Withings is a French health-technology company specializing in connected health devices and digital health services. Founded in 2008, the company became particularly well known for combining medical and wellness measurements with consumer-friendly industrial design. Its products include smart scales, hybrid smartwatches, blood-pressure monitors, sleep trackers, thermometers, and newer at-home health-monitoring devices.

Withings sits at the intersection of consumer electronics, wearable technology and healthcare. Rather than primarily making conventional fitness trackers, Withings has built its identity around collecting health-related measurements over long periods of time and presenting them through an app and digital ecosystem.

The company’s stated mission is to create technology that people enjoy using so that better health becomes part of everyday life. It emphasizes daily measurements, prevention and long-term trends rather than isolated readings. 2

That positioning explains why Withings products often look more like normal watches, bathroom scales or household objects than traditional medical equipment.

Quick facts

2008 — Foundation

Withings was founded in 2008 in France by Éric Carreel, Frédéric Potter and Cédric Hutchings.

The founders saw an opportunity to connect ordinary household health measurements to the internet. At the time, the idea of a connected bathroom scale was relatively unusual. Withings’ approach was to take something people already used—the weighing scale—and make it capable of automatically recording and transmitting health data.

2009 — Wi-Fi Body Scale

One of the company’s breakthrough products was its Wi-Fi Body Scale, which Withings describes as its first smart scale.

This established a pattern that would become central to the company:
physical device → automatic measurement → smartphone/cloud data → long-term health trends

The scale helped establish Withings as an early pioneer in the connected-health market.

2011 — Blood-pressure monitoring

Withings expanded beyond weight with its connected blood-pressure monitor, introducing another category of traditionally clinical measurement into the consumer connected-device space.

This was an important step toward the company’s current identity as a health-technology rather than simply a fitness-device company.

2014 — Activité

Withings introduced Activité, an analog-looking smartwatch. Rather than making a watch that looked like a small computer on the wrist, Withings pursued a more traditional watch aesthetic while embedding activity-tracking functionality.

This design philosophy—conventional appearance + digital health technology—became one of the company’s defining characteristics.

2015 — Body Cardio

Withings introduced Body Cardio, a connected scale incorporating Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) measurements. The company describes it as the first smart scale featuring PWV.

This illustrates Withings’ gradual move from simply measuring weight toward measuring broader aspects of cardiovascular and metabolic health.

One of the most significant chapters in Withings’ history came in 2016. Nokia announced that it would acquire Withings in April 2016, and the acquisition was completed on May 31, 2016. 3

Nokia paid approximately €170 million for the company, according to contemporary reporting. The acquisition created a new Digital Health business within Nokia Technologies.

At the time, Withings’ portfolio already included:

• activity trackers
• smart scales
• blood-pressure monitors
• thermometers
• home and baby monitors
• connected health software

Nokia viewed Withings as a way to enter the growing digital-health market. 1

Nokia Health

Following the acquisition, the Withings business was gradually rebranded under Nokia. Products that had originally carried the Withings name became Nokia-branded health products. This period produced products such as the Nokia Steel HR, while the underlying connected-health technology continued to evolve.

However, Nokia ultimately decided that consumer digital health was not central to its long-term strategy.

In May 2018, Nokia announced that it would sell its Digital Health business back to Éric Carreel, one of Withings’ original founders.

The transaction closed on May 31, 2018. Carreel subsequently revived the Withings brand.

This is one of the more unusual stories in the consumer-electronics industry:
Withings → Nokia → Nokia Health → Withings again

The company returned to its original identity with a renewed focus on preventive health and connected health technology.

Withings’ products generally follow three principles.

1. Health measurements rather than just fitness

Companies such as Garmin, Fitbit and Apple have traditionally been strongly associated with fitness and activity tracking. Withings places relatively more emphasis on health measurements. Depending on the device, this can include:

• weight
• body-fat percentage
• muscle mass
• bone mass
• heart rate
• ECG
• blood oxygen
• sleep
• blood pressure
• vascular indicators
• body temperature
• respiratory information
• metabolic measurements

The exact capabilities depend on the specific product.

2. Long-term trends

Withings isn’t necessarily trying to tell you everything about your body from one measurement. Instead, its ecosystem is designed around seeing how measurements change over days, weeks, months and years. For example, a smart scale can become much more useful when it shows a six-month change in weight, body composition and cardiovascular indicators rather than simply saying: 72.4 kg

3. Medical technology in consumer-friendly hardware

Another defining characteristic is design. Withings tends to make products that can live in ordinary homes without looking like hospital equipment. Its current products are positioned around the idea of medical-grade or clinically oriented measurements packaged into consumer products.

Smart scales

Smart scales are arguably the product category most closely associated with Withings. The company pioneered connected scales and has progressively expanded what its scales measure. Current products include the Body Smart, Body Comp, Body Scan, BodyFit and BodyScan 2 families.

Depending on the model, measurements can include:

• body weight
• body-fat percentage
• muscle mass
• bone mass
• water
• visceral fat
• BMI
• basal metabolic rate
• cardiovascular indicators
• vascular age
• ECG
• nerve-health indicators

The higher-end Body Scan/BodyScan 2 takes this further with segmental body-composition analysis, meaning it attempts to distinguish measurements across different areas of the body.

ScanWatch

ScanWatch is Withings’ flagship smartwatch family. Its distinguishing feature is that it deliberately looks more like a traditional analog watch than an Apple Watch or conventional full-screen smartwatch. Depending on the model, ScanWatch can provide functions such as:

• ECG
• heart-rate monitoring
• irregular-heart-rhythm notifications
• blood-oxygen measurements
• sleep tracking
• temperature tracking
• activity tracking
• workout tracking

The current ScanWatch 2 is positioned as a health-focused hybrid smartwatch with an emphasis on long battery life. The design philosophy is essentially: traditional watch + discreet digital display + health sensors. This is one of the biggest ways Withings differentiates itself from Apple, Samsung and many mainstream smartwatch manufacturers.

ScanWatch Nova

The ScanWatch Nova represents Withings’ attempt to move its hybrid health-watch concept further toward the luxury-watch market. It retains the analog-watch aesthetic while incorporating advanced health-monitoring capabilities. This reflects an important part of Withings’ brand strategy: Health technology doesn’t necessarily have to look like technology. Instead of asking consumers to wear a futuristic-looking computer, Withings tries to make its health technology resemble something they would already want to wear.

Blood-pressure monitors

Withings also produces connected blood-pressure monitors such as BPM Connect and BPM Vision. These devices are designed to make blood-pressure monitoring easier to perform regularly at home. This is particularly relevant to Withings’ preventive-health philosophy because blood pressure is a measurement that can be useful when tracked repeatedly over time.

Sleep technology

Sleep is another major part of the Withings ecosystem. The company has developed products designed to monitor sleep without requiring the user to wear a device. Its history includes the Sleep under-mattress sleep analyzer, which Withings identifies as its first under-mattress sleep analyzer. This is another example of its philosophy of making health tracking relatively passive. Instead of saying “Remember to track your sleep,” the product attempts to make sleep monitoring something that happens automatically while you sleep.

BeamO

One of Withings’ newer concepts is BeamO, a compact multi-function health-monitoring device. Withings describes it as a “MultiScan” device designed to combine several types of health measurements into a single handheld device. The broader idea is to bring several traditionally separate health checks into the home. It represents Withings’ move beyond individual products toward a more comprehensive at-home health-check ecosystem.

U-Scan

Withings has also entered urine analysis through its U-Scan platform. The idea is to turn a normally inconvenient health measurement into something that can be performed automatically at home. Current offerings include U-Scan Nutrio and U-Scan Calci, with applications related to nutrition and kidney-health monitoring. This is a significant indication of where Withings sees connected health going: from tracking activity → to measuring physiological signals → toward continuous preventive health monitoring.

Withings Health Mate

The hardware is only half of the Withings ecosystem. The other major component is its software platform, historically centered around the Health Mate application. The app brings together information collected by Withings devices and allows users to view trends across areas such as:

• weight
• body composition
• heart health
• sleep
• activity
• blood pressure
• other health measurements

This is crucial to Withings’ business model because the value isn’t simply in owning a smart scale or watch. The larger proposition is: many devices → one health profile → long-term data → insights

Withings+

Withings has also developed a subscription service called Withings+. It builds on the company’s hardware ecosystem with additional features such as personalized insights, health trajectories and guidance. This reflects a broader shift in consumer health technology: hardware sale → ongoing software/service relationship. In other words, Withings increasingly isn’t simply a company selling devices. It is attempting to build a long-term digital health platform around those devices.

Withings Health Solutions

Withings also operates a business-oriented division called Withings Health Solutions. This side of the company works with healthcare organizations and other partners, providing connected devices and remote-monitoring technology. Its proposition is particularly relevant to remote patient monitoring. For example, rather than requiring a patient to repeatedly visit a medical facility to provide measurements, connected devices can potentially collect information at home and transmit it to healthcare teams. Withings says its Health Solutions business has more than 15 years of expertise and more than 1 million users.

The easiest way to understand Withings is to compare its philosophy with other categories.

These are broad characterizations rather than strict boundaries; there is substantial overlap. Withings’ distinctive territory is arguably: “Medical-style measurements presented as beautifully designed consumer products.”

Design language

Design is unusually important to Withings. The company’s products tend to emphasize:

• minimalist European styling
• conventional physical forms
• relatively discreet displays
• premium materials on higher-end products
• integration into the home
• long-term usability

The ScanWatch is perhaps the clearest example. It doesn’t scream “fitness tracker.” It can look like an ordinary analog watch while quietly collecting health information. That design philosophy dates back to the company’s early products and remains central to its identity.

Medical positioning

A particularly important distinction is that “health technology” does not automatically mean “medical device.” Withings has both regulated and non-regulated products, and the precise medical capabilities, approvals and intended uses vary by product and market. The company emphasizes clinically oriented and medical-grade data in its marketing, but users should always distinguish between:

• a wellness measurement,
• a medically validated measurement,
• a device that is legally authorized for a specific medical purpose, and
• an actual medical diagnosis.

A Withings device is therefore best thought of as a health-monitoring tool, not automatically a replacement for a doctor.

Withings essentially operates across several layers:

Hardware

It sells connected devices such as watches, scales and blood-pressure monitors.

Software

Its app aggregates the resulting health information.

Subscription

Withings+ adds additional software, insights and services.

Healthcare / enterprise

Withings Health Solutions provides connected-health technology to healthcare organizations and partners.

This creates a model that goes beyond one-time electronics sales.

A simplified timeline looks like this:

• 2008 — Withings founded.
• 2009 — Wi-Fi Body Scale introduced.
• 2011 — Connected blood-pressure monitor.
• 2014 — Activité hybrid/analog smartwatch.
• 2015 — Body Cardio with Pulse Wave Velocity.
• 2016 — Nokia acquires Withings.
• 2016–2017 — Products transition toward Nokia branding.
• 2018 — Éric Carreel buys Nokia’s Digital Health business and revives Withings.
• 2019 — Move ECG introduced.
• 2020 — ScanWatch introduced with ECG, heart-rate and oximetry capabilities.
• 2020s — Expansion into advanced body composition, sleep, remote health monitoring and at-home diagnostics.
• 2024 onward — Expansion into products such as BeamO, U-Scan and newer-generation scales and watches.

As of 2026, Withings’ product ecosystem spans several major areas:

Wearables

• ScanWatch 2
• ScanWatch Nova
• ScanWatch Light

Body composition

• Body Smart
• Body Comp
• Body Scan
• BodyFit
• BodyScan 2

Cardiovascular

• BPM Connect
• BPM Vision

Sleep

• Sleep-related monitoring products

At-home health

• BeamO
• U-Scan

Software

• Health Mate
• Withings+

The Singapore store currently lists products across watches, scales, blood-pressure monitors and other health devices, including ScanWatch 2, ScanWatch Nova, Body Comp, BodyScan 2, BPM Connect, BPM Vision, BeamO and U-Scan. 4

If you had to summarize Withings in one sentence: Withings is a French connected-health company that tries to turn everyday objects—watches, scales and home devices—into unobtrusive tools for continuous preventive health monitoring.

Its strongest brand characteristics are:

• 🇫🇷 French/European identity
• 🎨 strong industrial design
• ❤️ health rather than purely fitness
• 🩺 medical and clinically oriented measurements
• 📈 long-term health trends
• 📱 connected-device ecosystem
• 🏠 at-home monitoring
• 🔬 increasing emphasis on preventive health
• 🧠 software-driven health insights

The company’s history is also unusually interesting because it went from independent French startup → Nokia subsidiary → independent company again, with its original founder returning to lead the revived brand.

Withings is best understood not as simply a smartwatch or smart-scale company, but as a connected-health platform company. Its original breakthrough was making a Wi-Fi-connected bathroom scale. Over roughly two decades, that idea evolved into a broader ecosystem covering body composition, cardiovascular health, sleep, activity, temperature, ECG, blood pressure and at-home physiological measurements. The long-term ambition is considerably bigger than “count your steps”: make routine health measurements part of everyday life and use accumulated data to help people detect trends earlier and manage their health more proactively. That preventive-health philosophy remains central to how Withings describes itself today.

1. Nokia plans to acquire Withings to accelerate entry into Digital Health
2. Official Withings website
3. Nokia completes the acquisition of Withings
4. Smart devices to improve your health | Withings