The Withings Pulse Facebook photo contest

To enter the contest, click on the image above or click here.

It started yesterday, the 18th of June 2013, and there are already 10 contestants! There is a rather big chance that this won’t stay that way. For the moment the submission with most votes has 9 of them. Nothing you can’t beat

#TakeYourPulse: the first contestants

Firstly, we’d like to thank the Withingers who participate in our contests and interact with us on social networks. Thank you! Now that this has been said, let’s look at the 10 images uploaded so far.

Xavier Kern “Real heart rate imagery”

Mike Mcmillon “I love my Withings”

Linas Purinis “Miracle of Love”

Romain Malo “Love the Withings Pulse”

Cyril Jazruc “At the beach”

Vanessa Dubé “I love Withings”

Markus Simmerlein “Snowflake”

Ula La “Pulse <3 BSB”

David Roble “Heart You”

Dan Morton “Happy right through my heart”

We love the interaction so please add us and like us on social networks

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Google+
• LinkedIn

This is what you will see once you have submitted your photo…

Learn more about the Withings Pulse.

What does the Withings Pulse do?

The Withings Pulse is a smart tracker designed to monitor your activity 24/7, measure your heart rate and improve your health.

• See how active you really are and compare it to the World Health Organization‘s “10,000 steps a day” recommendation to stay healthy.
  
• Analyze your sleep (see how long you sleep, how long it takes you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up and the different deep and light sleep cycles). For this the Withings Pulse comes with a sleep wristband.
  
• Measure your instant heart rate. Place you finger on the back and wait a few seconds. Ta-da! Discover your pulse!

How can such a small device change things big time?

Many who try to be more careful with their weight give up after some time. Most of the time this is due to a shortage of motivation. By sparing your motivation the Withings Pulse and the free Health Mate app will help you keep you good resolutions and care more for what you care for. The Pulse will show you that small changes in your daily habits – like walking to the grocery store or running that extra mile – can have big effects. Forget setting yourself unachievable targets. Let the Withings health tracking solution and ecosystem show you the way to healthy. The day you start tracking, and decide to stop guessing, you will benefit from accurate data and relevant insights to achieve the lifestyle change you’ve been longing for.

What can you learn from self health tracking ?

By comparing your activity, sleep and weight history, you will be more aware of how you body works. Use the Health Mate app to log you food too (thanks to MyFitnessPal). You will see how sleep impacts your weight (ex.: lack of sleep eases weight gain), how your afternoon coffee prevents you from falling asleep, how the quality of your sleep is improved when you exercise the previous day… Look at the in-app graphs: see the trends, see the peaks and troughs, see the correlations, see how long you REALLY slept Our app will let you know where you’re at and what to do to be healthy, through relevant tips and reminders, directly on your smartphone or tablet.

How do I use the Withings Pulse?

1. Step one: collecting the data

The Pulse was designed to follow you through your day, and even through your nights. The goal is to have a clear image of your activity or lack of activity, but also to know if you sleep enough and the quality of those Zzzzs.

Take the Pulse with you at all times. Drop it in your pocket or in you bag. If you’re lightly dressed or don’t have pockets – no problem! – fit the Pulse in its silicone-metal clip and wear it anywhere you want.

At night, place the Pulse in the sleep wristband and launch the sleep analysis – you’ll wake up to a rich graph highlighting key sleep indicators inside the Health Mate app!

2. Step two: syncing with the Health Mate app

The Withings Pulse automatically syncs to your smartphone or tablet throughout the day. The data is then available in the dedicated web and mobile apps (iOS and Android). Your activity data is now searchable whenever and wherever you need it.

2. Step three: see the patterns

The free Withings Health Mate app takes those raw numbers and turns them into easy to read graphs showing trends. You can also visualize your day-to-day progress, which is great to stay motivated. With the Pulse and the Health Mate app you now have the right tools to understand how your body works, make good decisions accordingly and get healthy.

Why do people want the Withings Pulse?

Hi there… My wife and I are 41 + 50 respectively… and dedicated speed-walkers/runners… for health purposes.  We would love to get pulses to be the first to sport in Canada and to share with our friends.  We track all on Withings now and this and huge added bonus to monitor our well-being!  Take care.

Russ & Angela (Canada)

I’d like one to kick start my fitness again. I have a withings scale and find it great for tracking weight and fat mass. However an accident last year meant a broken rib and chipped neck vertebrae meaning my weight has ballooned and fitness is poor. I’m just starting out walking 3 miles a day to the train station and back for commuting and looking to start jogging with an aim to run the London Marathon next year, having completed it in 2010. This would be great for tracking my return to fitness and a great bonus to my life.

Andy Jones

I have been looking at body/fitness trackers for a while, and was super excited to see the Pulse!  I cant wait to try it!  The heart rate monitor makes it a standout with its competition!! I cant wait!

Valerie Sanchez (San Diego, CA, USA)

I would love a Pulse! The tracking really interests me. The Pulse would go well with the data I get from my Withings WiFi scale. A few months ago I decided to do something about my weight.  My BMI had just pushed me into the “Obese” range.  I found myself unable to keep up with my 6-year-old daughter, and this depressed me.  So, I decided to do something about it! I bought a Withings scale (not the latest one with the air quality monitor – it wasn’t available yet) and started changing my diet and my exercise routine.  I LOVE that I can see my weight go down on a graph, and my body fat percentage drop as well. I would LOVE to have a Pulse to track my steps, distance, sleep, and especially my heart rate when I work out. So, that is why I would love a Pulse!

Michael Wells

I’d like the Withings Pulse because I am ADDICTED to tracking fitness!! I love my Withings scale and love tracking my weight and fat percentage on it. I use Fitocracy to track my workouts and MyFitnessPal to track my food. I tried the Fitbit Flex but was not thrilled with it’s lack of of integration to other trackers. I love tracking but not spending my whole life tracking. That’s not healthy The Withings pulse being integrated into the Withings app on my phone will make adding yet another layer of fitness tracking into my already obsessive tracking regimen super easy with no added hassle!

Gregg Keefer (Jacksonville, FL, USA)

I already have the WiFi scale and would love to try out the Pulse Tracker.  I am on my feet all day work and would love to see how much energy I actually use!  Thanks and keep up the good work!

Tom Mikl (Eustis, FL, USA)

I have used practically every brand of step tracker out there, and while they seem to get the job done, my Withings scale has been the absolute best product in my getting in shape arsenal. I can only imagine the care and quality you have put into the Withings Pulse product. I am highly anticipating the release of the Pulse, and can’t wait to hear more!

Matt Mueller

I have both a Withings Blood Pressure Monitor, and Smart Body Analyzer, I have used a FitBit, then a Jawbone UP, but would love to be able to keep all my health data in one place, I have already had a HUGE change in my lifestyle and weight in just the few short weeks with the Smart Body Analyzer (I am down 10 pounds on my way to my goal of losing 50 pounds). Prior to buying my Smart Body Analyzer I had decided to go for gastric bypass surgery, but after seeing a Smart Body Analyzer in action and the knowledge of the upcoming Pulse I decided to take control of my health and forego the surgery and lose it by using Withings products to keep me accountable. I truly get excited to weigh in every morning to see my progress.I can only imagine it getting better by adding a Pulse to the mix. Thanks for making such great products!

Jeremiah Owen

I would love a Pulse! I have recently gone from overweight mom to fit dance / bootcamp instructor! I love my job, but I also love setting a good example for the students at the studio! One of the things I’ve been trying to really highlight is that health is not just about the number on the scale, or how you look in clothes – it’s about weight, performance, nutrition and quality sleep. I’m amazed how some of our women will take the time out of their day to get a 1 hour workout, but when I talk to them about getting better sleep, they don’t think it’s a priority. The Pulse would be a great tool to show how all facets of health work together. Thanks!

Jen Thompson

 

Hey Withings-Team! I just wanted to thank you for your work. I think Withings is one of the few QS-Companies that give the possibility to export data wherever you want. I’d love to try out your new Pulse as well, because I expect the same quality as the scale already has. Hopefully you learned from the market and the pros and cons of the devices of your competitors and present a good product! As a customer you have the feeling that you listen to our needs – especially the support on Facebook sometimes is faster than you could expect. So go on with that good work in Europe! Best regards from Germany.

Thomas Hummel (Germany)

 

Enter our Facebook photo contest

There are 10 Pulses at stake! Click here!

It’s easy and you could win your Pulse

What is indoor air pollution?

The World Health Organization lists several chemicals that are commonly responsible for indoor air pollution:

• benzene,
• carbon monoxide,
• formaldehyde,
• naphthalene,
• nitrogen dioxide,
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
• radon,
• trichloroethylene,
• tetrachloroethylene.

As these substances are present in our homes, affect health and are known to often exceed healthy levels, it is important to monitor indoor air quality. But how do you do it?

Where does indoor air pollution come from?

The ready-to-assemble furniture that you just bought, your brand new carpet, the paint job you did last week-end, the spring-cleaning… In these cases gases and particles are released into the air. And according to United States Environmental Protection Agency they are “the primary cause of indoor air quality problems in homes.”

Here are some examples of sources:

• Smoking (tobacco or any other products that you burn);
• Building materials,
• Asbestos,
• High levels of humidity,
• Pressed wood products (not all of them though),
• Household cleaning and home improvement products (including solvents),
• Central heating and cooling systems,
• And of course: outdoor air!

But the EPA also mentions something really interesting:

“Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. High temperature and humidity levels can also increase concentrations of some pollutants.”

Indoor air is a soup?

Of course the levels at which each substance is present indoors can change over time, but their interactions vary too! A given pollutant will be more or less hazardous for your health, depending on the presence and the concentration of other polluting substances. The “ingredients” of your indoor air’s “recipe” are too unstable and unpredictable to try to monitor and act upon each level separately. This underlines even more the importance of opening the windows regularly.

When should I ventilate?

We know that when pollutants reach high concentrations they cause health problems. The time at which they become unhealthy depends mostly on how well isolated your home is, but even if you live in a house full of drafts you should care about the indoor air quality: pollutants can build up even in this case because of certain weather conditions!

Without any monitoring, you just don’t know for sure when it’s important to ventilate… Even if you have the habit of opening the windows each morning after waking up, it’s still interesting to monitor CO2 levels all through the day.

How does indoor air pollution affect my health?

Some of the bad effects of being exposed to poor air quality indoors can be felt right away, others will take years to develop. Some will only occur after a long, repeated exposure, and some will happen only when you are in contact of the pollutant and stop as soon as you are not exposed anymore.

At very high level, carbon dioxide may deteriorate sleep quality, cause headaches and even more serious health issues. If your indoor air quality is bad (but not horrific!), you could have headaches and you will most likely feel some kind of fatigue: your nights are not as restorative as they could be. And even if your indoor air quality is “almost good”, you just won’t get the most out of your sleep.

Let the Smart Body Analyzer show you the invisible!

As the carbon dioxide level is a good indicator of the presence of air contaminants (and thus of the indoor air quality), we equipped the Smart Body Analyzer (WS-50) with sensors that automatically perform a carbon dioxide and temperature measurement every 30 minutes.

Carbon dioxide and temperature readings are synced with the Withings Health Mate application each time you weigh, and also automatically at least one time a day if you don’t weigh. An air quality chart showing your home’s recent air quality trend is also displayed by the scale when you weigh.

Testimonials

After RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal, here are some more testimonials of Withings users, who combine our devices with a partner app to create the personalized health tracking solution that best suits their needs. This time we’re talking about LoseIt!. Are you into calorie tracking? Weight loss? Working on your fitness? Trying to log your trainings? “There’s an app for that™”, as Apple’s catchphrase says. Thank you John, Marc and Courtney for sharing your experience

I started my fitness journey in January 2011, but didn’t get my scale until December that year. I started using the LoseIt app just before I got rid of my FitBit, about April 2012 or so. One of the reasons I chose it was the Withings integration.

The interface is easy to use and intuitive, and the barcode scanner makes adding new foods simple.

The Withings tie-in is really great, because you can set goals within the app: when you weigh yourself, the app syncs with the Withings site data and adjusts your calorie requirements automatically. This has been great for making sure that I’m on track and not exceeding my calories for any given day.

Thanks again for offering such an awesome suite of products; really looking forward to the Activity Monitor coming out soon!

John Bergquist, Philomath (OR), USA.

My Withings scale has been a life changer. Normal/traditional scales don’t record your progress and give you a visual depiction of your success. The Withings scale does. Paired with the LoseIt! app, they guide my tracking of weight, body fat, and overall health.

I also use the Withings Blood Pressure Monitor, Zeo sleep monitor and Runkeeper and have seen tremendous results and improvement in all aspects of my health.

Cannot wait for the new Activity Tracker to help consolidate the Zeo and Runkeeper. Less is better.

Only a couple of minor requests, bring the LoseIt! nutrition tracking and Lumosity Brain Trainer into the mix to complete the entire picture of health, physical and mental well-being, the butterfly has the space.

Your products have been an amazing part of my transformation from a 350 lb ex-NFL lineman to a 270 lb happy and healthy husband and dad.

Many thanks and keep up the good work.

Marc Lamb, USA.

Explore the Withings ecosytem

You may be using your Withings scale each day and enjoying the trend you see towards your weight goal. Or perhaps you check your blood pressure before, during and after exercise, to track it with the Withings app.

These are great, standard uses of the Withings range of products. But a growing number of people are taking it to a whole new level and connecting with other devices and services to find much more insight than the trend line.

More than 100 partner apps

Through partner apps, such as RunKeeper, LoseIt and MyFitnessPal, people are able to connect their body data, found through Withings devices, and map this against their sporting activity, daily steps or food intake.
Want to read some testimonials from Withingers using these partner apps? Click here!

See the matrix behind the data

This way people are able to see true insights. They can identify causes and effects, seeing where certain types of food have triggered a weight increase, or which sporting activity achieves the best results in the time you have available to work out in.

Insight is the reason we choose to self-track. After all, why else would we quantify our lives if not to learn from the body data we create. It helps us become healthier, more efficient and live longer, happier lives.

But how about taking it one step further? How about using the connected devices to automate your life – to create an ambient lifestyle to which cause and effect takes place without the need for you as a middle-man.

Triggers, causality links and the automated life

Using the service IFTTT (if this, then that), you can connect your Withings devices to services that are in no way related to digital health, but are integral parts of your lives.

For example, you could set up your coffee machine to automatically turn on and start brewing as soon as you do your daily weigh in. A simple process, sure, but one that takes us one step further towards an ambient world.

Using IFTTT you can connect to email, text messaging, DropBox and Google Drive, or even Philips Hue – a connected lighting device – or WeMo Switch, the device which allows you to turn on and off devices based on triggers such as your weigh in or meeting goals.

Weave your own customized health tracking solution

Imagine, you could set up ‘recipes’ (as they are referred to) to email your partner if you have put on weight, or share to Facebook if you reach your weight goal. Perhaps after putting on weight, the lighting in your home turns to a shade of blue – a colour which is suggested to supress your appetite.

“Perhaps after putting on weight, the lighting in your home turns to a shade of blue – a colour which is suggested to supress your appetite.”

Click on this image to learn more about the Smart Body Analyzer, the one-stop health tracking scale.

Withings partner apps and IFTTT recipes for all your needs

The possibilities truly are endless. With over 100 partner apps connecting to your Withings devices and over 127 published IFTTT ‘recipes’ that work through your Smart Body Analyzer or Wireless Scale, or through the Withings Blood Pressure Monitor, you can automate your life and identify key learnings in which you can also improve your life. So if you thought your scales were pretty cool for just connecting to your home WiFi and sending your information to the cloud, you’ll be blown away at what you can do with partner apps and IFTTT.com!

A guest post by David Clare

Check out this video of the Google I/O conference.

“I recently got a scale, and it measures air quality. And uploads it to the internet. That’s amazing!”

So now you know: Google Glass or Smart Body Analyzer? Larry got both!

 
 
More about the Smart Body Analyzer

- Here’s an article listing 15 reasons to get a Smart Body Analyzer
- We’re running a contest on our Facebook page. There are 3 Smart Body Analyzers at stake! Click on the “WS-50 Quizz” tab or click here. Note: it’s a Europe-only contest.
- Why do the Health Mate app and the Withings scale constitute the easiest weight tracking solution?
- Learn how you can make the most of your Withings scale, with IFTTT: +100 recipes to customize your usage.

How to most likely win a Smart Body Analyzer?

Here are a few hints on how to put all chances on your side. Remember that this quiz is Europe-only. Several aspects have to be optimal in order to earn you one of the 3 WS-50 at stake…

1. Have the right answer

Of course you must choose the right answer. So if you don’t know anything about this question, maybe you should watch the following video:

2. Be fast!

Finding the right answer isn’t all. As you will notice when entering the quiz, you are timed! The faster you answer the better. Prepare your answer. Be ready to scan the submission screen with your eyes to locate the box that should be checked, and submit your answer. Provided that your answer is correct it will give you more chances to win

3. Go viral

Each new person entering the “WS-50 Quizz” on your invitation will earn you extra points. Share the link to the quiz and ask your friends to support you by liking our Facebook page and entering the “WS-50 Quizz”.

4. Persevere

The quiz runs for a few days so don’t forget to keep on inviting new friends. It is often in the last hours that the battle is on between the Top 5 contestants

The Prizes

There are 3 of our brand new flagship scales at stake. This means that when the curtain falls on this quiz the 3 contestants with the most points will receive a Smart Body Analyzer WS-50.

Get started now! See you on our Facebook page.

Testimonial #1

I saw your call for Withingers who use the MyFitnessPal app to share their experience. Interestingly enough yesterday marked my second anniversary of using MyFitnessPal. I have been using it religiously for 730 days.

In May 02, 2011 soon after using MyFitnessPal, I weighed 103.4 kg (228 lbs). By September 17, 2011, I had dropped to 88.5 kg (195 lbs) by only using MyFitnessPal and tracking my calories in take and recording my calories burnt.

Around the same time I also started using the Withings app to record my weight. It was only about a year ago I finally managed to save enough to buy myself a Withings smart scale.

After two years I have managed to keep the weight off and pick up cycling as a sport that I enjoy immensely.

By the way in 2002, I used to weight 134 kg (295 lbs). I had given up on being able to lose weight. All I have to say to anyone who want to lose weight is that never give up! Anyone can lose weight but there is no quick fix. Here are some tips:

1. Track your weight,
2. Track you calorie in take,
3. Track your calories expenditure.

Today my weight control strategy hinges around the MyFitnessPal app, the Withings smart scale. I was introduced to Withings via MyFitnessPal.

A testimonial sent by Tooraj Enayati (Melbourne, Australia)

Testimonial #2

I’ve been using MyFitnessPal off and on for a few years. I have just gotten serious about it and am tracking a mainly paleo diet. I use my Withings scale and am tracking weight and fat loss everyday!

I love the pairing of the two apps. I just wish my Withings app would take activity information from MyFitnessPal.

Also, maybe an activity/sleep tracker that doesn’t have a monthly/yearly cost. I was using BodyMedia, but it didn’t seem worth the subscription price for a glorified pedometer.

Anyway, I have lost 20lbs in 3 weeks and the scale reads a lower number everyday! I know my weight loss will slow down once my body gets used to the diet, but I love seeing this on a graph on Withings and MyFitnessPal!

Thank you for an awesome product!

A testimonial sent by Amanda Kincaid

Testimonial #3

I do indeed and using Withings with MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper and BodyMedia has really helped get control of my exercise and food intake. I write down everything that I eat and it helps me make much better choices about the types of foods I choose, since it provides so much detail on what I eat. It probably helps that I am a gadget freak. I am a quarter of the way I need to be in terms of weight and fitness but worlds better than I was on February 1 of this year.

A testimonial sent by Steven Murphy

I started using MyFitnessPal to track my calories at the beginning of this year. I was tracking my weightloss obsessively as I was trying to drop about 30-40 pounds in 6 months for my wedding this June. While I weighed in on my old school scale every day I only liked updating MFP once a week so I could see dramatic drops from week to week.

After awhile that stopped working for me. My fiance had been talking about how he wished there was a way to track his weight from day to day to see trends over time without actually having to weigh in, and go to his computer and manually enter his weight in some program and graph his results.

 

I did take a minor break from the diet (and tracking my calories in MFP!) when I tried my wedding dress on and was very happy with the way it looked but my break has slowly gone from “maintaining” to slowing gaining over time. Thanks to the My Withings page I’ve been able to see the average weight trend line slowly creeping up. I’m happy to say that I’m back on track with tracking my calories in and calories burned in MyFitnessPal and that trend line is heading back down!

We also have integrated other apps into MyFitnessPal to track our daily activity but we really want to wear an activity tracker to get a better handle on our calories in vs calories out. We are anxiously awaiting the Withings Activity Tracker so we can maintain our weight after the wedding this summer!

UP is a wristband + app, that helps you understand how you sleep, move and eat so you can make smarter choices and feel your best.

Starting today, you can connect your Withings scale (any model) to your UP account. Every time you step on your scale, your weight will be incorporated within your UP app, automatically.

To connect your scale, update the iOS UP app to the latest version and click “Apps” within the left menu. Locate Withings and tap it to start the process.

If you have a scale and an UP wristband, be sure to try it out and tell your friends about it!

Here is a testimonial sent in by James Bell, a UK-based Withinger. He describes how he lost a good amount of weight thanks to his Withings scale and his new found passion. If you feel like supporting us, please send us your testimonial, at community@withings.com! It really means a lot to us.

September 2011, I stepped on the scales for the first time in over 5 years. I knew I was overweight, probably clinically obese by professional standards. I stepped on the scales and watched the arrow spin past the 15, then the 16, then the 17 and finally landed on 18st 7lbs…

Reality check

Standing on the scales seeing the reality of the problem I knew that I needed to make a change, I was sick of being overweight, tired of being tired due to the excess mass I was carrying and determined to make a change in my life. Two things have helped me make that change, my love of technology and my new found love for running.

One mile

After seeing a TV advert for sport relief I decided to set myself a challenge of running a single mile. One mile, that’s not that far right, I could probably do that now I tried I thought… so I did, I laced up my trainers and went out with the aim of running a mile, I didn’t go well. I had barely broken into a stride when I felt my entire body fighting against me. My chest hurt, my heart was racing, my breath was fast and gasping and my legs were straining under the weight of carrying my overweight frame. I did complete the mile that day via a mixture of running and walking but it had highlighted to me just how unfit I really was.

A lifestyle change

If I was going to get serious about this change in lifestyle. I was going to have to do it the only way I knew how, I was going to have to get geeky! I had already installed Runkeeper so that was the running tech sorted but now I needed something to track my weight and standard bathroom scales just weren’t going to cut the mustard.
That’s when I discovered the Withings Wi-Fi scales, I had found the perfect set of scales for me. The technology instantly appealed to me, knowing that I could very quickly and effortlessly collect all the data I needed without having to do anything other than just standing on the scales.

A few months into my lifestyle changes I started using the Withings scales and by this point I had lost just over 2 stone. Over the next month I carried on running and by the end of the month I was able to run just over 3 miles without stopping!

Stay motivated

Seeing the numbers on the scales slowly reduce was a massive boost and soon I began to look forward to stepping on them and seeing the progress I was making. This change in attitude was a massive part of what I have achieved so far. After completing the goal of running a single Sport Relief mile (I actually did 3 events in the one day, 2 x 3 mile events and a 1 mile event), I was hooked. Running has become a massive part of my life and so I decided to set myself a two year long challenge.

Set yourself goals

The original idea was to take part in as many running events as I possibly within 2 years, ranging from 5K’s to half marathons. Whilst I have stuck to that I also decided to set myself another challenge… to complete a marathon by the end of 2013!

Sync apps!

Throughout 2012 I completed numerous 10K’s and my first half marathon and it was during my training for these that I discovered I could link up my Runkeeper and Withings accounts. This meant that Runkeeper would automatically update my weight and body fat every time I weighed myself enabling me to get much more accurate information on the number of calories I burned during a run.

Achieve your goals

I’m happy to report that on April 21st I completed my goal of finishing a marathon when I stepped over the finish line of the London Marathon in a time of 4:55:15 and I’m even doing another one, Yorkshire Marathon, later on in the year.

Over the past two years I have lost over 100lbs (8st+) and I have never been in better shape. If you want to read more about what I have achieved over the last two years take a look at my Just Giving page. To close I would just like to say a massive thank you to Withings, your product truly has helped change my life. Thank you.

James Bell (UK)