Withings has announced a new frontier for the health-focused smart home – a connected urine monitor that sits in the toilet bowl.
The Withings U-Scan is described as the first hands-free connected home urine lab, which will negate the need to catch pee in a small receptacle, or on a strip, and offers instant results via the Health Mate app.
Rather than having urine analysed by a doctor (and heaven knows its hard getting an appointment these days), the U-Scan device can offer quick feedback on a number of biomarkers present in the pee. Indeed, there are more than 3,000 metabolites, within our urine, all giving off critical health indicators.
Withings says the device, which is just 90mm in diameter can provide an “immediate snapshot of the body’s balance” with actionable insight.
Most of us only have a urine analysis during a physical or if you go to the docs with a suspected illness, but the company hopes this will make urine analysis more routine. The results shows vitamin C levels, luteinizing hormone levels, keytones, water balance, nitrates, acid-base balance and other markers. If you’re under-hydrated for example, it’ll tell you, and you can correct things.
The system is powered by replaceable cartridges that last three months and can be easily switched out, according to the manufacturer, which is more famous for smart scales and health-focused watches. Analysis is synced via Wi-Fi and U-Scan knows the difference between water from flushes and urine, so won’t be sending you readings with the Ph of your toilet water.
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The product will launch in Europe later this year for a few cents short of €500. The UK price has yet to be announced. There’ll be different cartridges for Cycle Scan (designed for women) and Nutri Balance (overall use), with more cartridges to follow in the future.
“The ability of U-Scan to perform daily urine analysis from the home will allow Withings to take its mission to help consumers fully utilize urine data to an entirely new level,” said Mathieu Letombe, Withings CEO.
“It’s one of the most exciting and complex products we have ever announced. We begin this journey with U-Scan Cycle Sync and Nutri Balance and look forward to announcing more cartridges on an ongoing basis as well as medical applications of the technology.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
