You have full control over what information the Aura app can read from your phone or write to it. Using the normal sync to Apple Health, you might want to enable everything except, perhaps, the ability of Aura to write your weight to the phone. You can share scan results on your social media. Regularly sharing your progress can motivate people to keep up with their program due to the social accountability it brings. Sync Health Info On Your Phone Other than automatically taking a reading and some explanatory notes to the data, the other information on the watch is the result of the latest scan. Created by an international group of passionate and bold inventors, engineers and scientists committed to changing the worlds of health and fitness, the AURA Strap 2 improves upon the first generation of the device by delivering better fit, additional functionality and an enhanced user experience: We’re excited to announce that the AURA Devices R&D team has completed extensive testing of the AURA Strap 2, the advanced Apple Watch replacement band that measures your body composition and hydration level using hand-to-hand bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).

Generally, the Aura Strap 2 isn’t ugly or badly designed, but it’s definitely designed for form over function. An adjustable strap would have been nice — or at least an option for one. Aura Strap 2 setupMuscle Mass: Aura reports my lean muscle mass to be significantly higher than the skeletal muscle mass that Garmin reports. While the app is easy to navigate, I did find it to be slightly buggy at times. I never ran into any major bugs, but there were a few glitches and hiccups along the way. AURA Devices — the bold team of inventors developing mobile devices based on science to monitor health, wellness, and activity. We help our users to achieve their goals and change health perceptions. We believe that every person should know everything about their health on-demand and use this knowledge to achieve their goals and enjoy healthier their lives. By performing bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), which measures how a person’s body changes as a result of exercise, AURA Strap 2 is the only wearable device that provides fat, muscle and water balance measurement on the Apple Watch. From there, via AURA App version 3.0, users receive insights, personalized recommendations and goal setting and management functions to assist them in optimizing their fitness performance.

The results of all the devices were plotted using Bland-Altman plots, which use confidence intervals, mean bias, and limits of agreement (LOA) to determine the accuracy of each device compared to the DEXA scan. We’ll cut to the chase: the AURA Strap 2 performed extremely well, with a mean bias of only - 0.007 kg, and narrow LOA (-5.517; 5.517 kg). These results were also significantly better than the previous generation AURA Strap, which was also included in the analysis. Among the other methods used, skinfold measurements came the closest to the DEXA reference, with a small mean bias, but the broadest LOA. Conclusion You then give the Aura app some fitness goals linked to your desired body type and, importantly, flag up if you are an athlete or not as this adjusts the way the body composition readings are calibrated. Taking your first reading with Aura Strap 2 Aura has now thankfully simplified the process of taking those measurements and has made the strap 20% smaller and 5% narrower, which we are glad to hear having been critical of the size of the first generation strap. Whilst the mechanics of taking a reading is mildly cumbersome, that very short inconvenience is offset by the ease at which you can get these readings anytime or anywhere. Smart bathroom scales might be an alternative but they are just a little less portable! To me, the price of the Strap seems good but I’m less sure about the cost of the subscription unless there are aspects of the app that you can immerse yourself in over longer periods. Other than the workouts, available elsewhere, I just don’t see that ongoing level of value. You might of course.The app adds monthly reports, fitness goals, personalised workout plans and a biogram (more on that later) The reading takes just over 20 seconds and a nice graphic on the watch shows your progress and gives tips or messages if your hands or elbows are in the wrong place. I achieved an 80% success rate in taking readings, although I was using a beta version of the Apple Watch software. Bearing in mind that I’m definitely significantly both musclier and ‘fatter’ on my legs than my upper body and that the readings might reflect that, let’s see what I found. At its core, the Aura Strap is built to allow you to get a deeper understanding of your body composition and makeup. This can be helpful if you have goals around your health and fitness, or, if you’re like me, just like to capture as much data about your health as possible. Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR Aura strap 2 works with all Apple Watches from Series 3 and is available in two sizes each accommodating 38/40/41mm and 42/44/45mm Watches.

I mentioned a subscription, and it is worth noting. The subscription might be helpful for those interested in achieving health goals. For example, I selected that I wanted an “athletic” body type, and was told that to achieve that I should increase calories and protein, and add stretching exercises to my workouts. The Apple Watch app is basically a stripped-down version of the “Body” tab in the iPhone app. You’ll get a rundown of each recent measurement, and tapping each measurement will show you an explanation of what’s being measured. Fat: Aura’s fat readings are significantly lower than Garmin/Tanita. If correct, my explanation would be that my fat tends to be on my stomach and legs. So as Aura is taking readings from a skinny area of my body the discrepancy is plausible

How does the Aura Strap work?

Your latest reading is the circular dot and the more that moves away from the green centre circle, the more extreme your measurement. The majority of the population have readings in the green circle and each concentric circle around that represents a move of 25% away from the average. A more streamlined measurement process now requires only one-touch to initiate measurement, rather than three actions required with the original AURA Strap Any new technology or scientific advancement must be rigorously tested using techniques that are already proven to be reliable. That’s why the AURA Devices R&D team subjected AURA Strap 2 to thorough testing against the gold standard for body composition measurement: the DEXA scan. The manufacturers claim the AURA Strap 2 to have 95% compared to a DEXA-scan, the gold standard of BIA measurement Image|Aura, Links to more info on research at auradevices.io For some comparison tests, I used an old Tanita RD953 scale and a newish Garmin Index S2 smart scale. Even using those two comparator devices poses problems right from the start. Aura sends its electrical signal down one arm across the chest and down the other arm, whereas Garmin does a similar thing but its loop is from one foot to the other via your core. Finally, Tanita does a combination of readings with a sensor on each of the feet andhands.