Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch review: Learn more about your workout from a sticker

When you think of Gatorade, the first thing that most like comes to mind is its line of energy drinks found at nearly any convent store and sporting event. In 2020, Gatorade announced the Gx Sweat Patch, which will help people wearing it better understand their health and workouts from their iPhone.

While the idea and adhesive on the back of the Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch may be strong, for ordinary people who work out casually, this workout patch may not stick with them in the long run.

Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch design

When you first receive your Gatorade Gx Sweat Patches, they will come in a package of two in a zip-locked compartment with the Gatorade logo. You tear off the top, open the box, and grab one out to start the setup process.

The patches weigh 1.25 ounces and are 2.5x1.5 inches in size.

The squiggle lines down the patch showcase your sweat rate and how much you sweat during your workout. The more you sweat — and the more that is collected — the more the line will turn orange like a liquid-filled tube.

On the lower right of the patch, underneath the Gatorade logo, is a small bar line that will also turn blue during your workout. This calculates the sodium intake from your sweat.

In further detail, the patch can record workout fluid loss, which will calculate hydration needs. It also calculates hourly sweat rate, which helps calculate fluid loss, and sodium loss, which is used to calculate electrolyte needs.

The Gx Sweat Patch attaches to you as a sticker would — where you pull the back off to expose the adhesive surface, place it on the inner side of your left arm by your wrist, and press it down to make sure it sticks. The adhesive is sufficiently sticky, and at no part during the workout was there any worry of the patch falling off.

The Gx Sweat Patch is only intended to be used once. Once you finish your workout(s) and scan the patch into the Gatorade Gx app, you can take it off and throw it away.

Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch technology

The Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch calculates sweat rate, fluid loss, and sodium loss during workouts. It uses non-toxic food dyes to fill in lines on the patch — which will be left on your arm after you take the patch off until you scrub it away.

You should work out and wear the Gx Sweat Patch for 20 minutes to two hours in conditions of 46-to-95 degrees Fahrenheit.

When you finish your workout, you open up the Gatorade Gx app and scan the patch by placing it in the cutout shown on your iPhone. You will get targeted recommendations around hydration and nutrition from what is collected on the patch.

To get better recommendations — or any at all — a little bit of the squiggly lines should be filled in with orange coloring. It does not need to be filled entirely but does need to be filled partially to get results.

Also, when scanning the patch, ensure you stay still and position it with enough light on it with no shadows being cast. You may get an error message the first time you try to scan, but keep trying, and it will register.

After you scan the Gx Sweat Patch in, it will ask you which activity you did, what environment you worked in (indoor or outdoor), and how long you did the exercise. Once you fill those out, it will ask you to provide the temperature of your working area.

The first three areas are asked to help build a profile to personalize your hydration recommendations for similar workouts in the future. The room's temperature is asked to calculate an accurate sweat rate depending on how hot or cold it was during your activity.

The last question asked will be the intensity of the workout ranging from easy to hard. Under each level will be a description that will help you choose which level best fits your workout session.

All this collected information will compile a Sweat Profile for you to review during future workouts. Please ensure the information you put in is correct because you cannot edit the data once it is in.

The Sweat Profile will show sweat rate and sodium concentration from your workout. These will be compared to other athletes and showcase — with visuals from low to high — where you landed. Above the bar will detail the range more directly on where you landed.

Scrolling to the bottom will recommend improving your health during and after workouts.

For example, a recommendation was to supplement hydration to increase muscle function and the ability of the brain to stay alert and focused. The app then recommended the Gatorade Thirst Quencher product to fulfill the recommendation.

Gatorade Gx app usage

The Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch needs to be scanned into the Gatorade Gx app to see the information collected from it. The app is easy to set up and is a center-ground for all your Gatorade workout equipment and subscriptions.

The app connects to Apple Health, but the only data — stated by them — that is imported is your weight and sex. This is used to personalize your Gx experience, but strangely, no data is shared with the app besides the only information you already know.

You can see your past workouts in the Sweat Profiles section in the You tab of the app, and there, you can add a profile or plan a future exercise.

Planning a future workout can be based on an existing sweat profile that matches your activity's type, intensity, and temperature. This will help you get the most accurate personalized fuel and hydration recommendations from the app after a workout.

The app promises you do not need to wear another patch once you save your results from past workouts and do the same exercise again in the same conditions.

Programs are also tied into the app by promoting better health by doing them. Before you start them, the app will ask you to confirm some information such as your weight, any dietary restrictions, and any equipment you have available. Then it will lay out different programs you can do and give a day-by-day and step-by-step plan based on different workout types and different trainers.

You can always skip ahead in the Program tab of the app, but if you follow the steps, know that taking supplements, eating a certain amount of carbs, and drinking fluids — such as caffeine — are all part of the daily plan.

Workouts are done by yourself, and though videos are attached, they have no sound and only show how the activity is performed. You can go as fast or slow as you want.

Sticking to your health

The Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch is an exciting concept from a company that is known for selling sports drinks than it is selling health equipment. The idea looks appealing and enticing with a simple design, easy setup, and colorful information display.

The adhesive is powerful, and there were no worries about the patch falling off during the workout. The color scheme was also straightforward to understand, but it took a lot for the colors to appear.

While the app says that you should scan the Gx Sweat Patch immediately after your workout, you should wait a couple of minutes for the orange and blue to show on it because it may not appear immediately.

Taking off the patch surprised us as it left dye on our skin. This was not expected — and frankly looked like Gatorade got under the patch — but cleaning it off was easy, simple, and did not stain the skin drastically.

Pairing the patch to the app is simple by just holding your camera over it, but you have to ensure you're still and in a well-light area. It took multiple times to get it to read the data from the patch, and since it's on your arm, movement may be a little tricky.

When the data is imported into the app, the recommendations and information are friendly to have and helpful in a way. Still, the solutions are routed to purchasing more of Gatorade's products. It feels that — while you do not have to buy them — the patch is a marketing scheme to sell more products from the company.

Apple Health data connection seems to be little-to-none, from what is stated in the app, as the only data being used is your sex and weight. Nothing about sodium levels, fluid levels, or electrolytes is used to be imported into the Health app. This seems like a swing and a miss from the potential here.

Overall, this is a unique idea, but the patch still has some way to go. The patch will pick up a lot of data if you plan on sweating a lot and doing intense workouts, but if you do simple exercises where you do not sweat a lot, then the opposite will occur.

People sweat in different areas more than others, and only being able to place it on your left wrist limits the number of people who may get the most out of the Gx Sweat Patch.

Also, having the patch only be used once may become a huge financial investment if you do not plan on working out in the same conditions all the time or are doing different workouts. While the app will learn from previous activities you did — so you do not need to apply another patch — you still need a new one if you plan on being in different conditions. You can also only set one workout per Sweat Profile from the patch.

The Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch is more towards people who intensely workout or professional athletes, but for ordinary people who work out casually, this may not stick with them in the long run.

Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch pros

• Easy to setup
• Light and small
• Sticks well
• Simple design
• Easy pairing

Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch cons

• Have to sweat a lot
• Have to scan it multiple times for it to register
• It feels like you're being sold something after every turn in the app
• You cannot edit Sweat Profiles after creating them
• Single-use
• It leaves behind orange dye on your skin after taking it off

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Where to buy the Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch

You can purchase the Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch on their website for $24.99 a pack. The two-pack is also available at a slight discount on Amazon for $20.13.

The Gatorade Gx app is only available on iOS currently.