Withings ScanWatch 2 review: Probably the best-looking hybrid smartwatch

Withings Scanwatch 2: One minute review

Want a smartwatch that doesn’t look like a smartwatch? You may want to check out the Withings ScanWatch 2, the best-looking hybrid watch we've reviewed yet.

It’s as close to looking like an analog watch as you’re likely to get, but with the smarts and tracking of a fitness tracker under the hood. In fact, if it wasn’t for the small display on the watch face, you’d never know.

That makes the ScanWatch 2 a truly gorgeous piece of kit, with a nice, shiny casing and no buttons outside of the crown. The duality of an analog watch design with a more modern set of ambitions does show itself, though: the display is too small for most fitness tracker basics like notifications, while there’s no option to install third-party apps a la watchOS or Wear OS. 

This makes the "smart" nature of Withings' best smartwatch a little redundant: it's a pure fitness tracker combined with an analog watch. Still, if that’s not a dealbreaker for you, there are few better-looking timepieces around.

Withings Scanwatch 2: Price and release date

• Priced at $349 in the US 
• £319 in the UK  
• ‎AU$599 in Australia

The ScanWatch 2 debuted in September of 2023, and you can find it at plenty of retailers. The price of entry is fairly high, however, at $349 / £319 / ‎AU$599.00. 

This price point makes it comparable in price to an Apple Watch Series 9, despite offering less in terms of functionality. You're paying for the premium look and feel, rather than advanced functions and smart capabilities. 

• Value score: 3.5/5

Withings Scanwatch 2: Specifications

Withings Scanwatch 2: Design

• Beautiful analog design
• Small digital display
• Available in Black, Rose Gold, Blue or White

As I’ve alluded to, the reason you may want to pick up a ScanWatch 2, as opposed to something of a similar price, is that distinctive design, which comes in Black or White, as well as a Rose Gold option with a blue strap. It also comes in 38mm and 42mm sizes. All models are 5ATM water resistance rated.

Looking at it on the wrist, it’d be easy to assume it’s an analog watch, and in many ways it is. Hybrid smartwatches, analog watches with discreet smart elements, are gaining traction (alongside other discreet trackers like the best smart rings) because they often look much cooler than most other smartwatches.

However, look a smidge closer, though, and you’ll see a small display at the top of the watch face. This OLED panel is nice and easy to read in all conditions, but naturally comes a bit unstuck if one of the hands happens to be over it when you check. That said, there’s little chance of being sat there looking at it for hours when functionality is a little more stripped back. In fact, for the most part it’ll be showing you how many steps you’ve walked that day.

It also feels shallower than other smartwatches, perhaps because of its analog-like disguise, but it felt much flatter on the wrist than my Apple Watch Ultra.

Straps can be switched out with an elegant sliding pin, while it charges in a sort of mini-cradle that looks like the devices used to remove links from watch straps. It includes a USB-A to USB-C cable, but it’s pretty short. Overall? Looks fantastic, and wonderfully comfortable to wear. 

• Design score: 5/5

Withings Scanwatch 2: Performance

• Around one month of battery life
• No GPS
• Closer to a fitness tracker than a smartwatch

While it is a ‘smartwatch’ in terms of its size, the ScanWatch 2 is less of a smartwatch in terms of functionality and closer to a fitness tracker instead.

It can track your steps, activity, heart rate, and all of those standard fitness tracker features, but you shouldn’t expect to install additional apps or use your watch to pay for your shopping.

You can set timers and use it as a stopwatch, but anything beyond that you might want to go for a full-fat smartwatch.

Thankfully, as a health and fitness tracker it’s solid, although it lacks an internal GPS: you’ll need to connect to your phone. Sleep tracking is supported, and it also has a ECG (medical-grade!) for undertaking one of those wherever you are.

Workout modes are relatively basic but track fairly well so long as you’re connected to your phone’s GPS, but perhaps the ace up its sleeve is the temperature sensor.

This runs continuously, albeit at the cost of the 30-day battery life, but can showcase temperature variations that could be an indication of an oncoming illness. It’s primarily focused on just highlighting increases or decreases, though, so don’t expect to get an exact number for your temperature.

Of all the smartwatches I’ve tested, I feel like the ScanWatch 2 has the simplest pairing procedure. It’s not that it does anything different from its rivals, but it just worked almost instantly. It also offers a slick checklist of things you can tick off as it shows you, meaning you get a sort of tutorial when you first put it on.

Once that’s done, the app is split between Home, Measure, and Achieve. Home gives you some “missions” to check off, like setting a bedtime routine, or reading an article. It also tracks your daily activity to help you hit thirty minutes.

Measure shows your data, letting you drill down into activity and rhythms for any data you’ve collected, while Achieve lets you set Health Goals and work towards them. The app can write directly to Apple Health, and works alongside Strava and MyFitnessPal.

This is all backed up by a subscription service called Withings+ which offers a Health Improvement score that helps you improve your score week-on-week up to 100, while also giving you daily guidance and meal plans. It also unlocks additional data so you can interpret it more easily, but I didn’t see anything that felt super necessary.

• Performance score: 4/5

Scorecard

Withings ScanWatch 2: Should I buy?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

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Read our full review

First reviewed: July 2024