American Startup Launches AI-Sensor Smart Toilet Seat for Heart Monitoring

American company Casana has begun selling the Smart Seat, a toilet seat fitted with sensors that analyze heart activity and blood pressure during every bathroom visit. The product received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and went on sale on July 21, 2026, with its creators claiming it is the first device of its kind that requires no extra action from the user.

How the device works

The Smart Seat replaces a standard toilet seat and measures blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen saturation, and breathing rate. Measurements are taken passively, with no need for a cuff or a wearable band, and the data is sent to a smartphone app, from which it can be shared with family members or a doctor. The device has no camera or microphone; machine learning algorithms identify who is currently using the toilet and assign the readings to the right person in a household of up to five people.

The project is led by Nicholas Conn, who founded Casana in 2018. Austin McChord, known for founding Datto, which was sold to Kaseya in 2022 for $6.2 billion, has joined the board, while cardiologist Jeff Leiden serves as chairman and advisor. The company has raised $46 million to date from investors including General Catalyst, Morningside, and Outsiders Fund.

Clinical data behind FDA clearance

The FDA granted clearance for the device's sale following an eight-week study that compared blood pressure and oxygen saturation readings from the seat with measurements from hospital-grade monitoring equipment in 18 participants. A separate study compared the device's cardiac stroke volume estimates with standard echocardiography in 149 people. Casana emphasizes that this clinical data is what sets the product apart from everyday fitness wearables.

The company positions the Smart Seat as an alternative to wearables like the Oura Ring, Whoop, or Apple Watch, but aimed at a different audience. According to figures cited by the company, hypertension affects 48 percent of American adults, and many seniors give up on regularly measuring their blood pressure because they don't want to, or can't, operate traditional devices.

The product works best when you forget about it - Austin McChord, CEO of Casana

Seniors are either not tech-savvy enough or don't want to spend the time operating it - Jeff Leiden, chairman of Casana

Business model and competition

Casana sells the Smart Seat on a subscription model: $199 covers the device itself and the first year of service, with each following year costing around $19.99 per month. The battery is designed to last two years without charging, and installing the seat on an existing toilet bowl is said to take just a few minutes. Forbes estimates the home health monitoring market to be worth billions of dollars and describes Casana as a company trying to turn a niche idea into a profitable business at mass scale.

What it means for digital health

Casana's example points to where AI-assisted home health monitoring is heading: instead of another wearable gadget, sensors are being built into devices already part of a daily routine. Competitors such as Throne and Kohler Health are developing similar solutions, suggesting that the smart bathroom segment is starting to attract serious capital and the attention of health regulators.

For the Polish market, where hypertension and cardiovascular disease remain among the leading causes of death, devices like this could eventually make their way into private healthcare offerings or prevention programs, though for now Casana sells the product exclusively in the United States and has not announced plans to expand into Europe.