WHOOP 5 and MG Support

WHOOP 5 and MG Support

Yes — NOOP works with the WHOOP 5.0 and the WHOOP MG. This page is the honest current-state guide: what works on a 5/MG today, what doesn't yet and why, and the two setup gotchas that trip up almost everyone.

Short version: Live heart rate, history sync, NOOP's own on-device scores, and steps all work on a 5/MG. The deep on-device WHOOP scores and an SpO₂ percentage are not derivable yet — they're locked behind on-band encryption that no public project has cracked. The WHOOP 4.0 is the most complete path right now.

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What works on WHOOP 5.0 / MG today

• Live heart rate — streams in real time on the Live screen. It rides the standard Bluetooth heart-rate profile, so it shows up reliably once connected.
• HRV (R-R intervals) — beat-to-beat intervals once bonded, used for HRV math.
• History sync / backfill — your strap's stored history offloads to NOOP and lands durably in your local database.
• NOOP's own on-device scores — wherever the raw inputs come through, NOOP computes its own recovery, strain, and sleep numbers on your device from your data. These are NOOP's calculations, not WHOOP's cloud scores.
• Steps — read where available on the 5/MG.
• Haptics, double-tap, alarms — work once the strap is properly bonded (not just streaming live HR). See Strap Support and Pairing.

NOOP computes every metric on your device, from your own data, fully offline. See How NOOP Works for the full pipeline.

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What does NOT work yet (and why)

A freshly-connected 5/MG hands a third-party app live heart rate over the standard profile — but WHOOP's deeper streams and scores are gated by on-band encryption that no public project has reproduced. Concretely:

• The deep on-device WHOOP scores (WHOOP's own recovery / strain / sleep numbers) are not available. Those are computed in WHOOP's cloud, and nobody has reverse-engineered them. NOOP shows its own scores instead, computed locally from the raw inputs.
• An SpO₂ percentage is not derivable on the 5/MG. The strap exposes only raw red/IR optical signal, not a blood-oxygen number we'd stand behind. So SpO₂ shows blank on a 5/MG — that is expected, not a bug. Don't report it as broken.

This is the same wall every independent WHOOP app hits on the 5/MG — it's not a NOOP limitation specifically, it's the encryption on the band.

Why the 4.0 is the most complete path

On the WHOOP 4.0, the full history offload (recovery, strain, sleep, motion) works end-to-end and is production-tested. If you have the choice and want the most complete experience today, the 4.0 is the better-supported strap.

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Setup gotcha 1: the strap must be clocked + charged to bank history

This one recurs constantly. A WHOOP 5.0 / MG only writes history to its own flash once it is:

1. Properly clocked — the strap needs its clock set (NOOP sets this on connect). An un-clocked strap saves almost nothing to flash, so there's simply no history to offload later.
2. Adequately charged — keep it above ~50%. A low strap won't reliably store or hand over history.

So if you've only just started, wear it (bonded, charged) for a day and let it sync. History fills in over the first few minutes of a session, then refreshes periodically. See How NOOP Works for the offload mechanics.

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Setup gotcha 2: if live data won't show — update firmware, then re-pair

If you can't get live data from a 5/MG at all, the fix is almost always:

1. Open the official WHOOP app and update the strap's firmware to the latest version. An out-of-date 5/MG can refuse to behave on a third-party connection.
2. Fully close the official WHOOP app (kill it — don't just background it) and turn off Bluetooth on that phone, so the strap is free to bond.
3. Put the strap in pairing mode — tap the band firmly and repeatedly on the sensor until the LEDs flash blue.
4. In NOOP: Live → select "WHOOP 5.0 / MG" → Scan & Connect. Success looks like CLIENT_HELLO acked — link established in the strap log.

Full pairing steps and the "live HR works but nothing deeper does" tell are in Strap Support and Pairing. If history syncs but no data appears, see the no-data guide in Troubleshooting.

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"But the official app shows recovery and strain — why can't NOOP?"

Because those are cloud scores. WHOOP computes recovery, strain, and sleep scores on its servers from the raw inputs your strap collects. No public project has reproduced those numbers. What independent apps can get is the raw data — heart rate, motion, history — and NOOP turns that into its own scores, computed transparently on your device using documented methods (see The Science). They won't match WHOOP's numbers exactly, and they're not meant to.

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Want to help map the deep 5/MG data?

There's an opt-in, default-off experimental path for 5/MG owners. NOOP can send the same configuration the official app uses on connect, to coax the strap into emitting its deeper data streams — and your strap log helps us decode what comes back.

• Update NOOP, then go to Settings → Experimental → "Unlock WHOOP 5/MG deep data".
• With the strap on your wrist and bonded, tap Send enable sequence to strap.
• Keep wearing it, let it sync, and share your strap log on an Issue (see below).

This is reversible — it only changes which data the strap chooses to emit, the same thing the official app does on every connect. (The deep-data write path runs on iOS and Android on real hardware; macOS can't complete the required bond for the command channel.) It does not unlock WHOOP's cloud scores — it gets us the raw inputs NOOP needs.

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Still stuck?

1. Update firmware in the official WHOOP app, then re-pair (the fix for "no live data" above).
2. Make sure the strap is clocked and charged, and that the official app is fully closed.
3. Re-read Strap Support and Pairing and the no-data section of Troubleshooting.
4. If it's still broken, open an Issue at https://noop.fans/NoopApp/noop/issues and attach your strap log:
   • Turn on Settings → Strap → Debug logging, wear the strap a while, then Settings → Support → "Share strap log" (macOS) or Settings → Strap → "Share strap log" (Android).
   • Tell us your strap model (5.0 or MG), your OS (macOS / Android / iOS), and the NOOP version.

The strap log is what lets us tell a real bug from expected behavior — please always include it.

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See also: Strap Support and Pairing · How NOOP Works · The Science · Troubleshooting · FAQ