Polar's screen-free Loop launched in September 2025. Less than a year later, its successor is already sitting inside the Polar Flow app, and Polar's own code hasn't finished renaming it.
A comparison of Polar Flow 7.37.0 against the previous 7.36.2 turns up two device names that weren't there before, and both sit in Polar's device-recognition code rather than a promotional file or a leftover translation string.
What the Diff Shows
Device-recognition logic exists so the app can identify connected hardware and apply the right behaviour to it. That makes these references harder to dismiss than a stray string nobody cleaned up.
Polar Loop Gen 3 appears in a new device profile bound to the hardware identifiers INW6R and Polar_INW6R, and Polar's wider device registry has picked up a matching "loop gen 3" entry.
There's a detail in the same profile that suggests this wasn't meant to be visible yet. Its marketing-name field still reads "Polar Loop Gen 2", while the code that recognises connected models explicitly accepts "Polar Loop Gen 3". One of those two strings was updated and the other wasn't.
Polar 360 Gen 2 is the second new name, and its implementation is cleaner. A new profile recognises "Polar 360 Gen 2", "360 Gen 2" and the lower-case form, all tied to a new hardware identifier, INW6S.
The original Polar 360 showed up in the Flow app before its wider business rollout, so this is a familiar route for the product family. Polar currently describes the 360 as a screen-free platform for companies that want to build health and fitness services around Polar's sensors, software and data.
The H12 Finally Gets Specifics
Our report in August found a dedicated Polar H12 device profile in Flow 7.36.2, but there was no useful information about its connectivity, battery life or sensing hardware. The 7.37.0 update fills in one of those gaps.
It adds user-facing setup text tied to the H12 profile. The sensor can broadcast heart rate to as many as four Bluetooth devices simultaneously, and there are new open and secure modes that let the wearer decide whether nearby devices can pick the signal up.
Secure mode is described as keeping heart rate data from being picked up by anyone, while open mode is meant to make connections easier. That sounds aimed squarely at people who move between a watch, gym equipment, a training app and a cycling computer in the same session.
Polar's H10 has been the reference chest strap since 2017, and four simultaneous connections with a privacy toggle is a sensible direction for a successor in 2026.
Why the Timing Is the Hook
The current Polar Loop launched on September 3, 2025 at $199.99 in the US and GBP 149.50 in the UK, with no subscription, positioned directly against Whoop.
A third-generation name appearing inside a year points to a faster hardware cycle than Loop buyers would have expected. That matters most in the screenless category, where Garmin has been pushing its own CIRQA band, Apple's version still hasn't shipped, and Oura has spent this month trying to sell public markets on the subscription model. Every one of those is fighting for a customer who has decided they don't want a screen.
There's also a small but real upgrade signal: Polar is updating a screenless product line while its competitors are still arguing about whether the category works.
What We Still Don't Know
The onboarding package contains no product images for either new device. The onboarding file itself is unchanged from 7.36.2, and the new models appear only in the app's underlying device definitions and registry.
INW6R has not appeared in any regulatory database yet. That absence is the strongest signal in the whole story, and it points away from a 2026 launch. Early 2027 looks like the more realistic window for hardware that hasn't cleared any certification body.
It's also worth being straight about what app code is. It can arrive months before a product, it can outlive plans that were cancelled, and it can cover hardware that never receives a normal retail launch. This is evidence of development, not confirmation of availability.
And the name itself is muddled inside Polar's own build, so "Polar Loop Gen 3" shouldn't be treated as a confirmed product name yet. It's the name Polar's app is currently prepared to recognise.
Bottom Line
Polar appears to be preparing successors to both of its screen-free products at once, and it has quietly advanced the H12 with the connectivity detail that was missing in August.
None of it is confirmed, and the missing regulatory record means the timeline is probably later than the excitement suggests. But if you own the current Loop and you're wondering how long Polar intends to support a one-year-old device before replacing it, the answer is now visible in the app.
Sources: a comparison of Polar Flow 7.37.0 against 7.36.2, as reported by Gadgets & Wearables on September 28, 2026, covering the Polar Loop Gen 3 profile and its INW6R and Polar_INW6R identifiers, the device registry entry, the "Polar Loop Gen 2" marketing-name mismatch, the Polar 360 Gen 2 profile and its INW6S identifier, the H12 four-device Bluetooth broadcast and open and secure modes, the absence of product images in the unchanged onboarding package, and the fact that INW6R does not yet appear in any regulatory database; Polar's own media room announcement for the Polar Loop launch on September 3, 2025, including the screen-free and subscription-free positioning; Wareable's September 2025 coverage of the Loop's $199.99 and GBP 149.50 pricing and its Whoop comparison; and our August 21, 2026 report on the Polar H12 device profile in Polar Flow 7.36.2.
