Apple Watch vs Soma Axon: a watch all day, a scan every week
Apple Watch reads your wrist day and night, and several of its features are cleared by the FDA. Soma Axon is a pod we're building to read your whole body once a week. The Soma app reads Apple Health, so the two are meant to work together.
| Soma Axon | Apple Watch | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A closed pod you step into for a whole-body scan, and an iPhone app between visits | A smartwatch worn day and night, paired with an iPhone: Series 12, Ultra 4 or SE 3 |
| Where | Planned for Soma's own studio, longevity clinics, gyms, workplaces and pharmacies | On your wrist, wherever you are |
| How often | Once a week, for a few minutes. The app reads your phone and watch in between | All the time. Series 12 and Ultra 4 take your heart rate every five seconds, and sleep is read every night |
| What it reads | Skin photos, heart and breathing, ECG, EEG, thermal imaging, body composition, balance and grip strength, plus an optional finger-prick blood test | Heart rate and HRV, irregular rhythm, wrist temperature, activity, sleep and breathing disturbances at night. Series 12 and Ultra 4 add an ECG in 30 seconds, blood oxygen and hypertension notifications over 30 days |
| Price | Not announced. It'll be priced like a weekly habit | From $249 (SE 3), $399 (Series 12) or $799 (Ultra 4), with no subscription for the health features |
| Medical status | General wellness: not a medical device, not cleared by the FDA, and it doesn't diagnose | ECG, irregular rhythm, AFib History, sleep apnea and hypertension notifications are cleared by the FDA. Blood oxygen, Vitals and temperature are for wellness only |
| Available | Not yet. The first prototype is being built, and the waitlist hears first | Yes. Series 12 and Ultra 4 went on sale on September 18, 2026 |
What each one reads
Apple Watch stays on your wrist. Apple says Series 12 and Ultra 4 take your heart rate every five seconds and your HRV as often as every five minutes, and every night brings sleep stages, a sleep score and overnight vitals. Some features go further. The ECG app records something close to a single-lead ECG in 30 seconds, and hypertension notifications look at 30 days of readings at a time. The FDA has cleared both.
Soma Axon will read what a wrist can't reach: photos of your skin all the way around, body composition, balance and grip strength, along with your heart and breathing, EEG and thermal imaging. It'll take a few minutes, once a week, and it'll read you the same way every time.
How they work together
The Soma app runs on iPhone and reads Apple Health between visits, and it never writes anything back. Apple Watch saves its readings there, ECG recordings and blood oxygen included. A watch is optional, but if you wear one, the app gets more detail about the days between visits.
Which one fits
If you want to be told during the day that your heart rhythm looks irregular or your heart rate is high, that's the watch's job, and it's on sale now. A weekly scan won't warn you in the middle of the afternoon. Soma Axon is for the slower changes, like your skin, your body composition and your strength, measured the same way every week. You don't have to pick one.
Questions people ask
Do I need an Apple Watch to use Soma?
No, a watch is optional. The Soma app runs on iPhone and reads Apple Health. If you wear a watch, the app gets more detail about the days between visits.
Does Apple Watch measure body composition?
Apple doesn't list a body composition sensor in the watch's specs. Soma Axon will read body composition at every visit with a very small electrical current, while you stand on its plate with your hands on the grips.
Is Apple Watch a medical device?
Some of its features are. The FDA has cleared its ECG app, irregular rhythm notifications, AFib History, sleep apnea notifications and hypertension notifications, while Apple labels blood oxygen, Vitals and temperature as wellness features. Soma is a general wellness product and isn't a medical device.
Apple is adding blood tests. How do they compare with Soma's?
Apple says the Health app will let you book a panel of more than 50 biomarkers for $119 at Quest Diagnostics locations, starting late 2026. Soma's blood test will be an optional finger prick at pods with an attendant, sent to a partner lab, with results a few days later. It'll be an add-on with its own price.
Sources, read on
- Apple: Apple Watch lineup
- Apple: Apple Watch Series 12
- Apple: Apple Watch Series 12 specs
- Apple Newsroom: Apple Watch Series 12 (September 9, 2026)
- Apple Newsroom: the Health app and lab tests (September 9, 2026)
- Apple Support: hypertension notifications
- Apple Support: the ECG app
- Apple: hypertension notifications validation study (September 2025)
- FDA: 510(k) K250507, hypertension notifications
- FDA: 510(k) K240929, sleep apnea notifications