Apple might be next with a screenless fitness band

Apple may be the next big wearable brand to take the screen away, with a new report claiming the company is exploring wrist-worn devices that have no display at all.

Back in May, I asked whether Google and Fitbit Air had just made the case for an Apple Watch Air. The idea was a lightweight Apple health tracker that could sit quietly on the wrist, collect data and leave the apps, notifications and other smartwatch features to the Apple Watch.

Three months later, it appears Apple has been thinking about something along those lines.

Apple has been experimenting beyond the Watch

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s industrial design team has spent roughly the past year exploring a wider rethink of its wearable lineup. That work has included devices with different display technologies and sizes, cheaper products below the Apple Watch SE and more expensive models above the Ultra and Hermès range.

More interestingly, Apple has apparently considered wrist-worn devices without displays.

A round Apple Watch has also been explored, although that idea is reportedly unlikely to go anywhere. The screenless concept deserves more attention because it lines up with what is happening across the rest of the wearable market.

This is no longer just Whoop doing its own thing.

Garmin has now launched CIRQA, its first screen-free smart band. It costs $199.99, offers up to 10 days of battery life and puts Garmin’s familiar health and recovery metrics into something designed for continuous wear without requiring a full sports watch on the wrist.

Garmin did not simply copy Whoop’s subscription model either. The core CIRQA experience works without a required subscription.

Google has gone after a different part of the market with Fitbit Air. At $99, it makes screenless tracking considerably more accessible, while Whoop continues to target users who want deeper training and recovery analysis.

Then there are products such as Amazfit Helio Strap and Polar Loop. As we covered in our recent comparison of the best screenless fitness bands, there is now enough choice for these products to be treated as their own wearable category.

Apple has an obvious reason to join in

Apple has a problem that Garmin users will recognise. The Apple Watch can collect a lot of useful health data, but you have to wear a fully fledged watch to get it.

That sounds obvious, but it creates a gap. Someone who wants to wear a mechanical watch cannot quietly collect Apple health data from the other wrist without also wearing what looks like another watch. Sleep tracking also means keeping a relatively substantial smartwatch on overnight.

A lightweight Apple band could solve both problems.

It could also work alongside the Apple Watch rather than replacing it. Garmin has specifically positioned CIRQA as something that can complement its existing watches, allowing users to move between devices while keeping their health data inside Garmin Connect. Fitbit Air can similarly work alongside Pixel Watch.

Apple could arguably make that type of setup even cleaner. Wear the Apple Watch when you want maps, workouts, calls and apps. Switch to the screenless band for sleep, passive health tracking or when you simply want to wear something else.

The software may be an important part

There is another reason Apple’s interest makes sense now. Gurman says Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple’s health efforts, uses both Whoop and Oura products. Apple is also looking at making future wearables more closely tied to AI as its health and Siri software develops.

A screenless product would fit that approach nicely. Without a display, the hardware becomes much less important as an interface. Its job is to collect clean data. The intelligence moves to the iPhone, where Apple could interpret sleep, exercise, recovery and longer-term health trends without requiring the user to stare at another dashboard on their wrist.

That is broadly where this category is heading already. The screenless band is increasingly becoming a sensor rather than a tiny computer.

None of this means an Apple fitness band is about to launch. Apple experiments with plenty of hardware concepts that never leave the design studio, and the company reportedly has not decided how far it wants to take this wider wearable rethink. But the idea doesn’t seem so far fetched now.