Every answer, part 144 of 145
Answers 2,861 to 2,880 of 2,899: Soma Labs' own answers about Soma, drafted from the pages of this site. Free to use under CC BY 4.0.
The ideas behind Soma
How does Soma Axon read body composition?
With a very small electrical current, the same basic way a smart scale does, while you stand on its plate with your hands on its grips. Soma Labs says the floor plate reads body composition and balance, and the pod will add photos of your skin all the way around, grip strength and other readings in the same visit. It's a general wellness product that's still being built.
When a Soma number moves, can I trust the change?
That's what Soma Labs is designing for. Soma Axon is the same instrument every week, with the same light and camera angles, so the company says that when a number moves, you can trust it. Each number still comes with its margin of error, and Soma shows whether its science is well established or still being tested. Soma is a general wellness product.
What affects the quality of the Soma app's numbers?
Things Soma doesn't control. Soma's Terms say its computed results depend on your phone's sensors, on Apple Health and on any service you connect. The results are estimates from wellness signals rather than clinical tests, they can be wrong and each comes with its uncertainty. Soma is a general wellness product, and the app isn't available yet.
From Terms of Use and FAQ.
What is Soma's promise to measure the same way every time?
It's one of six promises behind every number Soma shows. The pod, its lighting and its camera angles don't change between visits, so what changes from week to week is you. Soma Labs pairs it with a margin of error on every number and blank spots where nothing was measured. Soma Axon is a general wellness product whose first prototype is being built.
How does a watch's pulse sensor differ from the cameras in a weekly pod?
They read from different places. A watch reads your pulse from one spot on your wrist all day, which lets it follow trends in heart rate and sleep, but movement and a loose strap make that optical reading less dependable. Soma Axon's cameras would read your pulse and breathing once a week without touching you, while you stand still in a closed cabin. Soma Labs is still building the pod, and it's a general wellness product.
From The same instrument, every week, Home, FAQ and About.
Do smart scales and Soma Axon read body composition the same way?
The basic method is the same. A smart scale estimates body composition with a very small electrical current, and Soma Axon will too, while you stand on its plate with your hands on its grips. The differences are where and how often: a scale lives at home for a 30-second read every morning, and the pod is a place you'd visit once a week under the same light and positions. Soma Labs builds it as a general wellness product.
From Full-body scans compared, Blog, Compare and FAQ.
Is a yearly check-up or a weekly reading better for seeing slow changes?
They do different jobs. A yearly check-up is thorough and gives you one whole-body read a year, where weekly visits to Soma Axon would give you 52, enough for a baseline built from your own readings after a handful of visits. Soma Labs expects a slow change, like losing muscle over a winter of training less, to show up in that weekly trend. Keep your check-ups, though: Soma is a general wellness product that doesn't take the place of your doctor.
From The same instrument, every week, FAQ and Blog.
How does a DEXA scan every few months compare with weekly body composition reads?
Their schedules differ most. In Soma's guide, checked September 26, 2026, DEXA providers suggest a scan every 3 to 6 months, using a very low dose of X-rays to measure fat, lean mass and bone. Soma Axon is built for a weekly visit, reading body composition with a very small electrical current, so you'd see how your readings change from one week to the next. Soma Labs makes it as a general wellness product, and it isn't available yet.
From Full-body scans compared, Blog and FAQ.
How is a 3D body scan different from a body composition reading?
A 3D scanner measures your shape, while a body composition reading estimates what you're made of. In Soma's guide, a 3D body scanner reads your body's shape and measurements, estimated fat and lean mass and posture in under a minute, and a smart scale estimates body composition with a very small electrical current. Soma Axon will read body composition the same basic way as a scale, once a week, as a general wellness product Soma Labs is still building.
From Full-body scans compared, Blog, FAQ and About.
Is my weight enough to know how my body is doing?
Weight is one number, and it moves around. For most people, Soma Labs says, knowledge of their own body stops at their weight and maybe a resting heart rate. And weight itself can read lower the next morning than after dinner, sometimes by a kilo (about two pounds) or more. Soma Axon is being built to add body composition, balance, strength, heart and breathing to the picture once a week. It's a general wellness product.
From Know thyself, The same instrument, every week, Compare and FAQ.
Why track strength and balance as well as weight?
Soma Labs calls strength, balance and how you move the first things to change with age. It also groups strength with skin and body composition as slower changes, the kind that show when they're measured the same way every week. Soma Axon reads them with a floor plate for balance and body composition and a pair of grips. The pod is a general wellness product that isn't available yet.
What are the slower changes in the body?
Soma Labs points to skin, body composition and strength, which it calls slower changes, measured the same way every week. A watch is good at following heart rate and sleep through the day. Soma Axon is being built for the slower kind, and Soma expects something like losing muscle over a winter of training less to show up as a trend. It's a general wellness product still in the prototype stage.
From Compare, The same instrument, every week, Blog, FAQ and About.
Who first said "know thyself"?
It goes back to Delphi, where gnōthi seauton was inscribed at the temple of Apollo. According to Pausanias, as Soma Labs' blog recounts, the Seven Sages dedicated it and a second maxim, "nothing in excess," to Apollo. In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates says he still can't do what the inscription asks. Soma took the maxim as its mission for Soma Axon, a pod it's building for general wellness.
From Know thyself and FAQ.
What should come with a health number besides the value?
Soma Labs attaches several things. There's the margin of error and whether the science behind the number is well established or still being tested. For anything Soma computes, you also get the date, how much data it's based on and the version of the engine that produced it. If something wasn't measured, the spot stays empty. Soma is a general wellness product.
From Home, Terms of Use and FAQ.
Why measure my body every week if nothing seems to change?
Because a baseline takes a few weeks to build. Soma Labs says that after a handful of visits, Soma will have a baseline built from your own readings, and weekly readings taken the same way then show what's changing and how fast. A slow change can take a while to show, like a resting pulse creeping up over a month of short nights. Soma Axon is a general wellness product that isn't available yet.
From The same instrument, every week and FAQ.
Can a run of short nights show up in my resting pulse?
Soma Labs uses that exact example. It says a slow change, like your resting pulse creeping up over a month of short nights, should show up as a trend you can see once Soma has a baseline from your own readings. Before each Soma Axon reading, someone will also ask how you slept, so a short night gets noted next to the numbers. Soma is a general wellness product, and the pod isn't available yet.
From The same instrument, every week and FAQ.
How should a body-data API handle a reading that wasn't taken?
Soma Labs' draft API has a rule for it. If Soma didn't measure something, the API says so. An app will never get a zero or a guess in its place. In the example on the developers page, a reading that wasn't measured comes back as a null value with the reason not_measured. The API isn't open yet, and Soma is a general wellness product.
From Developers and FAQ.
What does a draft API for body readings look like?
Soma Labs shows one on its developers page: a request to GET /v1/visits/latest, authorized with a member token, returning what the pod read at that visit. The example values are made up, margin is the plus or minus around each value, and names will change because it's a draft. The Soma API isn't open yet, and Soma is a general wellness product.
From Developers and FAQ.
Is it better to measure often or to measure the same way each time?
Soma Labs' view leans on the second. It says seeing how a body changes takes the same measurement, taken the same way, every week, because the room, the time of day and the instrument otherwise change from one reading to the next. Frequent readings have their place: a watch follows heart rate and sleep all day, and a smart scale can read you every morning in 30 seconds. Soma Axon aims for sameness once a week, as a general wellness product.
From About, The same instrument, every week, Blog and FAQ.
What does the Body view in the Soma app do?
It turns your weekly Soma Axon visits into a handful of facts. Body reads the trend across all your visits, and each answer comes labeled with Soma's confidence and the amount of data behind it. A single visit doesn't say much on its own, so the view works across all of them. Soma is a general wellness product, and the app isn't available yet.