Changing your WHOOP band in thirty seconds

What you do not need

No screwdriver, no removal tool, no spring bars. A WHOOP 5.0 or MG releases by hand. If you feel you have to force it, the move is wrong — the part is not stuck.

Removing the device

Lay the band flat on a table rather than doing this over a sink or on a sofa. The device is small and it bounces well.

Find the tab that holds the module in its housing, release it, then push the device out from the back rather than pulling at its edges. Pushing spreads the force; pulling concentrates all of it on one corner.

Fitting the new one

Present the device into the housing of the new band the right way round: sensors against the skin, lettering facing out. Press until you feel it seat firmly, then check the tab has returned to place.

The move people skip

The third one: checking the device is genuinely locked, not merely resting. A half-seated device holds well enough that you stop thinking about it, and comes loose an hour later inside a jacket sleeve.

The check takes two seconds: pull gently on the device, along its axis. If it moves, it is not in place.

Then set the fit

A new band does not carry the old one's setting. Go back to the usual benchmark: one finger should pass between strap and wrist, not two. A new weave slackens slightly after a few days of wear, so check again after a week. See: getting the fit right.

Before ordering another band

Check your generation. WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG share the same connector, WHOOP 4.0 does not. It is the number one cause of returns, and it takes ten seconds to verify in the app. See: 4.0 or 5.0?

Once the generation is confirmed: the plain colours sit in ORIGINALS, the hand-drawn dial in Already Late, and the small pieces that clip onto the strap in charms.

The second band

Thirty seconds is all it takes, which makes a second band more useful than it sounds: Red, Teal or Ochre change the day without changing the device.