Wearable tech has come a long way since the calculator digital watch of the 1970s. Today, you can choose fro hundreds of wearable devices, each designed to measure and alert you to something important to you. The Upright Go 2 is a small wearable device that keeps an eye on your posture and alerts you when you start to slouch in your seat.
The Upright Go 2 is a small, lightweight wearable device that is worn on your back, It either sticks to your skin using adhesive strips that can be used several times before needing to be replaced r you can use an optional necklace to keep it in place.
The device communicates with your smartphone (I used it with an iPhone 11) over Bluetooth and alerts you if you spend more than a certain amount of time slouched.
| Size | 48x28x8.6mm |
| Weight | 11g |
| Communications | Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 4.2 |
| Lights and buzzers | LEDs for charging and pairing state Buzzer for alerts |
| Charging | USB-C using supplied cable |
Setup and installation
The Upright Go 2 charges using the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable. While it charged, I installed the Upright Go 2 app from the App Store. It’s worth noting that there are two Upright Go apps in the App Store; one for the latest device and one for the first version of the device.
The setup process was very easy. Once I created an account in the app (don’t forget to use a strong password when you do this) I was led through the configuration process. There’s a combination of both written instructions and animations and videos that have been well thought out and make it super easy to get going.
My only problem with this part of the process is that there doesn’t seem to be a high commitment to keeping user data safe. The sign-up process didn’t support iOS’ inbuilt mechanism for using strong passwords and there’s no offer to use two-factor authentication either.
The Upright Go 2 app
Once everything was up and running, and the device was securely stuck on my back, I was able to look in on the app to see how much time I spent seated correctly, how much time I spent slouched and get a real-time look at my posture.
The app defaults to not registering you as slouched until you spend 15 seconds in a good posture. Depending on your preferences you can choose to alter that to 5, 15, 30 or 60 seconds. If you ‘disagree’ with the alerts you can recalibrate the device easily as well.
A dive through the settings for the app also reveals that you can decide how strictly you want the slouch sensor to be when alerting you. It works with a scale of 1 to 6 wth 1 being the strictest setting. I shifted it from the default of 4 to 2 for my testing.
As well as realtime feedback, the Upright Go 2 app records long-term data so you can track how your posture is changing over time.
The vibration alert given by the device when you slouch is definitely noticeable – there’s little chance you won’t know when you’ve moved out of a good posture.
Comfort and wearablity
Once the Upright Go 2 was stuck in place it was not noticeable. I was concerned that it would be annoying but it’s so small and light that once it’s in place you forget it’s there until it sends you an alert.
The adhesive strips used to stick the device to your back are good for several uses but that will depend on your skin type. The devices storage box has a space to stash spare adhesive strips.
If you don’t like the idea of using sticky strips, you can buy an Upright Go Necklace which can be easily removed to keep the sensor in place. It’s made of black silicone so it’s not exactly a fashion accessory. But the Upright Go isn’t meant to be worn 24/7.
I’ve been wearing it when i work at my desk to help me stay upright so the necklace is a good solution. It’s easily worn and removed as it has a magnetic clasp. And i prefer it as the idea of needing new adhesive strips every few weeks in unappealing to me.
Price and availability of the Upright Go 2
The Upright Go 2 is available now at a retail price of AUD$149.95.
The necklace for the Upright GO 2 is available in black from uprightpose.com and major retailers for AUD$29.95. There’s an equivalent necklace suitable for the for the first Upright GO, launched in 2017.