Fitness tracker Whoop faces unhappy customers over...

Whoop has backed down, considerably, from the controversial improve plans round its Whoop 5.0 health tracker.

When the corporate first announced Whoop 5.0 this week, it stated members who needed the brand new gadget might both prolong their subscriptions by 12 months or pay a one-time improve price of $49 ($79 for the mannequin with EKG sensors).

This appeared inconsistent with Whoop’s total worth proposition, the place it fees higher subscription prices (ranging $199 to $359 a yr) whereas permitting clients to improve their {hardware} without cost. Extra particularly, it appeared to contradict a statement on the company’s website promising customers free {hardware} upgrades in the event that they’ve been members for no less than six months.

After clients started complaining, the corporate responded with a Reddit post each asserting a extra expansive improve coverage and claiming to make clear its total strategy.

Now, anybody with greater than 12 months remaining on their subscription is eligible for a free improve to Whoop 5.0 (or a refund in the event that they’ve already paid the price). And clients with lower than 12 months can prolong their subscription to get the improve at no further price.

Whereas the corporate stated it’s making these adjustments as a result of it “heard your suggestions,” it additionally prompt that its obvious stinginess was tied to its transition from a mannequin centered on month-to-month or six-month subscription plans to 1 the place it solely affords 12- and 24-month subscriptions.

“We additionally wish to acknowledge {that a} earlier weblog article incorrectly acknowledged that anybody who had been a member for simply 6 months would obtain a free improve,” the corporate stated. “This was by no means our coverage and may by no means have been posted.”

There’s been a blended response to those adjustments on the Whoop subreddit, with one moderator describing it as a “win for the neighborhood.” Different posters have been extra skeptical, with one writing, “You don’t publish a coverage by chance and stick with it for years. Eradicating it after backlash doesn’t erase the very fact [that] it’s actual.”

There have been additionally a variety of complaints from customers who stated that they had 11 months left on their subscriptions, so they simply missed the free improve cutoff.