Withings has announced its new Body Scan smart scale at CES. It claims that the scale will deliver accurate (to 0.1lbs / 50 grams) and far-reaching information on the user’s body, including new nerve activity and heart rhythm analysis.
Unusually, it’ll also provide readings for individual body parts, including the torso, arms and legs. This “segmental body composition” is often used by sport professionals but isn’t generally available on at-home smart scales.
The scale will look much like those currently available on the market, with the addition of a retractable handle. The scale itself is made of tempered glass and has four weight sensors and 14 ITO electrodes. It will have a large, colour LCD screen to display stats.
The handle, which is used for 6-lead (in-depth) ECG and the segmental body composition analysis, contains an additional four stainless steel electrodes.
As you’d expect, the Body Scan will be connected to a downloadable app. But via a subscription service, users can access personalised health plans and information on sleep, stress management, nutrition and exercise.
US users can also, via Withings’ , contact medical specialists who can provide advice while having access to real-time data from the user.
Cardiovascular measurements are key to the Body Scan, which will offer heart rate, vascular age and (what’s entirely new) a 6-lead ECG, which allows for accurate tracking and analysis of the user’s heart rhythm and can detect troubling heart patterns.
Via sweat gland activity in the feet, it’ll also be able to measure small nerve activity, which is a good indicator of overall health. This information will be delivered via an easy-to-understand score, which will be affected by positive health habits.
The Body Scan will also take the expected measurements: whole-body fat and water percentage, visceral fat, muscle and bone mass, and extracellular and intracellular water – with the difference that they’ll be broken down for individual body parts.
But is all this nerve analysis just too unnerving? Body Scan will effectively mark a shift from using a smart scale as a fitness tool to using it for at-home health monitoring. For some people, particularly those who are unhappy with weight being correlated to heart health, it could be a medicalisation too far.
The Body Scan is expected to become available in the second half of 2022, after CE and FDA approval. It will come with a free three-month trial of a Withings health subscription service. Withings has not yet released a price for the scale itself or for the service.
If you’re interested in a currently available smart scale that can measure vascular age, take a look at the Withings Body Cardio or, for more options, browse our round-up of the best smart scales we’ve tested.
