Nokia Body Cardio Scale Ditching Arterial Health Measurements

Do you own the Nokia Body Cardio scale? We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but your smart bathroom scale is about to get a little dumber.

Nokia is getting rid of the Body Cardio's Pulse Wave Velocity feature, which estimates your arterial health.

"We brought the Pulse Wave Velocity feature to a home scale for the first time with Body Cardio," Nokia wrote in a support note. "We are now learning its capabilities in the area of measurement of pulse wave velocity may require a different level of regulatory approval. In light of this, the decision was made to turn off the pulse wave velocity feature." This change will not affect any of the scale's other features.

Nokia plans to disable the feature in an upcoming update, and users will not be able to opt out. Right now, there's no plan to bring it back in the future.

Nokia has also stopped shipping the Body Cardio for now. The company said it intends to resume shipping the device, sans the Pulse Wave Velocity feature, in the coming months.

In PCMag's review of the Body Cardio, we found the Pulse Wave Velocity feature "very difficult to use." Overall, however, the scale earned an "excellent" rating, nabbing props for its design, "accurate weight readings," and more.

Nokia said it will be emailing Body Cardio customers about this change, and giving them the option to return the product for a refund.

Pulse Wave Velocity data will soon no longer be available via the Health Mate app or website, but users can download it as a CSV file, for the time being. To download your Pulse Wave Velocity data, log in to the Health Mate Online Dashboard, select the user icon on the top right side of the page, select Settings, select the appropriate user, and select Download My Data.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade.

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes.

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app.

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth.

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light.

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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