A wave of new "screen-free" wearables — including the Garmin Cirqa, Google Fitbit Air, Polar Loop, Amazfit Helio Strap and the long-running Whoop bands — is deliberately stripping away displays and notifications, betting that consumers want devices that demand less attention rather than more. This marks a reversal from the smartwatch trend of the past decade, which had packed fitness trackers with OLED screens, AI assistants and constant alerts, even though the promised "life-changing" smartwatch app never really materialised. Apple is reportedly weighing its own take on the concept, according to Bloomberg, suggesting the shift is gaining momentum across the industry.

The article's author, a longtime wearables reviewer since the early Fitbit era, argues these new bands echo devices like the 2011 Fitbit Ultra and 2012 Fitbit Zip, which were checked only a few times a day rather than compulsively. By contrast, modern fitness watches from Garmin, Samsung, Fitbit and Coros are checked dozens or hundreds of times daily for messages, sleep scores and "move" alerts. Whoop, which has sold screen-free trackers since 2015, has shifted from marketing itself as a tool "exclusively designed for elite athletes" to a $199-a-year subscription service aimed at anyone wanting to improve sleep, training and general wellbeing — a change the piece links partly to growing fatigue with attention-hoarding tech and, in part, to the rise of AI.