Amazfit’s latest firmware roll-out expands the Helio Strap’s training capabilities with 51 new modes and improves its heart-rate tracking when worn on the upper arm, signalling its growing competitiveness in the screenless fitness tracker market.
Amazfit has pushed its Helio Strap beyond a narrow focus on HYROX and strength work with a global firmware update that adds 51 new workout modes and tweaks the device’s VO2 Max estimation engine, according to Notebookcheck. The new software, version 3.22.0.1, began rolling out on August 4 and lands as the screenless fitness-band market becomes more crowded, with rivals from WHOOP, Garmin, Fitbit and Polar now competing for users who want continuous tracking without a display.
The update follows an earlier expansion in which Amazfit added 29 workout modes, including pool swimming, rowing machine and combat sports, through firmware 3.7.0.1. The new batch broadens the Helio Strap’s appeal well beyond its original audience of functional-fitness athletes. Amazfit has not published a full list, but the company says the additions cover indoor training, dance and ball sports, suggesting a much wider use case than the device’s launch lineup.
The VO2 Max change matters because this figure is one of the most useful markers of aerobic fitness, even though no wearable can measure it directly. Instead, devices estimate it from heart-rate and motion data. Independent research from the INTERLIVE consortium has shown that wearable VO2 Max estimates can be directionally useful but still carry substantial error, which means the number is best treated as a training trend rather than a clinical reading.
That caveat sits alongside a more important practical point for the Helio Strap: it appears to work best when worn on the upper arm. Amazfit itself recommends arm placement for better accuracy, while Wareable and Active Gear Review both found the device more reliable there than on the wrist. That lines up with the broader physics of optical heart-rate sensing, which is more vulnerable to motion artefacts and weaker blood flow at the wrist, especially during intervals or in cold conditions.
Independent testing by DC Rainmaker’s Ray Maker placed the Helio Strap in the middle of a five-device comparison of screenless wearables, behind WHOOP and Fitbit but ahead of some rivals on certain measures. Maker found that bicep placement improved performance substantially and that the Helio Strap could get close to chest-strap accuracy for heart-rate tracking during running and cycling. Even so, he also reported weaker automatic workout detection, including sessions being split too early when the wearer paused during recovery.
For buyers, the latest firmware strengthens a simple pitch: the Helio Strap remains a low-cost, subscription-free alternative to WHOOP while adding more training modes at no extra charge. The trade-off is that users who rely heavily on auto-detection may still need to start sessions manually, especially for interval work. For athletes happy to manage workouts themselves, the update makes an already strong value case more compelling.
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