop just can’t compete here.
Swimming with Whoop is, frankly, pointless. You have to count your laps manually, can’t track intervals or heart rate zones, and need to start everything from your phone before diving in. To me, that is inefficient.
For everything else, Apple Watch and Whoop track workouts fairly similarly. They use different heart rate zone logic, but overall pulse and calorie estimates are close. However, Whoop is noticeably more generous with resting calorie burn. According to it, I burn 2800–3000 calories a day. Apple Watch puts me at 2400–2700. Make of that what you will.
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Whoop Subscription + BandFrom 199 USD per year

Sleep

Both devices measure the same vitals: blood oxygen, body temperature, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, and sleep duration. But if your sleep is a problem and your goal is to actually improve it, Whoop is the better choice. It not only tracks, but interprets and advises. It helps you build consistency, understands how your body recovers, and translates numbers into strategy. Apple Watch simply tells you: “You slept four hours.” Whether or not you do three hours of cardio afterward is your call. The lifeguard is off duty.
Whoop is like a chatty AI wellness coach who is constantly giving you feedback, advice, encouragement — and, often, passive-aggressive disapproval. If you thrive under the watchful eye of a personal trainer, this is your dream match.
Apple Watch is more like a quiet observer. It records the facts, but doesn’t comment. No feedback, no judgment. In a way, that is liberating. You don’t get motivation, but you also don’t get guilt. Whoop, meanwhile, is almost impossible to please. You are either overtraining or under-recovering. You either sleep too much or move too little. One day it wants you on a 100km ride, the next — a yoga nap. My relationship with Whoop began to feel slightly toxic. I realised I don’t want constant advice. I trust my own intuition enough to decide whether I need more sleep or less cardio.

Verdict

Putting aesthetic preferences aside — because design and wrist size are personal — here is the breakdown:
If your goal is to track and optimise your workouts, Apple Watch is the clear winner. If you are looking for a digital health coach to oversee your sleep, recovery and overall habits, then Whoop is for you.
Apple Watch gives you the same data, but leaves the analysis to you — no lectures, no nudges. Whoop wants to manage you. And maybe you want that. I didn’t.
But please, I beg you: don’t wear both at once. It looks ridiculous (spoken by someone who tried it and looked like a bionic test pilot). I understand both gadgets carry a certain tribal weight — they signal membership in different subcultures — but trust me, you can’t sit on two wearables at once.