Highly inaccurate body fat measurements (off by a factor of 2)

I am facing the same problem but no one from support replies. Very disappointed

Same problem here. My body fat measured with my previous Withings Scale always stayed stable over time around 21%. Today I installed the new Body Scan. In 4 out of 5 measurements I received an error for measuring body composition. When it finally worked it shows a fat percentage of 11%. The difference is almost 50% compared to previous readings. 🤷‍♂️

Not seeing these issues at all. The overall percentage has shifted down about 2% from 26% to 24% compared to the body cardio but the segmental shows lean legs and arms and confirms that I have a lot of belly fat which is higher than the reading from the body cardio.

Same problem here, I’m 8% body fat apparently. No way is that accurate.

Same here, Last whithing scale I had 12% of body fat, which is below that I am (around 15-17%),  With this new scale shows only 3%, maximum 5% after more than 30 times I tried. Very low %. I have some belly fat, this result it not possible, very high deviation. Even mister Olympia has more body fat than me !!!! Very disappointed.

Agree I have the Cardio and new Scan scales - using both reads a 5KG difference in fat, so far using the Scan scales i have zero trust in the readings, and the application presentation of the data is very poor.... thinking of returning Scan scales after been a withings users since the original scale over 10 years ago!

Same issue here. With the Scan Scale my Fat mass measurement is about 5-6% where in reality I have some heavy overweight… really disappointing!

I'm also finding the body composition readings to be totally innacurate. They went down from 19% through the Body Cardio scales to 14% with the Body Scan. 3D scans and pro gym equipment put me at 20+% and I was expecting the new scales to be more accurate than the previous, not less!

Can we please have some sort of confirmation that this will be fixed soon or that action is being taken? I've heard nothing from support regarding the issue.

Unfortunately I bought it and received it on 12/06/2022. Haven't found anything positive about this scale yet. Despite resetting the scales, nothing has changed, BodyScan GOES BACK

Same here. With the Body Cardio it was perhaps 5% off but now it is more than 10%, the opposite of what I would expect if a more than double price scale…

I also have a huge difference in body composition with the "Body Scan" that arrived yesterday.
Lost 6 kg of fat overnight and gained 7 kg of muscles by changing from "Body+" to "Body Scan".
"Body+" gives definitely the most reasonable value by only measuring under my soles. I thought the precision should be a lot improved  with the bar, and this is dissapointing so far. 

Check your profile on the Health Mate app, and see if you are set as "Athlete" or not.
I'm pretty active, but if I set "Athlete" ON, I'm pretty sure all the measurements are incorrect

Yes, I am fully aware of the athlete mode since I have tried it with the "body+" but it gave too low fat when on.

I will try to actively put it on and sync with the scale and then actively put it off again to see if that setting helps.

However, I thougt that the handle bar would eliminate this setting since the total body impedance is actually measured with the body scan scale.

In my case the problem was keeping my arms too close to my body. This fixed the issue and now I get rather accurate results.

I have used wihtings scale for a long time, but I'n not happy with Body Scan at all. Beside the accuracy issue that many people are commentig I have another huge point: if you weigh 3 or 4 times, one time after another (step down and step up again to weigh again) there is a a lot of difference on the results! I weighed 5 times and each time my fat increased, from 13,6Kg to 17,1Kg. Come on!! https://imgur.com/a/8KhL2LN

I also have Body Comp and Body Cardio and I weighed everyday since august. In this chart https://imgur.com/6Mw4wHl you can see that Body Cardio I had a lot of difference, wihch was much better with Body Comp and with Body Scan it is as bad as Body Cardio.

Trying to get some help from support but they are very slow and the answer is just a basic copy and paste from knowledge base about things not related to the issue.

Very disapointing considering 400€ scale!

Yes same for me. I’ve had a body + for a few years and it’s said in roughly 12% which I agree with. The body scan says I’m 3% literally 5 seconds after stepping off the body+ which says 12%. I assume 3% is the hardcoded minimum as without that you’d be dead.

I have other withings products (blood pressure monitor and the sleeping matt) and have always been fairly impressed which is why i was ok paying 450 euros (inc 50 for import into Switzerland) but so far I’m really disappointed and if it doesn’t improve or they don’t announce a patch shortly, I will send it back - which is a big hassle and I’ll still lose the import duties.

Same here Body Fat is incorrect, and that is not acceptable for a 400€ Scale.
Tried various positions with the handle and it is always about 10% and 12%

but should be around 16 -18. Hope they fix this but the software feels very Beta

Wonder if anyone from Withings will chime in here at some point...

I can't seem to open a new topic so I will ask the question here as it also considers the accuracy of the scale. 
How are you guys doing with the PWV-reading? My first reading I got a pulse wave velocity of 7,9m/s but it went up to 9,1m/s. According to the scale my vascular age is almost 6-10 years older than my biological age.   I am doing sports multiple times a week and my blood pressure is mostly ok, so I don't understand why the PWV-reading keeps going up. I even contacted my cardiologist but he told me the readings have no clinical significance and I should not worry. 

Same here, based on the Body+ scale I have a fat percentage of 17% (already low if I look myself in the mirror), but now the new one shows 10-12%! I also bought it in Switzerland and had to pay importation duties, which are not refundable. If is not going to be fixed in the next 2-weeks, I will definitely send it back.

What I found out by accident. If you put the handle on the wall bracket, it is possible to put it there incorrectly. Left and right are then interchanged. You can check it if you put the handle back to the scale. It then snaps there not magnetically in the tray! It measures then also wrong values.

As javiveras reported 2 months ago, keeping your arms away from your body solves the problem. This was also the solution here. Or keeping a shirt on, to avoid electric contact between the skin off your arms and the rest of your body. Else, you just don’t measure the resistance of you upper body and therefore have much less body fat on the screen.
But Withings should definitely put this advice in their manual and onboarding process. For me, this simple “trick” meant the difference between 3% and 23% body fat! And of course, the latter is very close to the values of my old Body Cardio. Hope this helps also for you!

The same here. 
For me, the difference between Cardio and Body Scan is around 2.5kg of fat less in Body Scan. But those results vary every time I weight myself. 
My girlfriend dropped from 22% to 13% of fat overnight by changing to Body Scan.  

anyone of you got a solution for this issue? .. I'm now also a new owner of a body scan (i also own the body cardio) and the BFA is highly dissappointing. I know that I'm very sporty and my body fat percentage is fairly low (body cardio 11.5%-12.5%) but the values of the body scan is ridiculous (4-5%). no approach seems to work for me. Reset, clothes on, feet (hands) wet, feet (hands dry), holding the handle higher or lower. Not even the activation of the athlete mode changes anything with the body scan. to me it seems that the 'athlete mode' is kind of set as a default and can't get changed.

Same issue here. With the Body Scan Scale my Fat mass measurement is about 5 to 11%. With the old body cardio my fat% is always around 16%, the same measurement using the high precision medical fat scan at hospital. Same problem occurs with my wife. I’m really disappointing! A 400€ scale must be more accurate than predecesor. will withings fix the problem?

I am experiencing exactly the same issue. I had ad a body cardio before and I decided to upgrade to body scan, I am very disappointed and I am thinking about sending it back. Anyone was able to fix this?

Here is what to do:

Gocthrough their tutorial on how to measure properly.this is super important.

Make sure the handle is correct way if it snap into place it's pointing the correct way.

If your thigh are touching each other. Then wear shorts or put something in between Ur tigh.

All 4parts (2 arm and 2 legs) must not touch any part of your body.as per the tutorial.

Hold the handler all tge way around the handle. Many just ensure their thumb is touching the metal bit. But fail to see that the handle has more metal below. So hold it firmly.

Make sure ur heels are just above the last line in the body scan.

Give a comment on your result.

Dexa 17%

10 year old withings scale 14%

Body Scan 10%

Following the tutorial to the T.  I have worn clothes and not worn clothes and I have wet my feet as described above.

The accuracy just seems terrible.

Same. The new Body Scan shows 10-11%. My older Body Cardio shows ~16%. And my recent DEXA scan shows 16.5%. I followed all the troubleshooting steps carefully. Athlete mode appears off. The product seems like a good idea, but if it's this inaccurate compared to a DEXA, it's unusable.