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CNET
10-06-2025
- Health
- CNET
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.
CNET
04-06-2025
- Health
- CNET
Your Apple Watch Might Not Be as Accurate as You Think, New Study Finds
The first thing that always crosses my mind when testing fitness wearables is how accurate the data is. Smartwatches and fitness trackers aren't cheap, and if you're using them to monitor something as crucial as your health, then accuracy matters. Everyone and their brother wear some sort of fitness tracker, whether it be an Apple Watch, Google Pixel Watch, Oura Ring or Whoop. It's estimated that one in three Americans uses a wearable device for health and fitness tracking features. That brings me back to whether these things can be trusted. If they're not accurate… What's the point? Should we all go back to analog? Researchers from the University of Mississippi conducted a meta-analysis of 56 studies that compared the Apple Watch with reference tools when measuring factors like heart rate, step count and energy burned. While there's always some expected error, we have a more definitive answer for how much stock you should put in the numbers you see on your watch. Apple Watches are good at measuring steps and heart rate The meta-analysis findings show that the Apple Watch accurately measures your heart rate and step count. We know this based on the mean absolute percentage error measurement (the standard way to measure accuracy) reported for each health metric. Heart rate had a percentage error of 4.43%, while step count had an error of 8.17%. Anything below 10% is considered excellent, so you should feel pretty confident in what your Apple Watch says your heart rate and step count are for the day. However, you shouldn't rely on the energy expenditure metric The same can't be said for energy expenditure or calories burned. The percentage error for this metric was 27.96%. That's a significant jump in inaccuracy. Researchers found energy expenditure inaccurate across all activities tested, including walking, running, mixed-intensity workouts and cycling. This isn't a new problem. Several studies have found that smartwatches and trackers don't do a great job of calculating calorie burn. They can be off by 40% to 80%. A different study revealed that the Apple Watch Series 9 can vary in energy expenditure and heart rate measures across skin pigmentation. While this study was specific to Apple Watches, I expect similar trends across other devices because they often measure similarly. One study found that the Fitbit Surge had a mean error of 27% when measuring calories burned. Smartwatches calculate how many calories you burn throughout the day, using factors such as your movements, heart rate and data from the sensors inside the watch. Other factors, such as your age, weight and gender, are also included in this calculation. None of them will be 100% accurate. Where does this leave you and your data? This news doesn't scare me as a smartwatch wearer who uses my daily data to track my workouts and sleep. I still think the data smartwatches give us is a great way to stay motivated. I've used the Google Pixel 3 watch to monitor my heart health thanks to the cardio load metric. When it comes to sleep, I've noticed some inaccuracy when it comes to when I fall asleep and wake up, though it's not a huge difference. Most trackers use your heart rate and movement to track your sleep, so it's unsurprising to see some degree of error. There's always some error, and for my use, that's OK. I use my data for trends of my progress, rather than extremely granular data. Though if you're a serious athlete who tracks down to the calorie, it's essential not to rely on your smartwatch for this number. Your smartwatch is a tool to guide you through your wellness journey. Use it to build habits and make meaningful changes, not diagnose medical conditions. That said, I wouldn't count out smartwatch features like Apple's Vital app, fall detection or the loss-of-pulse detection feature that Google Pixel watches are getting. Apple and other brands continuously release updates to improve their tech over time. And if you're wondering which smartwatch you should get for the best accuracy, it's hard to say. They all have their own tracking methods, even if they often overlap. None of them are perfect, so it's best to choose which one fits your budget and vibe best.
The Verge
24-05-2025
- Health
- The Verge
Whoop is reportedly replacing defective MG trackers
Users of Whoop's fitness trackers have been reporting that their Whoop MG fitness trackers are turning unresponsive, in some cases within under an hour of setting them up. Now, the company is apparently replacing the trackers, in some cases before the users even ask, TechIssuesToday reports. Launched alongside the Whoop 5.0 earlier this month, the Whoop MG (which stands for 'Medical Grade') comes with EKG capabilities and blood pressure insights and requires a premium Whoop Life subscription that's $359 per year. Users started reporting issues with the tracker almost immediately. On May 11th, a user reported in the Whoop community forum that their MG 'stopped working overnight after working for 8 hours. No green light, no bluelight nothing. It won't now pair with the app.' Others replied to say the tracker failed even sooner for them, with one person reporting that it went inert after just half an hour of use. Some also report that their 5.0 has failed. The company appears to be trying to rectify the situation by sending out replacement units, sometimes without users even asking for one, as the Reddit user who posted the screenshot above wrote further down in the thread. The same goes for a user who posted two days ago to say they got the same notification despite having not noticed any problems with their MG. Some in that thread even write that the company replaced their MGs without ever telling them it would be doing so. It's already been a troubled launch for Whoop. Earlier this month, some users were outraged when Whoop said they would need to add another 12 months onto their memberships to avoid the upgrade fee for the Whoop 5.0. Previously, users only needed to have 6 months left on their subscription to get a Whoop 4.0. The company soon walked its new terms back, posting on Reddit that those who had at least 12 months left would be eligible for an upgrade.
Android Authority
23-05-2025
- Health
- Android Authority
WHOOP's new high-end fitness tracker is just straight-up dying all over the place
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority TL;DR WHOOP introduced its 5.0 and MG trackers earlier this month. A concerning number of new WHOOP MG owners have been posting about the trackers failing within hours of first use. This very public failure follows hot on the heels of WHOOP criticism for backing down from earlier upgrade promises. Earlier this month, WHOOP introduced its latest fitness trackers, announcing the WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP Medical Grade (MG). The company's screen-less solutions offer an alternative to wearables that demand a lot of user attention, so long as you're cool with the subscription-based model they require. While everything sounded fine initially, it didn't take too long for the first sign of trouble to creep up, as existing users started complaining about being charged to upgrade to the new hardware, despite earlier promises of getting it for free. As if that weren't trouble enough, today we're leaning about yet another dark cloud casting itself over the recent launch. Compared to the WHOOP 5.0, the WHOOP MG and its corresponding 'Life' subscription tier offer advanced health features like atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection, blood pressure insights, and a heart screener with electrocardiogram (ECG). Understandably, a lot of the company's users found that MG option particularly appealing, and signed up right away. But it took basically no time at all before reports of problems started piling up. The crew over at Tech Issues Today has been compiling some of these user complaints, and there is absolutely no shortage of them. We hear in multiple Reddit threads, like these from users Kingmasala, SalesRep44, and ivanflo, that their brand-new trackers are just straight-up dying, either right out of the gate or within the first day or so of operation. Some users, like Mountain-Lead, have shared communication they've received from WHOOP where the company says it's proactively sending our replacement hardware, suggesting awareness of a widespread issue. Frustratingly, some seem to be getting the wrong devices, receiving the base WHOOP 5.0 instead of a direct replacement for the pricier WHOOP MG. If you're experiencing issues with your WHOOP tracker, the company offers some troubleshooting steps you can attempt, but you may ultimately need to contact support for a replacement. Just keep your fingers crossed that you get the right one sent to you, we guess. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Health Line
21-05-2025
- Health
- Health Line
Wearable Devices for Primary Progressive MS
Wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smartwatches can help people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis manage symptoms, track their activity, and improve their overall health. A diagnosis of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) can bring on a lot of uncertainty. This chronic (long-term) condition occurs when your immune system attacks the nerves in your brain and spinal cord, making them work less well over time. It's not clear why this condition develops. When living with PPMS, you may experience fatigue, vision changes, and weakness that can worsen over time. But each person with PPMS experiences it differently. In some, the condition gets worse quickly, and in others it progresses more slowly. Some people who have MS can remain active and mobile for years, while others may experience a significant decrease in mobility within the first few months after diagnosis. Research has found that exercise can help manage many MS symptoms and might also help improve cognitive function (thinking ability and memory). Wearable devices are a growing part of the fitness market. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), an estimated 534.6 million wearables were shipped globally in 2024 — almost 28 times the number shipped in 2014. This number is expected to grow even more by 2028, showing that wearables have become a regular part of daily life for many people. This rapid growth in the use of wearables isn't just about fitness tracking or smartwatches. People are also using wearables to monitor their heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep quality. And wearables are changing the way people living with MS can monitor their symptoms and mobility. What are wearable devices? Wearable devices are portable gadgets that allow you to track, manage, and understand your overall health. Most wearable devices sync with mobile apps or websites to track and record statistics and habits. They can monitor everything from the number of steps you take to your sleep patterns to how many calories you eat. Here are some examples of the available types of wearable devices and what they do: Fitness trackers: monitor steps, activity levels, sleep quality, and heart rate Smartwatches: combine health tracking with features such as notifications, calls, and GPS Smart rings: offer discreet tracking of sleep, heart rate, and readiness levels Wearable ECG monitors: can detect irregular heart rhythms and share results with your doctor Smart clothing or patches: track muscle activity, hydration, posture, and body temperature Wearable glucose monitors: track blood sugar levels in real time (often as part of diabetes management) Can wearable devices really help people with MS? While physical activity and mobility are important for everyone, they're especially important when you have MS. But staying active can be challenging because fatigue and loss of mobility are two of the most common symptoms of MS. People with MS might assume they're getting more or less exercise than they actually are. That's where wearables come in. These devices can help people with and without MS more accurately monitor their fitness levels. One of the advantages of wearable devices is their ability to track health goals 24/7. These devices go beyond what doctors and rehabilitation specialists see when people are in their offices for appointments. People with PPMS can share their health statistics and measures from wearable devices with their doctors, and this data may prove helpful to researchers. Some newer devices can also detect when someone has taken a hard fall. Depending on the situation, if the person doesn't get up shortly afterward, the device may notify family or emergency responders. How do I choose a wearable device? Deciding which wearable to buy is a matter of personal preference, needs, and lifestyle. But that doesn't make the decision any easier! Most are worn around your wrist, but newer options include rings, patches, and even smart clothing. Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung, and Xiaomi are considered the most successful fitness tracker and smartwatch brands. Wearable devices from these brands are known for their wide range of features and health monitoring capabilities. With so many options available, it's crucial to think about what you need from a device before choosing one. Consider your goals, preferences, and budget. You can ask yourself the following questions to find the right fit and style for you: What do you want to track? Do you want to know your daily steps, or do you want to monitor your sleep, heart rate, or stress levels? Do you prefer automatic or manual syncing? Some devices sync automatically with your smartphone or cloud accounts, while others call for manual syncing. If you're not tech-savvy, automatic syncing may be better. Do you want to be part of a community? Some trackers come with built-in social features or access to online communities for challenges and motivation. How much are you willing to spend? Costs can vary depending on accuracy, features, battery life, and brand reputation. Try to choose one that fits your preferences and your budget. Will your health insurance cover part or all of the cost or offer any discounts for using a wearable? Some insurance plans or employers may help pay for a wearable or give rewards for using one. How important are style and comfort? You'll likely be wearing the device every day, so make sure it fits well and matches your style preferences. Do you want medical-grade or casual health data? Some wearables have Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for measuring heart rhythm and oxygen levels, while other devices focus more on general health. Is it compatible with your smartphone or apps? Check to make sure the device works with the operating system you use (e.g., iOS, Android, or another platform). Answering these questions can help make the decision a little easier. 'Consumer devices can measure number of steps, distance walked, and sleep quality on a continuous basis in a person's home environment. These data could provide potentially important information to supplement office visit exams.' —Richard Rudick, MD
