Pee and me: The gadget that turns toilets into urine labs
Withings has a new streaming platform. No, not that kind of streaming.
The health tech company announced U-Scan at CES 2023 on Tuesday. It's a smart device that analyses your pee from the comfort of your bathroom.
The pebble-shaped gadget fits in a toilet bowl and captures urine, which is then analyzed internally by cartridges that assess various biomarkers. The user can check the results through the Withings Health Mate app and share it with their doctor.
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But U-Scan isn't just for one-off urinalysis. Your pee contains a continuous treasure trove of information about your health, fitness, and fertility. Separate cartridges in the U-Scan allow you to monitor hydration, nutrition, metabolism, vitamin levels, or ovulation and menstruation. All health data is compliant with Europe's GDPR privacy regulations.
The nutrition and hydration cartridge informs the app about your hydration, your protein and vegetable intake, carbohydrate intake, and vitamin C levels using biomarkers like pH balance and ketone levels. The cycle tracking cartridge can pinpoint your menstruation cycle and ovulation window by measuring luteinizing hormone levels.
By logging what you eat and how much water you drink, the app gives you tailored recommendations for recipes and workouts.
So yes, pee journaling is now officially a thing.
If you share a bathroom with others, Withings has got you covered like a toilet seat. U-Scan's "Stream ID" feature uses radar sensors "to identify an individual's urine stream signature, by detecting the movement and distance of the stream," the company says.
Bursting to buy one? If you live in Europe, you're in luck. U-Scan will be available to buy there in early spring 2023. It's also in development for the U.S. market, pending FDA approval. The starter kit comes with a rechargeable reader and cartridge intended to last for three months, including battery life.
U-Scan is selling for 500 euros. So it's not cheap, but with all the health insights to be mined, your pee will be liquid gold.
Cecily is a tech reporter at Mashable who covers AI, Apple, and emerging tech trends. Before getting her master's degree at Columbia Journalism School, she spent several years working with startups and social impact businesses for Unreasonable Group and B Lab. Before that, she co-founded a startup consulting business for emerging entrepreneurial hubs in South America, Europe, and Asia. You can find her on X at @cecily_mauran.
