Hormone & sweat wearables

Domain deep-dive

Hormone & sweat wearables — biochemistry without the blood draw

Hormone and metabolic tracking used to mean episodic, invasive tests: blood draws, urine strips, or basal temperatures taken the instant you woke. A new wave of wearables is chasing continuous, non-invasive readings, and they do it in two very different ways. See reproductive-domain devices →

Two ways to read a hormone you can't see

1 · Multi-modal physiological inference

Optical sensors can't directly detect large molecules like estradiol. But hormones drive huge downstream effects — progesterone raises body temperature and reshapes sleep; estrogen shifts heart-rate variability. Devices like Clair fuse dozens of body signals through machine-learning models trained on lab hormone values to infer hormone levels, promising to resolve far more cycle sub-phases than the classic four.

2 · Direct fluid analysis

Sweat and saliva carry ions, metabolites and hormones that mirror systemic health. Electrochemical patches (EnLiSense) read cortisol and inflammatory markers continuously in situ; saliva devices (Eli Health) report hormone levels at close to lab accuracy, with no blood draw.

Inference vs direct, and why the wrist isn't ideal

Wrist devices like Ava capture several signals, but the wrist is a distal site exposed to a lot of environmental noise. The Tempdrop armband instead reads near the axillary artery, where skin temperature tracks core closely, which makes it more robust to interrupted sleep, mouth breathing and shift work. Inference-based hormone tracking is the most ambitious approach here and also the least proven: Clair's clinical trials haven't reported yet, so for now its readings are promises rather than results.

Hormone & sweat devices in WearScore

Sorted by clinical value. Several are pre-launch or research-stage — flagged on each card and profile.

Salivary hormone tracking · Other

Eli Health

A saliva-based hormone tracker that reads progesterone, testosterone and cortisol at home in ~20 minutes, at near-lab accuracy.

50Clinical

55Empower

50Everyday

Domains: Reproductive / hormonal · Recovery / stress
Data: API none · raw none
Since: Oct 2024 · Mid-cycle

Fertility-tracking wearable · Band / strap

Ava Bracelet

An FDA-cleared fertility bracelet that predicts the fertile window from five overnight physiological signals.

48Clinical

40Empower

58Everyday

Domains: Reproductive / hormonal · Sleep & apnea
Data: API none · raw none
Since: 2016 · Late in cycle

Sweat biomarker patch (research) · Patch / sensor

EnLiSense SWEAT AWARE

A sweat-sensing patch that continuously reads cortisol and inflammatory markers — biochemistry from skin, with a real developer SDK.

45Clinical

55Empower

30Everyday

Domains: Recovery / stress · Metabolic / glucose
Data: API restricted · raw restricted
Since: 2023 · Maturing

⚠ Research / B2B — not direct-to-consumer

Basal body temperature (BBT) · Band / strap

Tempdrop

An armband BBT thermometer that targets the axillary artery to filter out sleep noise — built for shift workers and postpartum charting.

45Clinical

45Empower

55Everyday

Domains: Reproductive / hormonal
Data: API none · raw restricted
Since: 2018 · Late in cycle

Continuous hormone inference · Band / strap

Clair (Clair Health)

A wrist wearable that infers estrogen, progesterone, LH and FSH from 130+ body signals — continuous hormone tracking without a blood draw.

35Clinical

45Empower

55Everyday

Domains: Reproductive / hormonal · Recovery / stress · Cardiovascular
Data: API none · raw none
Since: Expected Nov 2026 · Newly launched

⚠ Pre-launch (Nov 2026) — validation pending

Hydration & electrolytes · Patch / sensor

hDrop Gen 2

A reusable sweat sensor that reads real-time fluid, sodium and potassium loss for athletes — personalized hydration from your own sweat.

35Clinical

48Empower

60Everyday

Domains: Activity / fitness
Data: API none · raw restricted
Since: Jun 2023 · Maturing

Menopause hot-flash device · Band / strap

Grace (Astinno)

A bracelet that detects the onset of a menopausal hot flash and fires a cooling patch — treatment, not just tracking.

30Clinical

30Empower

45Everyday

Domains: Reproductive / hormonal · Recovery / stress
Data: API none · raw none
Since: In development · Newly launched

⚠ In development

Patient education, not medical advice. Several devices here are pre-launch (Clair, Grace), research/B2B (EnLiSense), or episodic rather than continuous (Eli Health, Tempdrop). Hormone and fertility decisions should involve a clinician — verify status and validation with the manufacturer.