Fitness | The Verge

This $199 GPS sports watch is repairable, modular, and open-source

2026-09-23T12:28:42-04:00

The Una Watch costs less than most Garmin watches now that its price has been lowered from the Kickstarter offer of $350 to $199, but its modular, repairable design grabbed my attention first. It features a 1.2-inch MIP LCD display and up to 10 days of battery life, similar to the Garmin Forerunner 70 or the Pebble Round 2 I preordered earlier this year. Like Pebble's revamped watches, the Una Watch is also open-source, including its SDK, housing, and circuit boards, but it has more fitness features out of the box than Pebble's watches currently offer. Una is also encouraging users to build their own apps for it, including with vibe coding - …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Peloton is back with a ‘cheaper’ folding treadmill

2026-09-22T08:10:27-04:00

Peloton said phones aren’t the only things that can fold.

Last year, Peloton did a sweeping refresh of its hardware that added cameras, fans, and AI-powered software called Peloton IQ. This year, it's zeroing in on its treadmill lineup - refreshing its two existing Treads and adding the new, more affordable Tread Flex into the fold.

At a New York City launch event, Peloton chief product officer Nick Caldwell told the press the $2,195 Flex - which can be folded upright to save 50 percent more floor space - was meant to address user feedback for a more easily stowed machine. When folded, the Flex purportedly has a smaller overall footprint than the Bike Plus. It also has caster wheels so it can be m …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is the start of a new wearable era

2026-09-17T15:00:45-04:00

This time, heart rate monitoring is truly continuous.

You wouldn't know that the Apple Watch Series 12 is a big deal just by looking at it. It has the same design, buttons, sizes, and sensor types as generations of Apple Watches before it. But under the hood, the Series 12 builds in major changes that lay the groundwork for big ideas about the future of health and wearables.

These ideas - and this year's updates - can be divided into two parts: catching up to the recent boom in AI health and leading the way in AI wearables that surface helpful information based on your entire day. When it comes to the former, Apple is catching up to the rest of the wearable space, which has eagerly embraced AI …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google launches Pokémon Sleep special-edition Fitbit Air

2026-08-27T10:58:33-04:00

The latest special-edition of Google's Fitbit Air is inspired by the Pokémon Sleep game, with a "Sleepy Blue" band emblazoned with a snoozing Pikachu. It's not exactly Snorlax blue, but matches the classic blue and gold of a Pokémon card pretty closely. The special-edition is available to preorder now for $129 and starts shipping September 15th. It's arriving as Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with a special-edition collection of playing cards set to launch the same week.

This isn't the first wearable that can connect with Pokémon Sleep - the sleep tracking app supports dozens of wearables from Apple, Google, Garmin, and …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google’s Pixel Watch 5 is promising — but it isn’t finished

2026-08-19T13:59:31-04:00

Please clap for my Gemini-inspired nails.

The Google Pixel Watch 5 has, in many ways, been the hardest Pixel Watch to accurately review. Barely anything has changed in terms of hardware. The sizes are the same, the chips and battery got an itty-bitty boost, and there's a new pyrite satin case finish. Instead, the big updates are all software-related: This year's watch gets ambitious new health features that expand on the overhauled Google Health app and its AI coach introduced with the Fitbit Air earlier this year.

The only problem is those health updates aren't here. The watch's most interesting new features - blood pressure and insulin resistance trends, nightly sleep breathing q …

Read the full story at The Verge.

What I track in a day

2026-07-23T12:37:51-04:00

It’s a lot of stuff, generally. | Photo: Victoria Song / The Verge

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Optimizer will be taking a two-week break and will be moving to Wednesdays starting August 12th. Opt in for Optimizer here.

My For You page thinks I love "What I eat in a day" videos. Most of the time, I watch them in a bid to suss out the latest wellness fads. But they can be an illuminating look into what people perceive to be healthy (or less-than-healthy) eating habits - even if a portion of them are likely faked for clout. In the same vein, I've gott …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Garmin’s new screen-free fitness tracker doesn’t require a subscription

2026-07-21T09:52:06-04:00

Garmin announced a new smart band today designed to track "advanced fitness and wellness features" without a screen to eliminate distractions and push its battery life to up to 10 days between charges. Similar to competing products like the Whoop 5.0 and Google's recently announced Fitbit Air, the Cirqa uses a combination of heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature, and motion sensors to monitor your health and activities around the clock, but without any subscription fees.

The Garmin Cirqa is available now through the company's online store for $199.99 and comes with an adjustable fabric strap in several different colors that can be worn …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Siri AI makes the Apple Watch finally feel like a wrist computer

2026-07-14T07:54:23-04:00

Siri has been on the Apple Watch since day one, though I'm usually hard-pressed to find people who actually make good use of it. It's kind of just… been there - mostly as a way to set timers when my hands are full. But after playing around with the watchOS 27 developer beta, I get the sense that'll start to change. Not for everyone, and definitely not overnight, but the upgrade from plain ol' Siri to Siri AI feels like a significant shift in how Apple - and other tech companies - think we ought to be using our smartwatches.

To be clear: If all you want Siri on the wrist to do is set an alarm or get the weather forecast, by golly, it's still …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Less is more with the Oura Ring 5

2026-07-10T18:47:33-04:00

The cross stitch pattern is by NathNolu on Etsy.

If you're reading an Oura Ring 5 review at The Verge, you likely fall into one of two camps: newcomers looking for a smartwatch alternative, or Oura users pondering an upgrade. In the case of the former, this is a great casual health tracker and the best smart ring on the market - but not your best choice if you really sweat the fitness details. If you fall into the latter, you don't need to upgrade.

I say this because the Oura Ring 4 came out less than two years ago. The ceramic version, of which I am a big fan, came out less than a year ago. These were major updates over the Oura Ring Gen 3, both in terms of software and in terms of senso …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Sometimes, health tracking accuracy is overrated

2026-06-26T10:55:47-04:00

I would like to thank a decade of running for my apparently beefy legs.

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here.

About three years ago, a doctor told me I had to lose abdominal fat. She didn't care about my lower belly fat. That, she said while pinching me, was subcutaneous fat. What she wanted was for me to target about five pounds of fat loss above my belly button because that's where the visceral fat lived. Not weight loss; my BMI and weight, she said, were fine. I needed fat loss because I had borderline high cholesterol and one mildly …

Read the full story at The Verge.