I Tested 3 Popular Smart Rings to Find Which Deserves a Place on Your Finger
The Oura ring was my favorite smart ring because its app was easy to understand and I liked some of the newer features from its latest software update. At the steep price of $299, this smart ring is made up of aerospace-grade titanium – one of the strongest materials on earth -- according to the site. Before I received my Oura ring, I was sent a ring sizer to figure out my ring size. Other smart rings did the same since sizing varies per brand.
Once I received the Oura ring, I downloaded the Oura app (available for iOS and Android). The interface of the app shows you your latest sleep data, your readiness (or how recharged you are), heart rate, cycle insights if you menstruate and stress levels. There is also a timeline for when you went to bed, woke up and did any physical activity in the past 24 hours. Oura uses scores out of 100 to determine where you are under the different categories they look at daily.
You can also see your ring's battery life based on a circle icon in the top right corner. The ring is easily rechargeable with its own ring holder that you can keep on your nightstand. Overall, you can expect to recharge this ring about every three days.
To get the most accurate insights and recommendations from the smart ring, you're advised to wear it for at least a month so it can gather data on your habits. To get more out of the ring, you have to sign up for the Oura membership, which costs $6 a month. As I mentioned, one of my goals was to improve my sleep or at least get on a sleep schedule that could work, even with a baby interrupting my rest through the night. I preferred wearing a smart ring over a smartwatch to track this because I barely feel it on.
The Oura ring determined that my ideal bedtime window meant being in bed between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The ring knew that I generally wake up around 6 a.m., so it aimed to help me get 8 hours of sleep. I did a decent job of following the ring's recommendations for at least the first couple of months, but then I was in the process of moving and the holidays hit, so I was experiencing extra stress. I could tell I felt more tired and less energetic on the days I went to bed later than the suggested time presented by Oura. It would also give me a lower readiness score on the days it could tell my sleep and stress levels were affected.
Once I moved, I was able to return to my recommended sleep schedule. I have never felt better rested. During a briefing with Oura, I was told that the brand never wants to make users feel guilty for not being well-recovered or sleeping enough. Instead, the brand wants to let you know what you can do to improve these factors. For example, if the Oura senses you've been under additional stress, it may tell you to take it easy for that day.
An interesting feature of the Oura ring that makes it stand out from other wearables is that it can detect signs of sickness. So far, I haven't fallen sick since using the Oura, but other CNET staffers have said it could tell when they were under the weather. Oura recently launched the Oura Ring 4 and along with that, the software got updated to have more advanced functions using AI to detect even more information about your habits.
Although I personally wasn't a fan of the fitness recording option on any of the smart rings I tested, I did like that with its latest update, the Oura can detect when you're active. For example, if it senses you're doing housework or walking, it will record the timeframe that it assumes you're doing that activity for and count it towards your activity score. You can confirm it through the app or change it to the correct form of activity. I think this is key to eventually creating a better fitness tracking feature. If you're familiar with wearables to track your workouts, you know it's sometimes easy to forget to hit record before a workout. I like that the Oura ring acknowledges that a formal workout isn't the only activity that counts as movement and that your everyday behaviors, like cleaning your home or taking the dog for a walk, also matter.
With the new update, I can also see my cardiovascular age, which Oura estimates in relation to your age. Apparently, my cardiovascular system is 8 years younger than my age, so it's good to know that my healthy habits have been working. If you want to really dial into your cardiovascular capacity, you can take a walking test that Oura offers. Oura can also tell you your chronotype based on your natural circadian rhythms and determines if you are a morning or night person. I'm not surprised that it detects me as a morning person since I've always been early to rise.
Another important feature that I find important to note is stress. Oura can track your daytime stress levels and can tell when you're stressed, engaged, relaxed or restored. This data tells Oura if you need to focus on your recovery more based on your stress levels. I had several days (mainly moving days!) when the Oura ring noticed I was more stressed than usual compared to other days.
I appreciated Oura's holistic approach to looking at my health data as a whole instead of fixating on one feature as most wearables do. Oura has an Oura Advisor that offers personalized advice based on your data to help you improve your lifestyle. If you menstruate and want to track your cycle, the Oura tracks this information. It also provides a period prediction window for when you may expect your next period. This has been accurate for me so far -- even with some missed periods. If you're pregnant, it also provides pregnancy insights.
If you own an iPhone, you can allow the Oura to share data with other app integrations like Apple Health, Strava, Wild AI, Cronometer, Noom, Zero, Headspace, Natural Cycles, Clue and the Flo app. This is another area where I think Oura has the opportunity to expand on its integrations. It's known that new parents tend to be the most sleep-deprived and with all the different Wi-Fi-powered baby monitors out there, it would be great for Oura to connect with them to target this demographic. It may provide parents with their own unique set of data and advice if the Oura can detect that their sleep was interrupted by a crying infant.
You don't want to handle the ring too roughly. Since the exterior is shiny, it's easy to scratch or scuff up. As I've already mentioned, I wasn't a fan of the fitness tracking aspect on any of the smart rings and this was part of the reason why. It would be good for the rings to have a protective covering in case someone wants to wear it while lifting weights. I had to take the ring off when I worked out because I didn't want to scratch up the ring, plus, it wasn't comfortable to wear while holding a dumbbell.
My other issue with the fitness tracking is that the Oura is only able to detect cardio-based activities. You can log if you're running, cycling or walking in real time, but with other forms of activity, you have to log after the fact. This defeats the purpose of having a fitness tracking option, but I also acknowledge that it isn't the main premise of the smart ring.
In general, if you want an overview of your health data, Oura does a great job condensing it into an easy-to-read and follow app. I realize that at $300 (plus the $6 monthly membership), it isn't the cheapest wearable, but depending on what insight you want into your health, it may be worth it.
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