Withings Body Scan scales can tell you if you’ve got fat arms

January isn’t always the happiest time to stand on a set of scales, but if your New Year’s resolution is to get in shape, Withings’ Body Scan might just offer the inspiration you need.

Smart scales have been able to do much more than tell you how much you weigh for a while now, but the Body Scan goes further than ever before. With four weight sensors and 14 ITO electrodes integrated into the glass base, plus four stainless steel electrodes built into the retractable handle, it can also monitor your heart rate, segmental body composition and vascular age.

Unless you watch a lot of Holby City those might not mean a lot to you, but the 6-lead ECG is designed to detect arrhythmias, while Vascular Age is a good measurement of your arterial health and general wellbeing. Using its 3.2in LCD screen, the Body Scan can show you how yours compares to others in your age bracket.  

Most sets of scales measure body composition through only your feet, which doesn’t really give the full picture, but the Body Scan’s extra electrodes mean it can give a much more rounded picture – and that’s not a comment on your post-Christmas physique. Its multi-frequency Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis measures whole-body fat and water percentages, visceral fat, muscle and bone mass, and extracellular and intracellular water. It can also give individual readings for specific body parts. Handy if you suspect you’ve got a particularly chubby left leg. 

Lastly, it can also perform a Nerve Activity Assessment via the sweat glands in your feet, which can help to pick up on a degeneration of small nerve fibres.

As well as showing your vital stats on the built-in screen, it sends everything to the Withings app, plus it integrates seamlessly with Withings’ smartwatches and connects to Apple’s HealthKit and Google Fit. The battery should last a whole year before needing to be replaced.

The Body Scan will cost $279 when it goes on sale in the US later this year, although it needs to be approved by the FDA and CE first. There’s currently no word on UK pricing or availability. 

Tom Wiggins Contributor

About

Stuff's second Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.

Areas of expertise

A bit of everything but definitely not cameras.