{"id":4214,"date":"2026-11-11T16:03:52","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4214"},"modified":"2026-11-11T16:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:03:52","slug":"indias-900-brain-tracking-wearable-sparks-doctors-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4214","title":{"rendered":"India’s $900 brain-tracking wearable sparks doctors’ backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A tiny, $900 wearable device being developed by an Indian billionaire entrepreneur and showcased by some of \u200bthe country\u2019s top sportspersons has sparked criticism from doctors who say its claims of tracking blood flow to the \u200cbrain are exaggerated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Temple device is less than 1 inch wide and weighs under 2 grams. It sticks to the side of the head between the forehead and the ear, or the temple area.<\/p>\n

Promotional materials for the device, developed by Deepinder Goyal, say that its BrainFlow feature shows how well the brain \u200bis being supplied with blood in real time and its Entropy feature can detect how hard the body works to shed \u200bheat.<\/p>\n

It can also measure thermal, immune, digestive, cognitive and emotional readings that help to transform how a person \u2060regulates their health, they say.<\/p>\n

Priced at Rs85,000 ($907), the device comes in six colours. India\u2019s cricket captain Shubman Gill and Olympic medal-winning badminton \u200bplayer P.V. Sindhu have worn it.<\/p>\n

Some well-known doctors in the country, however, are sceptical of the claims, saying the device\u2019s capabilities are not backed \u200bby peer-reviewed research.<\/p>\n

In prime-time shows and on social media, they are calling for the device to come under the purview of medical regulators.<\/p>\n

Prominent Indian hepatologist Cyriac Philips, known as \u201cTheLiverDoc\u201d, has been criticising the device on his X account with 328,000 followers, calling Temple \u201cthe biggest health scam\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople must be aware of wellness hacks such \u200bas wearables also, even though they are not marketed as health devices,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n

On one prime-time TV discussion, paediatrician and nephrologist Sanjeev \u200bBagai called Temple a \u201cgimmick\u201d, saying it had \u201cno formal approval or clearance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Goyal has hit back at the criticism from doctors, saying Temple is a \u201cfitness tracker, and wellness \u200cdevice\u201d, not \u2060a medical one.<\/p>\n

Indian doctor Jason Philip wrote on X that assessing blood flow to the brain was not easy, and optical signals placed over the temple skin would only give data on the \u201csuperficial temporal artery\u201d that supplies blood to the face and skin.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Reuters, Temple said BrainFlow and Entropy were new metrics \u201cwith emerging science\u201d, and that more research would follow, adding that some metrics would eventually need regulatory \u200bapproval.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s health ministry did not respond \u200bto Reuters queries, and the \u2060government has so far not reacted to the public debate.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Scrutiny planned<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The debate on Temple comes as wearable makers overseas also face questions on when a fitness feature becomes a medical one.<\/p>\n

Some Apple Watch \u200bfeatures, such as hypertension notifications, have received US Food and Drug Administration clearance<\/a> as software-based medical features.<\/p>\n

Last \u200byear, the US \u2060FDA warned<\/a> Whoop, saying its wrist-worn fitness tracker\u2019s blood-pressure feature looked like a medical one \u2014 a view the company disputes.<\/p>\n

Goyal is best known for co-founding Eternal, which houses India\u2019s biggest listed food-delivery company, Zomato and has a market value of about $35 billion.<\/p>\n

The 43-year-old stepped down as chief executive of Eternal \u2060this year \u200bto focus on Temple.<\/p>\n

Temple, which has professors from the University of Ottawa and Harvard \u200bon its advisory board, raised $54 million in February at a valuation of about $190 million.<\/p>\n

Goyal said Temple has received orders from more than 62 countries since November 1.<\/p>\n

On its website, \u200bTemple says it is also working on detecting conditions including snoring and jaw clenching.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tiny, $900 wearable device being developed by an Indian billionaire entrepreneur and showcased by some of \u200bthe country\u2019s top sportspersons has sparked criticism from doctors who say its claims of tracking blood flow to the \u200cbrain are exaggerated. The Temple device is less than 1 inch wide and weighs under 2 grams. It sticks to the side of the head between the forehead and the ear, or the temple area. Promotional materials for the device, developed by Deepinder Goyal, say that its BrainFlow feature shows how well the brain…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}