Follow ZDNET: Add us as a favorite source On Google.
ZDNET Highlights
- Withings’ U-Scan is now available for purchase in the US.
- Two U-scans monitor nutrition and kidney stones.
- This device sits inside your toilet – and it costs a lot.
These days, health trackers aren’t just around the wrist or fingers that are collecting data on heart rate, sleep duration and body temperature. The latest innovations are sensing urine and monitoring biomarkers such as hydration, nutrition and others.
Withings on Wednesday launched its U-Scan Nutrio and U-Scan CalCy, two toilet urine sensors for nutrition and kidney stone tracking.
Also: This new Kohler sensor is like a health spy in your toilet — tiny camera and all
The U-Scan attaches to the inside of the toilet bowl (and comes equipped with a glove for inserting and cleaning). Withings makes this device look like a miniature urine analysis laboratory with a shell-shaped sensor inside. Unlike its biggest competitor, Kohler Health’s Decoda, the U-Scan does not include a camera. Inside the device there is only a thermal sensor and interchangeable cartridges of miniature biochemical sensors. Withings says the device takes only a few drops of urine for its sample analysis.
Scheduling your urine analysis
One can view their results, such as hydration, nutritional balance and calcium trends, in the app after using the U-Scan. Withings+, a required subscription activated with purchase of the U-Scan, provides users with recommendations and more information on their urine data. Users must schedule Windows to activate the sensor for urine analysis.
Between analyses, the device recharges and cleans itself within three hours. The cartridges last for three months, but the duration may vary depending on the frequency of use.
Could urine open the next frontier in health tracking? Withings and its competitors seem to be betting on this. In a press release announcing U-Scan, Withings founder and president Eric Carell said urine serves as an accurate and comprehensive window into a person’s health. Going to the bathroom is also a daily activity that everyone participates in, unlike wrapping a tracker around the wrist or wearing a smart ring to bed.
Also: Best Sleep Trackers: These Sleep Trackers Improved My Sleep
The premise of U-Scan is simple: people are receiving important health information every day. What if a device could continuously monitor and capture this information, then deliver accessible results on an app?
Those insights and recommendations come at a high cost. The Proactive package, which covers three months of the device, is $380 and renewal costs $100, and its Intensive package (which also covers three months of use) is $450 and renewal costs $180. This is on top of the Withings+ subscription, which costs $100 annually, or $10 per month.
Get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning Tech Today Newsletter,
