Fitness & Healthtech Brands to Watch in 2026
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We're more conscious of our health than ever, from tracking our sleep and exercise to monitoring fertility, stress and recovery. But as the consumer healthtech market grows, so does the competition for attention – and trust.
For healthtech brands, having innovative technology isn't enough. Consumers want evidence, credibility and a clear reason to believe a product works. In an increasingly saturated market, the brands that cut through are the ones that can turn complex technology into stories people understand and trust.
From smart rings and wearables to femtech and preventative healthcare, these are the fitness & healthtech brands to watch in 2026.
Consumer healthtech brands to watch in 2026
1. Oura
Product: Smart ring and health tracking
Oura has helped turn the smart ring from a niche piece of wearable technology into a serious consumer health product.
Its ring tracks metrics including sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature trends and activity, bringing a surprisingly detailed picture of your health to a device small enough to forget you're wearing.
The brand has also moved beyond fitness tracking, exploring areas including sleep, stress, women's health and cardiovascular health.
Why it's one to watch:
- Helped make smart rings a mainstream consumer health technology category.
- Tracks a wide range of health signals without the screen or bulk of a smartwatch.
- Has expanded into areas including women's health and cardiovascular health.
- Shows how wearable technology can move from fitness tracking towards everyday health management.
2. WHOOP
Product: Wearable health and performance technology
WHOOP has built its brand around a simple idea: understanding your body shouldn't require a medical degree.
Its wearable tracks metrics linked to sleep, recovery, strain and other physiological signals, then turns that data into personalised insights.
Originally closely associated with elite athletes and performance, WHOOP has increasingly broadened its appeal to anyone interested in understanding how sleep, exercise and everyday habits affect their health.
Why it's one to watch:
- Makes continuous health monitoring part of everyday life.
- Turns complex physiological data into accessible consumer insights.
- Has expanded beyond elite sport into the wider health and wellness market.
- Shows how wearable technology can become a long-term health platform rather than simply another fitness gadget.
3. Neko Health
Product: Preventative health screening technology
Most healthcare is reactive: something feels wrong, so you see a doctor.
Neko Health is taking a different approach.
The company uses technology, imaging and extensive health measurements to give consumers a detailed snapshot of their health, with a focus on supporting earlier detection of potential health issues.
It's an ambitious take on preventative healthcare – and one that has attracted plenty of attention as consumers become more interested in understanding their health before something goes wrong.
Why it's one to watch:
- Uses technology to collect a large amount of health data during a single assessment.
- Makes preventative health screening available directly to consumers.
- Focuses on early detection rather than purely reactive healthcare.
- Is taking a technology-led approach to a healthcare category that has traditionally changed relatively slowly.
4. Natural Cycles
Product: Digital contraception and fertility tracking
Period and fertility tracking apps aren't new. But Natural Cycles has taken the concept considerably further.
The company uses data including basal body temperature to identify fertile and non-fertile days, creating a digital approach to fertility awareness and contraception.
It sits at an interesting intersection of consumer technology, reproductive health and femtech, showing how software and personal data can be used to rethink traditionally analogue areas of healthcare.
Why it's one to watch:
- Uses personal health data to provide a digital approach to contraception.
- Has helped bring fertility awareness into the mainstream health conversation.
- Demonstrates how technology can address longstanding gaps in women's healthcare.
- Shows how femtech is moving beyond tracking towards regulated digital healthcare applications.
5. Ultrahuman
Product: Wearable metabolic and health technology
Ultrahuman is betting that the more you understand your body, the better decisions you can make about it.
Its product ecosystem includes the Ultrahuman Ring, which tracks metrics such as sleep, movement and recovery, alongside technology focused on metabolic health.
The brand has positioned itself as a challenger in the wearable health market, particularly around the growing consumer interest in metabolic health and personalised data.
Why it's one to watch:
- Brings metabolic health into the consumer technology market.
- Combines wearable technology with personalised health insights.
- Pushes smart rings beyond traditional activity and fitness tracking.
- Taps into growing consumer interest in understanding how everyday behaviours affect health.
6. Eight Sleep
Product: Smart sleep technology
We're all supposed to get more sleep. Eight Sleep is asking: what if technology could actually help?
Eight Sleep uses sensors and temperature-controlled technology to personalise the sleeping environment, with the aim of improving sleep and recovery.
Unlike wearables that simply tell you how you slept, Eight Sleep is trying to change the environment around you to help you sleep better in the first place.
Why it's one to watch:
- Takes sleep technology beyond tracking and into intervention.
- Uses connected technology to personalise the sleeping environment.
- Combines sensors, data and temperature control in a consumer product.
- Shows how technology can be used to tackle one of the most fundamental aspects of health.
7. Hammerhead | Words+Pixels PR partner
Product: Connected cycling health and performance technology
For cyclists, data can be almost as important as the ride itself.
Hammerhead brings navigation, performance data and connected technology together through its Karoo cycling computer, giving riders a detailed picture of their performance while they're on the move.
While it's firmly rooted in cycling, Hammerhead sits at an interesting intersection of consumer technology, sport, health data and connected hardware.
Why it's one to watch:
- Combines navigation, mapping and performance data in a connected experience.
- Makes sophisticated sports technology accessible to everyday cyclists as well as professionals.
- Has built relationships with elite cyclists and professional teams to demonstrate its technology.
- Its acquisition by SRAM has given the brand an even bigger platform for growth.
8. CORE | Words+Pixels PR partner
Product: Wearable core body temperature technology
Most fitness trackers can tell you your heart rate. CORE is interested in something a little deeper: what's happening with your core temperature.
Its wearable technology measures core body temperature in real time, helping athletes understand how their bodies respond to heat and training.
That's significant because core temperature has historically been difficult to monitor outside specialist sports science environments.
Why it's one to watch:
- Developed technology for real-time core body temperature monitoring.
- Created a Heat Adaptation Score to help athletes understand their response to heat training.
- Brings sophisticated sports science into a wearable designed for everyday athletes as well as elite performers.
- Is helping make heat adaptation and thermoregulation part of the wider sports technology conversation.
9. Emm | Words+Pixels PR partner
Product: Smart menstrual health technology
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For something that happens regularly to around half the population, we still know surprisingly little about menstrual health.
Emm is trying to change that.
The femtech company has developed a smart menstrual cup designed to measure menstrual flow, bringing technology and data into an area of healthcare that has historically been poorly measured.
Rather than simply digitising period tracking, Emm is developing technology capable of generating new health data.
Why it's one to watch:
- Developed a smart menstrual cup capable of measuring menstrual flow.
- Addresses a longstanding lack of objective data around menstruation.
- Combines femtech, consumer technology and reproductive health.
- Could give women more detailed information about their own menstrual health.
10. Hims & Hers | Words+Pixels PR partner
Product: Consumer-led digital healthcare
Healthcare can be difficult to navigate – and even harder to talk about.
Hims & Hers has built its proposition around making healthcare feel more like a modern consumer service, combining digital experiences with clinical services and treatment.
The brand has particularly focused on health areas that consumers may find difficult or uncomfortable to discuss, helping make access to information and treatment feel more straightforward.
Why it's one to watch:
- Brings consumer branding and digital experiences into healthcare.
- Makes traditionally difficult health conversations easier to access.
- Combines technology, clinical services and consumer experience.
- Demonstrates how expectations shaped by consumer technology are changing healthcare.
What makes these fitness & healthtech brands worth watching?
The most interesting consumer healthtech brands aren't just making smarter technology – they're making health easier to understand, track and manage.
From Oura and WHOOP making health tracking more accessible to Emm and Natural Cycles tackling gaps in women's health, these brands are changing how consumers interact with their health.
And that's what makes consumer healthtech such an exciting category to watch in 2026.
Looking to make your fitness or healthtech brand one to watch?
At Words+Pixels, we work with ambitious consumer technology, healthtech and challenger brands to build visibility, credibility and reputation.
From wearable technology and femtech to connected devices and digital healthcare, we help brands turn innovative products into stories that journalists and consumers want to hear.
Find out more about Words+Pixels →
FAQs: Fitness & healthtech PR
1. What are the biggest consumer health tech trends in 2026?
Some of the biggest consumer health tech trends include wearable health monitoring, preventative healthcare, personalised health data, women's health technology, metabolic health, sleep technology and digital healthcare.
2. What is consumer healthtech?
Consumer healthtech refers to technology designed to help individuals monitor, understand, manage or improve their health. It includes products such as smart rings, wearable health trackers, digital contraception, preventative screening technology and digital healthcare platforms.
3. What makes a consumer healthtech brand stand out?
The strongest consumer healthtech brands combine genuinely useful technology with a clear consumer proposition and a credible health story. In a high-trust category, brands need to make complex technology easy to understand while demonstrating why consumers should trust their products.
4. How can consumer healthtech brands get more media coverage?
The strongest consumer healthtech PR strategies go beyond product announcements. Original research, health data, expert commentary, founder stories, product launches, consumer insights, scientific developments and creative campaigns can all give journalists a reason to cover a brand.
