Zensorium Tinke iPhone Accessory Tracks Health Metrics

There's no shortage of accessories on the market for the iPhone. If you're the health-conscious sort, a new accessory has launched from a company called Zensorium. The accessory is called the Tinke and is designed to monitor cardiorespiratory health and stress levels.

Cardiorespiratory health can be particularly important to monitor for people who have breathing problems or other conditions that cause low oxygen levels in the blood. The Tinke uses optical sensing technologies to capture blood volume changes in the fingertip and turn that into a number that tells how much oxygen is in your blood. The technology sounds similar to something that has been used in hospitals for decades called a pulseoximeter.

The device sends the information it collects to an app running on the iPhone that stores the details and allows you to compare the data easily over days and weeks. The numbers are placed into what the company calls a Vita Index, which is a personalized cardiorespiratory score created by combining data from your heart rate, blood oxygen level, and respiratory rate.

The app also offers a Zen Index that is achieved using heart rate variability as a basis and personalized scores for stress levels from analyzing the rhythm of your heart rate. The system has a social component that allows you to share results on Facebook and compare scores with other users. The app is available for free on the App Store. The Tinke accessory is available in gray, blue, pink, or white for $119.