OVERRIDING SYSTEM...

[ CLICK_TO_CLOSE ]

Steam developer reverse-engineers Whoop 5.0 in 24 hours to eliminate subscription need

Bennett, a developer behind the Steam store, just dropped an open-source app called "Goose" that reads data from the Whoop 5.0 without paying a monthly fee. He built the whole thing in less than 24 hours. The result is a raw, unpolished iOS app that pulls heart rate and sleep data directly from the tracker using Bluetooth. 

This isn’t a polished product you’d want to use for serious training just yet. Bennett calls it a pre-alpha version made for other developers to tinker with. Still, the implications are huge for anyone tired of subscription traps on health trackers.

The 24-hour sprint

Bennett started working on the project on June 1 with a clear goal in mind. He wanted to prove that the Whoop 5.0 could function without its required subscription. By the next evening, he had a working app that visualized the sensor data.

The app tracks activities and sleep while supporting HR, SpO2, and HRV metrics. Everything processes locally on your device. No cloud sync. No data leaves your phone. Bennett made sure to emphasize that the project doesn’t bypass any paywalls or interact with Whoop’s systems in any way. It just reads the raw data directly from the sensor.

Whoop 5.0 gets an open-source alternative

The Whoop 5.0 has been a popular fitness tracker since its launch. But the subscription model annoyed a lot of users. Bennett’s project taps into that frustration by showing what’s possible when hardware isn’t locked behind a paywall.

The GitHub repo for the project already has some traction. People are asking if Whoop will sue him. Bennett’s response was surprisingly calm. He said he hopes Whoop just asks him to take it down rather than waste everyone’s time with legal action.

“This repo contains no code or API created, owned, or licensed by Whoop,” Bennett wrote in his disclaimer.

Not ready for mainstream use

Bennett is being very clear about the current state of the Goose app. It’s not a drop-in replacement for the official Whoop app. The interface is basic. The data might need some validation. He’s not ready to put this on the App Store just yet.

“I will publish a version to the App Store, give me time to make it good,” he said in a follow-up post.

For now, the project exists as a proof of concept. Developers can study the code and see how to extract data from the Whoop 5.0.

The bigger picture

This situation reminds us of similar battles between hardware makers and open-source developers. We saw something similar just a few days ago when someone reverse-engineered the Oura Ring. Such projects often get shut down eventually. But they force companies to think about their business models.

The fitness tracker market is getting crowded. Companies like Whoop, Garmin, and Apple are all fighting for the same users. Subscription fatigue is real. People don’t want to pay monthly fees for devices they already own.

Bennett’s project shows that the technology exists to make hardware work without subscriptions. The question now is whether companies will adapt or double down on the subscription model.

One commenter pointed out that the actual hardware might cost as little as $20. That’s a stark contrast to the $30+ monthly subscription fee. It makes you wonder where the real value lies in these devices.

Bennett mentioned he worked with Codex to write some of the code. He said he did most of the directing and problem-solving while the AI handled the actual coding. That’s the modern way of building software in 2026.

COMMUNICATIONS_LOG: