Need accurate readings of your blood pressure from the comfort of your home? There’s an app, and monitor, for that.

With an increase in mobile health solutions, it is becoming clear that the connectivity that cellular technology provides can help in monitoring health and well-being. With a recent $30 million investment into its coffers, French connected health company, Withings, has a range of health solutions available. The Withings Blood Pressure Monitor is one such product, with others being a Smart Body Analyser that measure not only your weight but also body composition, heart rate and air quality.

The big benefit

With an accuracy of ±3 mmHG or 2% of the reading, the Blood Pressure Monitor provides an easy way for individuals to keep track of their heart rate. The benefits off the Withings are twofold. Firstly, it’s dead easy to setup and works directly of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, with measurements taking place electronically via the cuff oscillometric method.

Users wrap the monitor around their arm, connect the Withings to their device and start the app. Measurement is done with a little motor that starts inflating the strap tied around one’s arm up until the pressure sensor can take a reading. This process doesn’t take more than a few minutes and is painless.

The second important part is what happens after measurement has taken place. All readings are automatically captured on your device and can be easily sent to a doctor via email through the app. It is also saved online to be accessed via the web, while the app uses graphs to show your blood pressure over time, making it easy to spot trends. Readings in the morning and evening are also represented separately.

In case more than one member of the family uses the monitor on the same device, users can set up individual profiles not to get mixed up.

To the point

With a retail price of R2 505 at the Orange online store the Withings  Blood Pressure Monitor is not cheap but also not a massive investment if you need accurate blood pressure reading from the convenience of your home. 

Article first appeared in TechSmart 121, available to read or download here.