Know Labs Bio-RFID: Needleless Glucose Monitor With FDA Breakthrough Status

Diabetes Technology · 5 · February 24, 2026

Know Labs' KnowU device looks like a thick wristwatch. You press your finger against a sensor window. Radio waves pass through your finger. A proprietary algorithm analyses how those waves interact with glucose molecules in your blood. Thirty seconds later, you have a glucose reading. No needle. No blood. No sensor inserted under your skin.

It received FDA Breakthrough Device designation — a status reserved for technologies that offer significant advantages over existing options. The company expects to submit for FDA clearance in late 2026.

How Radio Frequency Sensing Works

Every molecule absorbs and reflects radio waves differently. Glucose has a specific spectral signature in the RF range. Bio-RFID transmits a broad spectrum of radio frequencies through living tissue and analyses the returning signal to identify and quantify glucose. Think of it like sonar for molecules.

The engineering challenge is separating glucose's signal from everything else in your blood — water, hemoglobin, lipids, proteins, other sugars. Know Labs claims their machine learning model, trained on thousands of paired RF-fingerstick readings, can isolate glucose with clinical-grade accuracy. Published validation data is limited but promising — MARD (mean absolute relative difference) reportedly below 15%, which would match current CGM accuracy.

Limitations

It is not continuous. You get a reading when you press your finger to the device — on-demand, like a fingerstick without the stick. For continuous monitoring, you would still need a traditional CGM. The company is working on a passive wearable version that reads through the wrist continuously, but that is further from market.

Accuracy in real-world conditions — varying hydration, temperature, skin thickness, melanin levels — remains to be proven in large clinical trials. The technology works in controlled lab settings. The question is whether it works at 5 AM when your hands are cold and dry.

What This Means for You

If Bio-RFID clears the FDA, it becomes the first truly non-invasive, reusable glucose monitor. No consumable sensors. No insertion needles. No monthly costs beyond the device itself. For the billions of people with prediabetes who will never wear an arm sensor, a glucose-reading wristwatch changes the game entirely.

Track Bio-RFID development alongside Samsung's contact lens, optical wristbands, and sweat patches at Diabetes Breakthroughs. When any non-invasive device reaches market, Journey for Health's CGM Monitor will integrate it.