Whoop opens its blood-testing service to non-Whoop owners — Garmin, Apple and Oura fans can now use $150 diagnostics test that now includes early cancer screening alexblake.techradar@gmail.com (Alex Blake) | amznusa.com

• Whoop has opened up its Advanced Labs blood testing service
• You can now use it without a Whoop membership or wearable device
• That brings down the costs involved significantly

Whoop’s Advanced Labs program was originally designed to let owners of Whoop devices better understand their health through a series of blood tests. It was previously limited to owners of Whoop wearables who had an active membership, but access has now been expanded to users of other health devices, including the Apple Watch, the Oura Ring, and many of the best Garmin devices.

That means a far greater pool of people can now gain insights into their health by harnessing Whoop’s system of biomarker analysis. It also provides Whoop with a wider range of responses than it would have been able to collect before.

If you take part in Advanced Labs, you can put yourself through a blood testing service that gives you artificial intelligence (AI) insights and personalized recommendations that are reviewed by clinicians. It goes beyond the standard metrics you might get from rival wearables.

As well as opening up Advanced Labs, Whoop is also providing access to the Galleri cancer detection test to non-Whoop users. This is “designed to detect cancer signals associated with more than 50 types of cancer,” Whoop says. Galleri is available as part of Advanced Labs whether or not you have a Whoop membership.

Bringing down the cost

Whoop’s Advanced Labs testing starts at $150. Combine that with the cost of a Whoop membership — which is priced at $149 for your first year and $199 a year thereafter for the most basic tier — and you’d be looking at a sizeable outlay if you wanted to start using the Advanced Labs testing kits.

But now that Advanced Labs has been opened up to non-Whoop users, that cost can be brought down significantly. Owning a Whoop device — and paying its annual fee — is no longer required, although you still have to fork out for the tests themselves.

It’s worth noting that allowing users of other wearables to access Advanced Labs does not mean that Whoop will start incorporating data from your Apple Watch or smart ring into its own platform. That all remains totally separate — it’s just that Whoop’s walled garden has been breached slightly.

If you’ve been tempted by Whoop’s Advanced Labs testing but were put off by the cost involved, this might be your opportunity to take part. It could give you better insights into your health than you were previously privy to.