Withings Body Smart Scale hands-on review

Weight can be a tricky thing. Keeping tabs on it might make you more motivated to stay active and fit, but at the same time putting on a couple of pounds can lead you into a downward spiral of ‘why do I bother?’. What if I told you a new scale I’m reviewing gives you the option of taking your body measurements but keeping it secret until you really want or need to know? That’s just one of the interesting features of the Withings Body Smart scale. In this review I’ll share my personal experience and time spent hands-on with this scale, show you what you’re getting with this scale, what it can measure and what makes it unique. I’ve also had huge challenges setting these scales up in the past, so I’ll let you know if anything has improved after my last disastrous experience. I’ll wrap things up with the pros and the cons and let you know if I think I can recommend this smart scale to you.

Withings Body Smart Scale hands-on review

Withings Body Smart scale: What you get/What’s in the box

When you unpack the box you’re really only getting one thing; that’s your Withings Body Smart scale. Fortunately the batteries are included, you’ll need to remove a small battery protector from underneath the battery compartment lid and once you do you should be ready to get set up.

See my hands-on personal experience with Withings Body Smart

Set up & First Use

I delayed the set up of my scale for as long as humanly possible because I was dreading it. Previous experiences with Withings products have resulted in literal hours long set up experiences and calls to customer service for help when things didn’t work correctly. I am both thrilled and flabbergasted to report that with this scale I was able to follow the in app sequence and had it connected to my phone in less than five minutes.

I did have one small glitch where once I entered my Wi-Fi network information I got an error message, but I simply clicked the try again button and it went through the second time. This is much easier than what happened to me in the previous reviews.

Then it was time to take the first measurement.

First measurement

The first time I measured myself I went to check it in the app, but I could not find any measurements under the “latest measurements tab.

Fortunately I’ve been here before so I knew what to do, but I still think this is a sad user experience that Withings could further streamline.

What you’ll need to do to begin recording your weight, is go into the small square scale icon in the top right corner of the app, known as ‘My Devices’.

Next tap Unknown Measurements. In here you will likely see the measurement you just took. You’ll need to assign this measurement to yourself as a user. So, select the measurement and then assign it to yourself, then in Latest Measurements, you should see that number.

Essentially you have to tell the scale who you are and what your weight is off the top so that it knows where to assign future weigh ins. I think this is tedious and extra steps, and is absolutely not how most other smart scales work.

Withings says that after a few measurements the scale should recognize you and begin assigning those measurements to your profile.

If you see a small person icon on the scale with an X through it it means your measurements are not being assigned to you.

I decided to take multiple measurements all in one day to try to hurry this setting along. But it didn’t seem to have much effect until after about the sixth time… after that the unknown measurements tab seemed to vanish from my app and the measurements looked like they were being recorded automatically. I also got confirmation on screen with my name, so bottom line here is if it doesn’t appear that your measurements are getting tracked in the app, monitor that unknown measurements section and weigh yourself a handful of times. That should do it.

Data & what it tracks

As one of the entry-level smart scales on Withings’ lineup, the Body Smart covers the basics you’d expect and a bit more. First off, it measures your weight, but it doesn’t stop there. It also dives into your body composition.

It can measure your visceral fat index—yeah, that’s the fat lurking around your organs. While it may not show on the mirror, it’s still crucial to keep an eye on this data as a high visceral fat index could indicate higher chances of cardiovascular diseases. It will also check your water mass.

Then, there’s your BMI (Body Mass Index) which is a simple yet effective way to gauge potential disease risk. It’s a built-in formula that takes your height, weight, and waist circumference in consideration which are all accessible through your app and from the sensors on the Body Smart scale.

It also shows you an approximation of your basal metabolic rate or the rate of calorie burn you get at rest.

The scale will also give you your heart rate. The first couple of times I took a measurement I just got a heart rate error message on the scale and nothing showed up in the app. But after about the third time it started to display my data.

Again this just illustrates to me that the Withings scale is a bit glitchy. But in all honesty these glitches, while frustrating for myself and other users, I bet, seem to resolve themselves this time which was a huge relief.

How Withings Scale works

The Withings Body Smart scale, like most smart scales, utilizes bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). It’s a widely used method for estimating body composition which operates on the principle that body fat causes greater resistance or impedance than lean body tissues when an electrical current is passed through it.
When you step on a Body Smart scale, it sends a weak electrical current through your body, while measuring its rate. It hits resistance (impedance) which primarily occurs when it hits areas of your body with fat concentration as these are typically more resistant than lean muscle mass. This system is what allows the Body Smart scale to measure your body fat percentage and visceral fat index.

Number of users

Withings Body Smart scale can keep track of up to eight users.This feature is incredibly useful for families or households where multiple people are keen on monitoring their health and fitness progress. Each user’s data is kept private and separate from others, ensuring personal metrics are only accessible to the individual to whom they belong.

Customize display

You also have the option to customize what shows up on the scales own screen. There is a tab in the my devices section which will allow you to choose what gets displayed you can just get your weight, or check in on your BMI, muscle or fat ratings, even your heart rate and get the weather too.

Battery Life and Power

The Body Smart scale takes four AAA batteries that come pre-installed. You just have to pull a plastic cover on the connections and it’ll be ready to take your weight measurements immediately. These should take about 15 months before they need replacing, depending on the frequency of use. Since I’ve only had the scale for a few weeks, I won’t be able to make a judgement about the battery life just yet.

Other modes/features

Eyes-closed mode

Withings recognizes that getting on the scale can induce anxiety so they’ve implemented what the company calls Eyes-closed Mode. When this mode is enabled, instead of displaying your weight on the scale screen, all chosen measurements are recorded and tracked within the app, allowing you to check them later. This helps in keeping people focused on their weight loss progress and not the natural day-to-day fluctuations. Instead of your weight, the Body Smart will display motivational messages to keep you engaged in your fitness journey.

Athlete mode

For people who maintain an active lifestyle or professional athletes, body composition numbers and resting heart rate numbers may be a little off compared to people with less active routines. To keep readings more accurate, Withings has set up Athlete mode, which uses a different algorithm for measuring resting heart rate and body fat composition to attenuate for different lifestyles.

Baby mode

You can also use the Body Smart scale to track your baby’s weight changes across his or her growth. To weigh your baby, you first need to weigh yourself. After your weight is displayed on the scale’s screen, you then hold your baby and step back on the scale. The scale is smart enough to calculate your baby’s weight by subtracting your weight from the combined weight. You can track the progression by adding your baby’s profile to one of the eight user profiles available in the app.

Pregnancy mode

With pregnancy mode, mothers-to-be can track their weight change throughout pregnancy. The app then shares some helpful tips depending on your progress and where you are in your pregnancy.

Overall review: Withings Body Smart scale

Overall I’m relieved to say I had a much better experience this time around. While I will want to spend some additional time with this scale to be sure, I am heartened to find things seem to be a little easier for users. Let’s go over the pros and cons. On the pro side, the scale’s design is sleek and modern, it feels durable—not like you’re going to crush some glass, and the weight seems accurate for me personally. The colour display screen which I can customize to show whichever metrics I’m most interested in looks nice and makes the experience more personal.

The scale automatically feeds data to the Withings app even if you don’t have it nearby or open on your phone. You also have the option of adding manual weights if you need to weigh in somewhere else and just want to keep things recorded in the Withings app. The scale also tracks some solid and useable data and it integrates with other health apps you might want as well.

When it comes to the downsides, I did find the scale still a touch glitchy, but nowhere near the disastrous experiences I have had with previous Withings scales. I feel like the company is doing its best to refine the user experience and make a better and more user-friendly product. I also don’t like the way you need to manually assign the first half-dozen weigh ins, and that the app doesn’t walk you though how to do this.

In short, I can recommend the Withings Body Smart scale to you if you are looking to keep better tabs on your health. This model sells for about $99USD / $149CAD and you can get it from places like Amazon or Best Buy. If this smart scale is out of your budget, I reviewed a $20 smart scale recently that absolutely blew me away. You can check that out here.

Also Read:

1. Withings Body Cardio Scale Review

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