Petal has begun shipping its bra-insert wearable for personal health tracking.
The one-size, soft insert uses ECG and bioimpedance sensing on the chest to track activity, mobility and balance, visceral fat, and heart rate. Petal’s algorithms are trained on female-only data, from published sources and internal research, to offer targeted insights.
Compared with rings and wrist-worn wearables, Petal says the chest placement provides stronger cardiac signals while accounting for differences in female physiology.
“For too long, women have been using technology built on male-derived baselines, and that disparity continues to be vast,” said Anand Janefalkar, CEO and Founder of Petal. “After losing a loved one to breast cancer at a young age, that gap became deeply personal to me. We built Petal to focus on the health signals that matter most, using the female anatomical core to give women a more relevant view of their health.”
While layering technology onto breast tissue could raise concern, Petal touts safety – the company claims its device limits wireless energy exposure by tracking biometrics in short bursts rather than continuously, avoiding Wi-Fi and cellular connection.
Alongside its current capabilities, the company is also developing a hydration- tracking feature using changes in breast composition. As Petal hits the market, similar concepts, like Braave’s, are readying bra-style wearables to advance women’s health monitoring.
