Steph Curry just gave us our first real look at what Google has been working on.
The NBA star and Google Performance Advisor posted a video on Instagram showing off an unreleased Fitbit tracker. It is a screenless, buttonless wristband made of woven fabric - basically a Whoop Strap clone in Fitbit clothing. The tagline in the video: "new relationship with your health."
The Fitbit account confirmed it is real by commenting the "eyes" emoji on Curry's post. So this is not a concept or prototype - it is actually coming.
9to5Google reported on the video, noting: "The clip teases a 'new relationship with your health' that is coming soon, with the gradient 'G' logo appearing at the end."
Watch Curry's post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWjhdflgcF5/?hl=en
What We Know About the Design
Based on what Curry showed, this new Fitbit is about as minimal as a tracker can get:
The band itself has no screen, no buttons, nothing to interact with directly. Just fabric, a clasp, and sensors underneath. Curry wore a light gray version with orange accents, but expect multiple colorways at launch.
Without a display, all the interaction happens in the Fitbit app. You wear it 24/7, forget about it, and check your data when you want to see how you slept or recovered.
This is the Whoop playbook exactly. Whoop built an entire business around the idea that a tracker should disappear onto your wrist and let the app do the heavy lifting.
What It Actually Tracks
Google has not shared full specs yet, but based on what Fitbit already does and what the sources say, expect the usual health metrics:
Heart rate monitoring runs continuously, tracking resting heart rate and how hard you are pushing during workouts. Skin temperature sensors detect fluctuations that can signal illness onset or recovery needs. Sleep tracking gives you recovery scores and shows how well you actually rested.
For runners specifically, the interesting metrics are the ones Whoop popularized: strain score, recovery score, and sleep performance. These combine heart rate variability, sleep quality, and recent exertion into a single number that tells you how hard you should push today.
The bigger play is the AI integration. Google is pushing Gemini-powered health coaching across its products, and this Fitbit will tie into that. Instead of just showing you numbers, the app will try to explain what they mean and give you personalized recommendations.
Google's AI advantage is real here. Whoop built its algorithms over years with professional athletes. Google has access to anonymized health data from millions of Fitbit users and the machine learning infrastructure to make sense of it. If they can translate that into actionable advice through the app, this becomes more than just a tracking band.
The Runner's Perspective
Whoop became popular among runners and cyclists because it focuses on the metrics that actually matter for training: recovery and strain.
Garmin and Apple Watch give you data, but they also give you notifications, apps, and distractions. Whoop strips all that away. You wear it, it tracks, and you check your app once a day to see if you should crush your workout or take it easy.
For serious runners who periodize their training and care about long-term adaptation, this approach works. You do not need your watch to show you notifications during a run. You need to know the next day whether your body is ready for another hard effort.
Google clearly studied this. Their new Fitbit has no screen because screens are the wrong interface for this kind of device. Your phone is the right place to review data. Your wrist is just for wearing the sensor.
The woven fabric design is notable too. Current Fitbits are plastic or metal rectangles that look like fitness trackers. A soft woven band that looks like jewelry-or at least not like a gadget-is a different aesthetic. Whoop leaned into the premium sports look. Google seems to be going for something you could wear to a meeting without anyone noticing.
The Subscription Question
Here is where it gets interesting for Whoop.
Whoop charges around $149 per year for access to its data and insights. You do not technically own the experience-you rent it. Google is almost certainly going to follow the same playbook with this new tracker.
Expect a free tier with basic metrics: heart rate, sleep stages, activity tracking. The deeper stuff-AI-powered coaching, recovery insights, personalized training recommendations-will likely sit behind Fitbit Premium, which runs about $80 per year.
If Google can undercut Whoop while offering similar data quality, it puts pressure on a company that has built its business on this exact model.
The Competition Is Already Noticing
Google is walking into a space that is getting crowded fast.
Whoop has had this market mostly to itself among serious athletes. Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and plenty of serious amateur athletes wear Whoop because nothing else gave them the recovery and strain data they wanted in a subscription format.
But now everyone is circling the same idea. Garmin recently leaked something called "CIRQA"-a mystery band that looks like another Whoop competitor. If Garmin enters this market with their established relationship with serious athletes, it creates real pressure.
Polar has been quiet on new hardware but has the sensor technology to do this. Their existing fitness bands are solid; a screenless subscription model would not be a stretch.
Startups are attacking from different angles. Ultrahuman went the smart ring route. Speediance showed something at CES 2026. The market is fragmenting around the same insight: athletes want data without the smartwatch distractions.
Apple is the wild card. The Apple Watch is too expensive and feature-rich to pivot into a bare-bones subscription tracker. But if Google and Garmin both launch subscription-based fitness bands and Apple sticks with the Apple Watch approach, they could get left behind in the dedicated performance tracking space that Whoop pioneered.
The question is whether there is room for three or four players in the "screenless subscription band" market, or if this becomes a winner-take-most situation like Whoop has been.
Why Google is Doing This
The Pixel Watch is Google's flagship wearable. It has a screen, runs Wear OS, does everything a smartwatch should. The Fitbit brand is being repositioned to do something different-pure health tracking without the distractions of notifications and apps.
Taking the screen off means better battery life, smaller size, and something you actually forget you are wearing. For people who want data without the dopamine hits of checking their wrist every five minutes, this fills a gap in the market.
It also gets more people into the Fitbit ecosystem where Google can sell Premium subscriptions and collect health data. Smart business, assuming the hardware delivers.
Should You Care
If you are currently a Whoop user, probably yes. Google has more resources than Whoop and potentially better health data to base its algorithms on. If this tracker ships at a lower price point with comparable accuracy, it could pull people away from Whoop.
Whoop charges $149 per year for the privilege of wearing their band. Google could undercut that significantly while offering similar or better data quality. For athletes who are on the fence about Whoop, this might be the push they need to switch.
For existing Fitbit users, this is interesting if you have been wanting a more minimal tracking experience. Current Fitbit devices are fine, but they still look like fitness trackers. If you want something discreet that you wear 24/7 without it looking like you are constantly tracking your steps, this fills a gap in the Fitbit lineup.
Runners in particular should watch this. Garmin has owned the serious runner market, but their subscription model is not as aggressive as Whoop's. If Google can deliver comparable recovery and strain metrics without requiring a $149 annual fee, it becomes an attractive option for athletes who do not need the full Garmin ecosystem.
The caveat is we do not know pricing yet. If this costs $100 or more plus a subscription, the value proposition weakens. Whoop's all-in model at $149/year is simple. If Google's approach is $50 for the band plus $80/year for Premium, it is not that much cheaper.
What This Means for Fitbit's Future
This launch clarifies Google's strategy for the Fitbit brand.
The Pixel Watch is Google's flagship wearable. It has a screen, runs Wear OS, does everything a smartwatch should. The Fitbit brand is being repositioned to do something different-pure health tracking without the distractions of notifications and apps.
This is a smart split. Heavy users who want notifications and apps pay premium for Pixel Watch. Athletes and casual users who just want data without the cognitive overhead get Fitbit. Both feed into Google's health platform.
Taking the screen off means better battery life, smaller size, and something you actually forget you are wearing. For people who want data without the dopamine hits of checking their wrist every five minutes, this fills a gap in the market.
It also gets more people into the Fitbit ecosystem where Google can sell Premium subscriptions and collect health data. Smart business, assuming the hardware delivers.
What We Do not Know Yet
A few things we are still waiting on:
Pricing is the big one. The business model only works if Google prices this aggressively enough to pull people away from Whoop. A $199 band with $80/year subscription is not going to move the needle. A $79 band with $60/year might.
Accuracy is the second question. Whoop spent years refining their heart rate sensors and algorithms. Google has Fitbit's decade-plus of data, but screenless tracking in a woven band presents different sensor challenges than a plastic module pressed against your wrist.
And perhaps most importantly: does this actually help runners train better? Whoop became popular because athletes trusted the strain and recovery numbers. If Google's version delivers questionable data, no amount of AI coaching will fix it.
No launch date yet, but "coming soon" suggests sometime in 2026. We will keep an eye on this one and update when we know more.