Plume Labs recently introduced their smart air quality tracker “Flow” at CES 2017. Do you really need to invest in an air quality tracker? Find out today in our Flow review.
What is Plume Labs Flow?
Engadget summed up Plume Labs Flow best: “It’s like Waze, but for smog”. Flow is a smart air quality tracker that offers crowdsourced pollution maps. Users report on air quality problems in their area, and Flow uses all of these data points to give users precise data.
Don’t worry: you don’t have to report on air quality problems yourself. Flow measures air quality in your area using a device attached to your backpack. That device takes in air, then measures that air using high-tech sensors.
Flow is made by a Paris-based company called Plume Labs. You may have heard of Plume Labs last year, when they made headlines for flying pollution monitoring pigeons over London. The project was part publicity stunt, part research project. Plume Labs was testing its new air quality sensor – something that had been in development for over 2 years.
Now, with Flow, Plume Labs is ready to showcase its air quality testing equipment to the world.
How Does Plume Labs Flow Work?
Plume Labs Flow is an iPod Mini-sized device that clips onto your backpack, purse, or clothing using a stylish leather strap. It’s a discreet and stylish device with a grey, aluminum shell. It’s about the size of a large USB drive.
The aluminum shell features dozens of tiny holes at the top. Those holes draw in surrounding air, then test it using equipment inside.
Inside the equipment, you’ll find sensors that measure dust, exhaust fumes, and other harmful gases. There’s also equipment to measure the temperature and humidity.
Flow connects to your phone over Bluetooth LE. You download the Flow companion app (for iOS and Android), which then sends air quality information back to Plume Labs HQ. The company then uses this data to improve its air quality prediction tool – something it says is already pretty accurate.
In fact, Plume Labs AI air quality prediction platform is able to accurately predict pollution levels across hundreds of cities in 60 countries.
Plume Labs gathers its data from monitoring stations around the world. One drawback, at least for now, is that the air quality ratings are city-wide. Plume Labs assigns each city an air quality rating based on the current measurements across the region. The company claims to take data from 12,000 monitoring stations along with global atmospheric, urban, and weather data.
The ultimate goal is to build air quality maps that are accurate down to the street-by-street level. As mentioned at the top, it’s like Waze, but for pollution.
Plume Labs Flow Features
- 12 multicolor LEDs that summarize local air quality over the last 12 hours without having to check your phone
- Leather strap that lets you attach it to your bag to ensure it’s always collecting data
- Additional air quality information available via the smartphone app, which will get more and more accurate over time
- Flow tracks particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide, ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), temperature, and humidity
About Plume Labs
Plume Labs is a technology company that currently offers three products, including Flow, Air Report, and Air Cloud.
Air Report is an app available for iOS and Android, while Air Cloud is the company’s AI system that helps predict air quality problems around the world. Flow combines both of these platforms together to make air quality information more accessible than ever before.
Plume Labs was founded in 2014. The company is based in Paris, France. You can learn more about the team here. To get in touch, email [email protected].
Plume Labs Flow Pricing
Plume Labs has not confirmed any pricing details at the time of writing (they just announced the product’s existence at CES 2017).
Over the next few weeks, Plume Labs will send out approximately 100 beta versions of Flow to backers who helped with their initial crowdfunding campaign.
Plume Labs Flow claims that the final version of Flow will be available “later in 2017”, and that pre-orders will start this spring.
Flow’s biggest rival, CleanSpace, is priced at around $55 USD (£42), so we expect Flow to be priced around that mark.
Plume Labs Flow Review Summary
Flow isn’t the only company in the air quality monitoring space. Its rivals include similar services like CleanSpace. If Plume Labs can deliver on its promise to create street-by-street pollution maps, then it could be one of those devices that changes the world.
If you live in a polluted part of the world where air quality is frequently an issue, then Flow is one device that can help you live a healthier, cleaner life. Look for its release later in 2017.
Dear Sir,
This APP by Plume is shockingly amateur.
It provides no detailed breakdown of pollutants and currently only gives overall citywide reviews.
It then insults the intelligence of anyone over 7 years by boiling it all down to a smiley emoji and the advice to ‘take it easy’ or ‘take care.’ There are no numbers, merely a chart from which you can guess.
This is an example of a product released at breakneck speed which has now squandered its goodwill with a lousy APP.
For air quality, I would advise using AQICN or Airvisual.
Yours faithfully,
Jackson Columbo.