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Comment by xavxav | Hacker News Reader

I really want a good health tracker with all the sensors of the Apple Watch but completely inconspicuous as smartwatches are ugly.

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I’m an analog watch wearer and have been looking for something like that too. Found a dead Kickstarter thing that replaced the buckle on a watch band with a sensor blob, would have been perfect.

A simple strap (or ring, I guess) with a minimal electronics package, waterproof, long battery life, that sends data to my phone. Anyone? Is it not a business? Everything goes upmarket.

Oh, without a mandatory monthly fee, Oura.

I’ve been waiting for this for years. If it’s possible to stick health tracking features into a ring, it should certainly be possible to fit them into a watch strap.

I’m imagining a standard-looking watch strap with a small display that would sit just below the face of whichever analog watch it was attached to. It could have a thin bridge joining the two sides of the strap together, running underneath the watch - this isn’t a problem when wearing (for example) a NATO-style strap.

Yep. Or even with no display at all, just the sensor package. And/or even with no watch at all, just attach it to one of the billion straps out there.

I was all ready to file a provisional when I found that smart buckle or whatever they called it.

Not sure it that's what you're getting at, but yeah, leave out the watch part. In fact just lose the screen, I don't need or want it.

All I want is a "fitness band" that will track heart rate, sleep patterns, what ever you can stuff in there and just sync it all to HealtKit next time it's in Bluetooth range of my phone. If I go for a run I want the tracking, but not the connectivity and I certainly never want to know the time.

There's Whoop which is just a strap, but I've heard mixed reviews and I think it's a bit expensive.

https://www.whoop.com/

It looks more like a subscription... with a strap.

Why can't I just buy the device? I can't manage anymore subscriptions.

I think the market for a subscription-based strap-on is probably pretty small.

I think it's a physics thing. You can either have good health sensors, or a good-looking slim watch.

I'm surprised Apple Watch crammed so many sensors and still doesn't look half bad (I still don't like it :) )

Oura ring?

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