Withings Body Comp review

Thanks to the best smart scales, stepping on a square piece of glass can give us enormous insight into our body’s inner workings. Within mere seconds we can see not only our weight, but also our muscle mass, visceral fat levels, and even heart rate.

While lots of information is great, most of us are a little unsure of how to use it. Withings solves that problem with its new Body Comp — a state-of-the-art smart scale that measures nearly any metric you could imagine (including your nervous system health). Paired with the Withings smartphone app, Body Comp users are treated to a keen analysis of their measurements, advice on workouts and nutrition, and in-depth reports on their progress.

But all that data and guidance comes with a cost. Is this high-end smart scale worth the investment, especially when compared with the cheaper Withings Body Smart? Read our full Withings Body Comp review below. 

Withings Body Comp Review: Price and Availability

The Withings Body Comp retails for $199.99/£189.95, which is expensive even given its advanced features. 

Pricing is consistent among all the major outlets, but purchasing the Body Comp directly from Withings will get you a few complimentary extras — namely a limited edition water bottle (worth $20) and a one month subscription to Withings+ (worth $9.99).

Withings Body Comp Review: Design and Display

Like most smart scales, the Body Comp’s design is clean, sleek, and functional — its 13 inch by 13 inch square frame with rounded edges will align itself nicely with interior architecture, but won’t elicit any late-night curses if you accidentally bump into it in the dark. If your only flooring options involve thick carpet, Withings includes four carpet feet to ensure accurate results. Four sensors within the base of the scale use bioelectrical impedance to measure everything from body fat percentage to electrodermal activity and your weight within a tenth of a pound (you can elect to use kilograms or stones as unit of measurement, if preferred). 

The Body Comp’s LCD screen measures 2.5 inches by 1.75 inches, which feels a bit wider than standard. The scale I tested had a black and white display, however the Body Comp’s current tech specs list color displays, so I must have gotten an older model. It’s a minor thing, but I was surprised that the much cheaper Withings Body Smart had a color display that my Body Comp lacked. Regardless, the Body Comp’s display is bright, clear, and easy to read, and that’s the important thing — whether it’s in color or not. 

Withings Body Comp Review: Set up 

Setting up the Body Comp was pretty straightforward. After downloading the Withings app (which is called “Withings Health Mate” in the Apple App Store, FYI), you’ll be directed to create an account, provide some information on your goals, enter your WiFi credentials, and step on for your first measurement. You won’t need to do much with the scale itself except pull a small tab from the back of the battery compartment. 

Withings does a great job at offering different modes for your scale, depending on lifestyle, personal preferences, and current health considerations. For example, if you work out for more than eight hours a week and have a resting heart rate below 60 beats per minute, you’d be wise to activate “athlete” mode for a more accurate reading. An option that I’ve only seen on Withings scales is “eyes closed” mode — with this setting enabled, your scale won’t display any numbers like weight or body fat percentage, allowing you to focus on overall trends instead. As someone who used to stand backwards on the doctor’s scale, I really appreciate this mindful addition.  While “pregnancy” mode isn’t available on the Body Comp as of this review’s publication, it should be available soon. You can always choose “weight only” mode, which disables the scale’s bioelectrical impedance. 

If you do elect to display your numbers, the first one you’ll see when stepping on your Body Comp is weight, followed by weight trends (i.e., the pounds you’ve lost or gained), body fat percentage, muscle mass percentage, visceral fat level, heart rate, pulse wave velocity (or PWV, a measure of arterial stiffness), vascular age (or the estimated age of your arteries), electrodermal activity (a measure of your nervous system control via sweat gland stimulation), and the current weather and air quality. Phew. It’s a lot of information, but it’s all interesting. 

Certain metrics — specifically your PWV and your vascular age — will take five weigh-ins to produce a measurement. 

Of all the measurements the Body Comp includes, the most unique is electrodermal activity — it’s something I’ve not seen on any smart scale before. By measuring the activity of sweat gland responsiveness in your feet, your EDA score can track the effects of emotions on your body and interpret your average stress levels over time. So the Body Comp not only takes the physical parts of your health into consideration, it also takes the mental and emotional parts too.  

Withings Body Comp Review: App features

The Withings app provides a fully comprehensive look at your body composition and overall health, especially if you’ve paired it with a smartwatch that tracks fitness trends like the Apple Watch. On the home page you’ll see all the readings from your latest weigh-in, and any information that can be gleaned from other devices (like your VO2 max, called “Fitness Level” within the app). You’ll also see “Today’s Insight,” with helpful tips that relate to your specific goals. 

Navigate to the “measure” page and you’ll get categorized readings of your activity levels, body composition, heart health, and sleep data. All the information is organized and displayed clearly and organically, making it an easy way to get a quick glimpse of various metrics. 

Also helpful is the Withing app’s ability to export all data to a PDF, so that it can be shared with your doctor, health coach, or family members. 

But one aspect of the app’s offerings was somewhat confusing. The Withings website promotes a new subscription service called “Withings+” that’s supposed to offer behavior change guidance and specialized fitness “missions.” However, I couldn’t find anywhere within the Withings app to sign up for this feature. 

Even more confusing is the fact that the Body Comp’s instruction manual promotes a different service, called “Health+,” that looks roughly the same as Withings+. I couldn’t find Health+ anywhere either, though. My guess is that Withings+ is a replacement for Health+ and will be rolled out at a later date. Personally, I don’t consider this a deal breaker since Withings+ is an additional $9.99 per month and I already have a pretty solid fitness routine in place. Still, it’s something worth mentioning. 

Withings Body Comp Review: Compatibility 

According to the Withings website, the Body Comp is compatible with over 100 different health and fitness apps. I was only given the option to connect Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, and Strava, however. This wasn’t a big deal to me since I only utilize Apple Health, but again — it’s something worth mentioning. 

Withings Body Comp Review: Verdict

There’s no denying that the Body Comp is an impressive smart scale. It offers all the metrics you’ve come to expect (like body fat percentage and lean mass percentage) and goes a step further with cardiovascular and nervous system measurements that give an in-depth look at your overall wellness.

If heart health and managing stress levels are a top priority, then the Body Comp is well worth the price tag. But if you just need a scale to track basic body composition stats, then the Body Comp might be a bit overkill — the nearly identical Withings Body Smart offers all the standard measurements at half the price.