UP24 by Jawbone review

By Allyson Kazmucha
last updated

The UP24 is Jawbone's latest fitness tracker that pairs with your iPhone in order to track steps, calories, distance, and even sleep. The companion app breaks down all that data into easy to understand information. With support for advanced reminders, timed sessions, and more — can the UP24 help you get healthy and stay healthy? Let's find out!

After unpacking the UP24 I immediately noticed that it's not only lighter than other fitness bands I had previously used, it is also a lot easier to put on and take off. The true test for me was the first night I slept with it on. I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up in the morning and completely forgot I even had it on. That's always a good sign when it comes to wearing a fitness tracker.

Moving on to using the UP24 — there is no physical display for you to view. All the data is accumulates lives in the UP by Jawbone app. The only control you have on the actual band is a solitary button. Push and hold to toggle between sleep and active modes. Tap lightly to view what mode the UP24 is currently in. Tap twice and hold on the second tap to enable stop watch mode. Tap once to end it. Stopwatch mode lets you track activities and log them easier. For example, if you're going for a run just start stopwatch mode when you begin and stop it when you're done.

Another one of my favorite features of the UP24 is the ability to create reminders. Whether you need to remember to work out, take medication, go to bed, or anything else, you can set custom reminders within the app that are then synced to your band. The reminder comes in the form of a light vibration on your wrist. You can also set alerts for when you hit certain step increments or when you sit idle for too long.

UP24 by Jawbone review

When it comes to tracking sleep, no other band breaks down data as well as the UP24 does. Just wear it to bed and put it in sleep mode. If you forget to change modes on your band, that's okay. The sleep recovery feature lets you go back and mark sleep manually. As long as you had the band on, it tracked your data and can decipher it afterwards. You can also set an alarm with the UP24. The Smart Sleep feature lets the UP24 wake you up within so many minutes of your chosen alarm time. This is so it doesn't ever interrupt deep sleep, otherwise known as REM sleep. I've personally found the vibration to be a much more pleasant way to wake up than music blaring from my iPhone. It also doesn't wake up my partner, which is another plus.

Tracking fitness activity is easy with the UP24 but I wish there were more activities to choose from. There's only about 20 or so types you can label workouts as which won't always fit everyone's needs. Other offerings such as Nike and Fitbit offer much more variety. For example, I take a calisthenics class three times a week and there is no option for that. I must either enter weights, stretching, and an ab workout separately or choose something I think would be the equivalent. It gets the job done but it probably isn't as accurate as it could, or should be.

If you're dieting you can also use the UP companion app to track food by scanning bar codes or manually searching. I haven't found it to be that intuitive though and typically stick with a dedicated tracker app such as My Fitness Pal (opens in new tab). Since the UP app ties in with many third party apps, it seems to be the best way to do it. It simply imports your data into your timeline from My Fitness Pal, RunKeeper, IFTTT, and many others.

The good

  • Most comfortable fitness tracker I've ever worn
  • Battery life is great due to the lack of physical display, about a week on one charge
  • Reminders are completely customizable and more advanced than other trackers
  • Stopwatch mode is ideal for tracking workout sessions
  • Best sleep tracker currently on the market
  • Lots of third party support including My Fitness Pal, IFTTT, RunKeeper, and more

The bad

  • Not many activities to choose from when categorizing your workout
  • Food tracking logs aren't great - but third party integration makes it not so much of an issue
  • Bad track record for hardware and band issues

The bottom line

UP24 by Jawbone review

I've been using the UP24 by Jawbone on a daily basis for over a month now. It's been my favorite fitness tracker of all the ones I've used for one main reason — comfort. I don't want to know I'm wearing a fitness tracker. Since I have to wear it all the time, it's important that it doesn't get in the way whether I'm working on my computer, working out at the gym, or sleeping. It's the first tracker I've been able to wear continuously and not feel bothered by it. For that reason alone, I plan on keeping it on my wrist for a long time to come.

Allyson Kazmucha
Allyson Kazmucha

iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.

15 Comments
  • I have had an UP Band since December 2012. The first UP band died in July 2013. UP switched it out with a replacement and it worked for a month. In August 2013 they sent me a replacement. February 2014 the band stop buzzing and having issues syncing. I talked to UP support they stated warranty expired in December 2013. So they gave me a code for 25% off a UP Band not an UP 24. Long story short I like the product but the longevity of the product I am not impressed. I order the new UP band but I am hoping the Apple watch is released in late 2014 because I am not convinced the band will last until the end of 2014.
  • Thank you for the feedback! I added hardware issues as a negative point.
  • Was an early UP user (failed), then also second gen (traded out for FitBit Flex), and now am a very happy user of the Polar Loop - best of all, by a mile. And for me, the comfort factor of the Loop <far> exceeds the UP or any of the FitBits....the Loop feels so nice on my wrist, and so easy to get on and off.... Allison since you're on this fitness tracker review kick you should grab a Loop. One advance notice - their iOS app isn't as 'slick' looking as either UP or FitBit, but the data is there.... Grab a Loop! :)
  • Thanks! Just contacted their PR. I'll definitely take a look.
  • I too have had my up since February 2013, during that time my UP failed 5 times. Now I got replacements sent to me which was nice but now that i am out of warranty the device is useless. Between my family, friends and co-workers there was 20 UP's purchased. Every single one of them have had a min of 3 replacements. The concept is great, the app is good, the problem is Jawbone will not admit there is an issue. I keep seeing all these great things about UP yet no one looks at the fact that there is countless posts on there message boards about failures. Even the UP24 is facing the same issue it just dies. $150 is a lot to spend on a product with less than a year life span. If I look at the time the product was down and not working i basically got it for 9 months. I am sure you got yours for free so if it dies so be it, but for someone who invested over $400 for there household and now is left out to dry its hard to see reviewers not address the track record.
  • I just added it as a negative point. I haven't had those issues so I can't say I wouldn't recommend it. But I definitely listen to our readers so I've added that as a negative point for anyone who's looking. I've also contacted Polar to take a look at their offering.
  • My UP just died. Bought 1 April 2014, died 1 Sept 2015. When I bought it, I gave my 7 month old FitBit to a friend. That Fitbit still runs. I think I'll migrate back to Fitbit.
  • What options are there for wrist sizes? I've looked at several different types of these devices, and none of them fit my wrist, they are too small. Be interesting to see some side by side comparisons as well.
  • This is a nice device. Thanks for the review and video! Sent from the iMore App
  • When I was in the market for an activity tracker, I was initially leaning toward the Nike Fuelband SE, mainly because of the cool display and design. After researching and reading countless reviews, I ended up going with the UP24. It's simple to use, is light and non-intrusive, tracks data in detail, and allows many apps to tap into the data (Evernote, IFTTT, MyFitnessPal, Pact App, etc.). It's been going strong for 2 months, and so far no major issues. Although, intermittently I will notice that it hasn't synced with my iPhone in a while, and once I had to disable/enable Bluetooth on my iPhone to get it to reconnect. I would definitely recommend the UP24 to anyone looking for an activity tracker.
  • I've had mine for a few months. Works great! If only it would do my workouts... Sent from the iMore App
  • Great review. Very less people (or reviewers) appreciate the simpleness of this design. They want all the displays and sophistication on it. I def like Jawbone's intention to make it as invisible as possible, because that is mainly the point. Not to interrupt your lifestyle by constantly checking.
  • Allyson, Hey! Thanks for the review. This one actually persuaded me to go grab an UP24! I had a Fitbit One and a Flex. I got both to test to see which I liked the best. I loved the features on the One and the fact that it had an Altimeter for stairs/floors. However, I chose the Flex for convenience. The One was just too much of a pain to keep up with and for sleep tracking - seems us guys don't have that convenient spot you gals do to clip it on to. :-) Anyway, I was loving my Flex, but after about a week, when I went to charge it for the 2nd time, it wouldn't get a good enough connection to stay charging. I'd tap it, it'd charge for 2 seconds and stop. So, I took it back and got a refund and was waiting around to see what Fitbit was gonna do with the Force or a new gadget. Also...to see what was upcoming from CES with the LG Lifeband, Sony Core and Razer Nabu. But, from this review, the UP24 is appealing to me so I got it - love the app and the device itself. It is super comfy. However, I did want to note one thing from the previous comments. The ones saying they were having device issues and failures all state it is for the regular UP band, not the UP24. So, I wouldn't add that as a pain point if it's no longer an issue with this generation. :-) Also, with my UP24, I am having sync/step count issues. I can get up, walk 90 steps, sit down, wait 5 minutes and sync. NOTHING is counted...and when it does count, the number is not accurate at all. If I take 100 steps, it may only record/update it as 60. That's almost a 50% difference! I noticed the last app update was done March 6th, and based on the reviews...it could possibly be a software issue? Did you have any problems of this nature? Also, a nitpick issue I have - the app does not show "live" step counts like the Fitbit does. I'm wondering if this is normal or again, if it's due to the sync issue? Otherwise, it's fantastic and can't wait until this is resolved and also to test sleep tracking. What say ye? Sent from the iMore App
  • I apparently overlooked the post from HP409ss stating they got their UP24 in Feb and had hardware issues. I wonder if my problems are hardware related or software now. Hmmm... Sent from the iMore App
  • The Up band seems to fail after users logged in one million steps. My husband is an avid tennis player and averaged one million steps every month or so. He has have his UP band replaced 3 times already during warranty period. UP support staff was very professional in honoring the warranty claims. My UP band use was erratic in comparison as I used it for 2 months during summer 2013 when I first purchased in, then docked it on my desk for next 9 months due to intensive school schedule, and again picked it up at the 12th month when I exercised over 12000 steps per day. As I reached one million steps in month 13th, my UP band failed. No self reset work. So I suspect the motion tracker in the UP band has a limited lifespan of one million steps as it often coincides with band malfunctioning for my husband and me. Since my band passed the warranty period, I doubt I will spend another $150 for another UP band that will break in a year or less.