What is a smart ring and what can it do for you?
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If wearing one of the best smartwatches or best fitness trackers on your wrist 24/7 doesn’t appeal to you yet you still want to gain insight on your health and wellness then a smart ring is something to consider.
Unlike other popular fitness wearables on the market, a smart ring is much more discreet in size and feel around one of your fingers and tracks things like your exercise habits, sleep and recovery. They also tend to boast better battery life than some smartwatches, so they are more favorable for those looking for a discreet and low-maintenance tracker.
The first ever smart ring was launched in 2013 when British company Mclear brought out the NFC Ring which could do nifty things like unlock your car door for you. But it wasn’t until a good few years later that the concept of a smart ring seemed to popularize. We started to see the rise of the Oura Ring (a favorite of ours) which especially took off after events like Covid-19 when people became more interested in the benefits of tracking things like body temperature and other health monitoring features.
With more brands entering the smart ring market such as Samsung bringing out the Samsung Galaxy Ring this year, you might be wondering how a smart ring could open doors to tracking your health and fitness. With that in mind let’s look at what a smart ring can do for you and what different brands are offering.
What can a smart ring do for you?
Wondering what a smart ring can do for you? First, it's important to consider what you're looking for out of a potential smart ring purchase.
Health and Wellness Tracking
If you're looking to improve the quality of your sleep, a smart ring can monitor your SpO2 and heart rate readings overnight to determine whether you're getting restful zzz's. With this information, you can pay attention to lifestyle factors that could be impacting your sleep. A device like the Oura Ring can even recommend what time to go to bed based on your daily activity and sleep history. In addition to sleep tracking, some smart rings can monitor body temperature and provide insights into stress levels, helping you better understand your overall health.
Fitness Tracking
If you're looking to count steps and monitor your activity, a smart ring can track your movement and calories burned in a similar way to a smartwatch or classic fitness-tracking band. Although you can't see your current activity on the ring, you can view your metrics afterwards in the ring's companion app. This is a good option for those who want to keep tabs on their fitness but don't feel it necessary to follow along with live metrics.
Smart Notifications and Payments
Depending on the parent company's software integrations, a smart ring can inform other areas of your health, such as fertility. Additionally, some smart rings provide smart notifications, alerting you to calls, messages, and app notifications. For added convenience, certain models also support contactless payments.
A smart ring offers the kind of health information you'd normally get from a smartwatch but in what some people would consider a more approachable package.
What is the Oura Ring?
The Oura Ring (more specifically, the Oura Ring Gen 3) is currently the most popular smart ring available. With sophisticated sleep-tracking metrics and recovery guidance, Oura takes a truly holistic approach to helping you understand your health.
Whether you want to tackle sleep apnea, monitor stress or track menstrual cycles, Oura Ring can give you the information you need. Wearing an Oura Ring even helped one of our editors learn that she's pregnant.
Oura Ring: from $299 @ Amazon
The Oura Ring Gen 3 starts at $299 for the Heritage style and $349 for the Horizon style. You can now shop both styles in all sizes and colors at Amazon.View Deal
Oura's advantages lie in the brand's major partnerships and integrations. Think: Equinox, Therabody, Strava, Natural Cycles and Peloton. Last year, Oura Ring became available at Best Buy and more recently, the smart ring popped up on Amazon as well. Apple Watch complications for Oura Ring mean you can wear an Oura Ring in conjunction with a smartwatch if you'd like, too.
What about the Samsung Galaxy Ring and others?
The Samsung Galaxy Ring launched this month, and the Tom's Guide team is currently testing it to see how it compares with existing favorites. For now, we have some early ideas on how the Galaxy Ring vs. Oura Ring should stack up. With this new entrant, the landscape of smart rings is growing and becoming more exciting.
There are a few Oura Ring alternatives, though among them, the Ultrahuman Ring Air stands out as the clear winner. This smart ring accurately tracks your sleep, recovery, movement, heart rate, skin temperature, and even more metrics—all while being smaller and lighter than competitors.
If you're not looking to break the bank, the Amovan Smart Ring is one of the better budget alternatives, although it has mixed reviews regarding data accuracy.
The number of smart ring options available is changing quickly. Amazfit is coming out with the athlete-focused Helio Ring, while all eyes are on the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Ring. We got an up-close look at it earlier this year and have some ideas on how the Galaxy Ring vs. Oura Ring should stack up.
That's not all—Apple is also rumored to be working on a smart ring. We don't know much about this so-called Apple Ring, but it would certainly be an exciting launch.
What to know before buying a smart ring
The key thing to know when buying a smart ring is that you'll need to purchase the right size. Just like you want a pair of running shoes in your exact size for them to perform properly, finding the best smart ring fit for you is extremely important. Most smart ring brands offer a sizing kit to help you find the ideal fit; however, just because you know your ring size for one brand doesn't mean it's the same for another one. You'll want to use the sizing kit made for the specific brand of ring you're buying.
Another important consideration is compatibility. Some smart rings are only compatible with certain operating systems. For example, the new Samsung Galaxy Ring is only compatible with Android 11 and above so it's a good idea to double-check this before making a purchase. This can impact how well the ring integrates with your device and its associated apps.
As is the case for most kinds of gadgets you buy these days, you'll also want to research whether the smart ring requires a subscription. For example, Oura charges $5.99 per month to access all the fitness metrics available through its smart ring. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Ring doesn't require a subscription.
Either way, based on the growing competition among smart rings, we should see quite a few more advancements in the space soon.
