The average person spends 416 days of their life in the bathroom — and the latest trend in digital health wants to make sure that time isn’t going down the drain.
Over the past year, a wave of AI-powered smart toilet health trackers have hit the market, analyzing pee and poop to deliver personalized insights on hydration, nutrition, gut health and more.
“There’s a goldmine of health information in your waste, and it’s literally being flushed away,” Scott Hickle, co-founder and CEO of Throne Science, told The Post.
Urine and stool are some of the oldest biomarkers in medicine, but in an era where smartwatches and other wearables track everything from heart rate to sleep cycles, the toilet has largely been left out — until now.
“This is a new frontier,” said Kash Kapadia, CEO of Kohler Health, maker of the Dekota smart toilet tracker.
Developers say monitoring waste over time can reveal patterns tied to dehydration, food sensitivities and digestive issues — and even flag chronic conditions like diabetes or kidney disease.
Interest in gut health is certainly booming, with more people turning to probiotics and fiber-rich diets to support their microbiome.
Meanwhile, colorectal cancer is rising among young adults, making awareness of early warning signs — including changes in poop — more important than ever.
“Our healthcare system is very messy, it’s very expensive and it’s not always there for you at the moment that you’re not sick,” Kapadia said. “There are a lot of times in between episodes of care where it’s really up to the individual to do something about their health.”
But turning your bathroom break into an at-home wellness check comes at a price. These gadgets run hundreds of dollars and often require ongoing subscription fees, so two other Posties and I tested three of the latest models to see if they’re worth opening your wallet — and your bathroom door.
U-Scan by Withings
About the size of a hockey-puck, the U-Scan Nutrio by Withings turns your toilet into a mini urine lab by clipping to the front of your toilet bowl. When it’s time to go, you activate it through the Withings app (currently, it supports only one user).
The gadget collects a urine sample, which is analyzed by tiny biochemical sensors in a swappable cartridge inside the device. The data then generates insights on four biomarkers tied to hydration, metabolism and diet, and sends results to the app within minutes.
Putting it to the test: I found the setup mostly straightforward, though I did have to reinstall the cartridge after my first attempt didn’t register. Once it was running, the data started flowing in.
After a few weeks, a clear pattern emerged. My HydroStatus, or urine concentration and hydration levels, consistently looked good.
Ketones, which indicate when the body is burning fat instead of sugar for energy, stayed mostly within normal range. My bioacidity, or urine pH, also hovered where it should.
But my vitamin C levels were nothing to brag about. The nutrient is a key antioxidant tied to immune function and tissue repair — and apparently I wasn’t getting enough of it.
The app’s AI-powered digital health coach offered suggestions to improve my numbers, like eating more fruits and vegetables or taking a supplement.
One detail worth noting: Women are not recommended to use the U-Scan during menstruation, as blood can affect its accuracy.
How much you’ll pay: The U-Scan Nutrio is available in two tiers: the Proactive Plan ($379) for lighter use and the Intensive Plan ($449) for more frequent testing. Both include a charging station and a Withings+ subscription ($99 per year), with cartridge replacements sold separately.
For anyone prone to kidney stones, Withings also offers the U-Scan Calci, which tracks calcium levels in addition to hydration and pH.
Throne by Throne Science
While the U-Scan focuses on urine, Throne Science’s high-tech toilet tracker monitors both No. 1 and No. 2.
The gadget clips to the toilet rim and can tell two users apart, connecting automatically via Bluetooth when a paired phone enters the bathroom. Alternatively, sessions can be started manually using two buttons on the device.
Throne monitors your urine stream with a microphone and scans the contents of the toilet bowl using a downward-facing camera — which its creators say can’t capture any “human anatomy.”
That data is processed by a physician-trained algorithm and insights are sent to the Thorne app, where they’re broken into four categories:
- Gut health: Frequency, timing, stool consistency, color, and volume
- Hydration: Urine color and concentration
- Flow health: Stream strength, speed and stop-and-start patterns — signs of how a man’s urinary tract and prostate are functioning
- Bathroom habits: Time on the toilet, delay until first bowel movement, and total finish time — all factors that can influence constipation, straining and hemorrhoid risk
Notably, all of the data it collects is anonymized, meaning it can’t be traced back to the user — and the company will delete it upon request.
Putting it to the test: Curious about his own patterns, The Post’s senior commerce editorial director, Barret Wertz, tested Throne.
The timing worked out: Though he has no history of gastrointestinal issues like Crohn’s or IBS — a demographic Throne’s creators say would benefit in particular from such a product — he was taking a medication that affected his stomach.
And his results reflected it.
“My average gut health score was 51%,” Wertz said after two weeks of testing. “It also told me I have poor bathroom habits.”
The app flagged findings such as mild diarrhea, possible inflammation and dehydration.
“It reminded me to go and get coconut water or some electrolytes, which maybe I wouldn’t have done otherwise,” Wertz said. Later, the app confirmed his hydration levels had rebounded.
Another feature that caught his attention was the flow rate tracker.
“I think it’s probably one of the most beneficial options for men, because our prostate can affect it, and it might be an indicator of something bigger going on,” he said.
The company says Throne’s “real magic” comes from tracking toilet habits over time. By establishing a baseline, users can spot changes early and identify potential triggers before small issues turn into bigger problems.
How much you’ll pay: Throne costs $399.99, plus a $6 monthly subscription.
The Dekota by Kohler Health
Like Throne, the Dekota by Kohler Health analyzes both stool and urine.
It clamps onto the rim of a standard toilet and uses an optical sensor to scan the bowl. Users can start a session via a fingerprint sensor on the device or through the Kohler Health app.
Kohler’s device also only points downward, so nothing else is captured during your session. End-to-end encryption, plus the fingerprint scanner, helps ensure your data is secure.
The Dekota tracks bowel movements in detail, including poop shape, color, consistency, frequency and volume. It can even detect blood in the bowl — a potential warning sign of issues like hemorrhoids or inflammatory bowel disease.
It analyzes urine too, checking color, clarity, and frequency to monitor hydration.
Putting it to the test: Over a month, Eric Todisco, an entertainment reporter with Page Six, said his overall gut health score was 25% — suggesting he could benefit from adjustments in diet and lifestyle.
Fortunately, the Dekota is designed to help with exactly that. Through the app, users can log lifestyle habits, making it easier to connect diet, exercise and stress with gut health. Tagging foods, for example, can reveal which ones lead to harder stools or longer gaps between bathroom trips, indicating constipation.
“Over the past two to three years or so, I’ve noticed that I’ve had more stomach issues,” Todisco said. “I definitely want to learn more about my gut health, this will help me retrace my steps.”
How much you’ll pay: The Dekota costs $599, plus a Kohler Health membership: $6.99 a month or $70 a year for individuals, or $12.99 a month ($130 annually) for a family plan covering up to five users.
So, should you take the plunge and hop on the porcelain-powered toilet tech train? At least don’t be so quick to poo-poo it.
Representatives from Withings, Throne and Kohler said their products generally appeal to two main groups: People with chronic conditions who want to monitor them more closely, and health-conscious, tech-savvy consumers looking to optimize their wellness at home.
“For a lot of folks, there’s a level of reassurance that comes from knowing that every single day, you’re able to assess your health in these areas,” Kapadia said. “This is the start of that journey.”
