Smart rings are booming, and they’re here to stay. While some new wearable categories spring up, make a big noise, and then fade away, the future of smart rings looks bright.
The Oura Ring 3 is the best smart ring you can buy right now – but with its mandatory subscription, it’s an expensive option.
That means the Ultrahuman Ring Air and Samsung Galaxy Ring are really attractive options – and both impressed us in our testing.
If you’re ready to size up for a smart ring, we’ve picked out the best to pick up right now from our first hand experience.
What is a smart ring and what do they do?
Smart rings are small and discreet wearables, ideal for people who want to get the benefits of a wearable, without wearing a bulky smartwatch or fitness tracker. They mainly track sleep, steps, recovery and stress.
They’ve proven popular because a smart ring is more comfortable to sleep than a smartwatch, so you can get in-depth health insights, and still wear your favorite watch or timepiece.
What are the downsides of a smart ring?
Smart rings are generally poor at tracking workouts, and few have advanced health features such as ECG/blood pressure (yet). The lack of screen and NFC also means they can feel less useful than a smartwatch.
Best recommended smart rings from our reviews
Oura Ring Gen 3
Price: $299 + $5.99 a month (ships globally) | Oura Store
- Weight: 4-6 grams (depending on size)
- Sensors: PPG, skin temperature, accelerometer, IR sensor to check alignment
- Color options: Heritage and Horizon styles. Silver, matte black, stealth black, rose gold, gold
We’ve just re-reviewed the Oura Gen 3, revisiting our testing after its initial launch in 2021. There are so many new features being added all the time, and we upped its score to a 4.5/5 based on the shear weight of new features – and it also got a Wearable of the Year 2022 award, too.
It’s still the best smart ring on the market. Since then, Oura has also launched the cleaner Oura Ring 3 Horizon design – and even collaborated with Gucci.
The core of the Oura experience focuses on readiness and sleep – and delivers scores just like the Whoop 4.0. It’s focused on analyzing your sleep and HRV, and checking the two are in balance, with newer features like Daytime Stress and Stress Resilience really building up this picture.
- Oura Ring 4: Release date rumors and features wish list
We’ve found the accuracy of continuous heart rate monitoring (during rest) and stress tracking to be very good overall, and it’s one of the best-performing sleep trackers we’ve ever tested.
It can also track heart rate during workouts, although our testing has shown that it’s no match for dedicated sports watches in terms of accuracy – and this is one area Samsung does better.
Oura has built up to 800 ‘integrations’, which enable the ecosystem to connect to an array of apps. That enables a richer experience with top female-health tracking apps such as Clue and Natural Cycles, and also services such as Headspace and HRV4training. Check out our guide here.
The only real downside of Oura is the subscription model, which costs $5.99 a month ($6.99 outside of the US/EU), on top of the $299 starting price for the ring. So it’s not cheap.
But you’re looking for the best smart ring out there, this is still the one to beat. But the high price tag, ongoing subscription, and focus on wellness over fitness mean it won’t suit every wearable shopper.
- Read our full Oura Gen 3 review
Ultrahuman Ring Air
Price: $349 / £329 / €325 | Ultrahuman
- Weight: 2.4g-3.6g (depending on size)
- Sensors: PPG, SpO2, skin temperature, accelerometer
- Color options: Aster Black, Matte Grey, Bionic Gold, and Space Silver
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is the company’s second-generation smart ring. It’s lighter and smaller than its predecessor, at just 2.4g, making it more comfortable to wear.
It’s still a chunky ring, and we didn’t find it that comfortable or attractive. But if you’re used to wearing big rings – and they suit your hands – then this can be a very good option.
Sleep is the main focus, and there’s a sleep index that takes into account a wide range of data and metrics. We found that sleep tracking was largely reliable, with accuracy that stood up well to Oura and Whoop.
It also puts a focus on recovery – and helping manage circadian rhythms, including managing stimulants and prompting healthy wind-down times. These are interesting additions that sit well alongside the deep insights.
There’s also a recovery score, which also tracks metrics such as resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and body temperature. These are compared to established baseline scores, and there’s a traffic light system to show if these are outside of your norms.
The Ultrahuman app also has a glucose element, and pairs to a CGM for analysis of blood sugar. It also supports new ‘PowerPlugs’ which are a range of apps and integrations that can be added to the experience. There’s a new jetlag advisor and a paid-for Afib detection feature – so it’s an experience that’s growing quickly.
Ultrahuman Ring Air costs $349 / £329/ €325 without ongoing subscriptions, so it’s a good alternative to Oura in terms of cost. The metrics you get are also similar – but when you really dig in, it doesn’t compare to Oura in the fields of women’s health tracking or stress tracking.
- Read our full review of the Ultrahuman Ring Air
Samsung Galaxy Ring
$399/£399 | Samsung
- Color options: Silver/Black/Gold
- Weight: 2.3-3 grams
- Sensors: Skin temp, PPG, accelerometer
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is now fully available – after putting it through its paces in our review – it’s a great start from the tech giant.
The smart ring is Android-only, features a handy charging case, and comes priced at a pretty lofty $399/$399 – that’s $100/£100 more expensive than the base edition of Oura’s Gen 3 ring (though no subscription is required for Samsung’s ring).
Read this: Samsung Galaxy Ring vs Oura Ring Gen 3
Sleep is a huge focus of the Galaxy Ring, and it advances this with nifty sleep coaching, backed up by its chronotype feature, which characterizes your sleep patterns with an animal. You can then choose to work on improving specific areas of your sleep habits. It’s a smart sleep system which is really actionable.
Samsung’s new Energy Score sits at the heart of the experience, and we found its scores based on your sleep/HRV/heart rate responsive and intelligent. And the Galaxy AI will also chime in to add insights on high or low scores. We were impressed.
Exercise heart rate was also better than any smart ring we’ve tested, although we recommend swerving the automatic workout detection, and starting workouts manually via the app (and taking your smartphone with you).
So why isn’t this the best smart ring ever? Well, you don’t get as many insights as Oura and Ultrahuman, even if Samsung covers the core experience just as well. There’s also issues in recommending the Galaxy Ring to existing Galaxy smartwatch users when it does nothing different. In fact, it does much less, as there are no ECG/BIA/blood pressure insights.
And we did also have some concerns over inaccurate SpO2 scores, from our testing.
But for a Gen 1 product, Samsung has got so much right here.
Read our full verdict in our Samsung Galaxy Ring review.
Prevention Circul+
Price: $299 | Bodimetrics
- Weight: 4.9 grams
- Sensors: Blood Pressure, ECG, Oximetry, Heart Rate, Temperature
- Color options: Silver, black, rose gold
We’ve seen ECG sensors on smartwatches and fitness trackers, but now Bodimetrics in partnership with Prevention has put that tech into a smart ring too. It’s received FDA approval for its blood oxygen tracking too, and across all skin tones, too.
It’s not just ECG that this clever ring can track either. It can take blood pressure measurements while capturing that ECG measurement and once you’ve calibrated it with a cuff-style monitor first.
It promises heart rate tracking accuracy plus or minus 2bpm against medical grade monitoring and a +/- 3% accuracy for SpO2 monitoring it’s capable of as well.
When we matched up data with a blood pressure monitor, pulse oximeter, and other ECG wearables, we found the data accuracy was good overall.
But the (very) chunky build mean that it’s really aimed at those looking for medical grade tracking and analysis for managing conditions. It’s not something that people will want to wear just to keep tabs on their daily activity – this is serious health tech.
As such, data is presented well. But it lacks actionable insights – it’s all about those vitals. If you have a medical condition that requires monitoring ECG and heart rate data, you’re well set. But it won’t tell you if you’re stressed, overtraining, or might be getting your period, like consumer devices like Oura.
There’s more going on with sleep monitoring letting you capture sleep duration, and sleep stages including REM time along with heart rate, baseline skin temperature, and SpO2 levels including an oxygen desaturation index. The data again felt very reliable on the whole.
That data can be stored freely in the app and cloud and can also be shared with doctors and health professionals, which is good to see here.
There’s also just 16 hours of battery life, which means weighing up when you monitor your stats. Its rather awkward and unique design means it’s one you might want to only wear to monitor your stats overnight as well.
- Read our Prevention Circul+ review
Circular Ring Slim
$275 / £225 | Circular
- Weight: 2 grams
- Sensors: PPG sensor, bioimpedance sensor, accelerometer
- Color options: Black
Smart ring startup Circular has returned with what it claims is the industry’s thinnest and lightest offering yet – the $275 / £225 Circular Ring Slim. We were critical in our initial review, but the company released an updated version in June 2024 that addressed many of our concerns around its scratch-resistant coating and water-resistance.
It tips the scales at just 2g and measures 2.2mm thick. To put these specs into context, industry leader Oura’s Generation 3 Horizon model measures in at 2.55mm thick and clocks the scales at around 4-6g, while the Circular Ring Pro is 2.75mm and 4g.
The Circular Ring Slim packs a three-axis accelerometer, temperature sensor, PPG sensor, and LEDs that are used to monitor the likes of breathing rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate are sticking around, too.
The insights provided by the Kira+ app do lag behind the likes of Ultrahuman and Oura, but the company has now released new algorithms for workout tracking. We’re putting those to the test to see how they stack up. But for now, it’s hard to recommend the Circular Ring Slim over rivals.
- Read our full Circular Ring Slim review
RingConn Gen 1
$279/£220 | RingConn
- Weight: 3-5g
- Sensors: Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope
- Color options: Black, silver, gold
Note: RingConn has launched Gen 2 smart ring with an astounding 12 days of battery life – and we’re currently reviewing it. It’s currently live on Kickstarter at an early bird price of $209, and we’re confident enough to recommend looking there.
The RingConn smart ring, a recent entrant in the smart ring market, is a serious alternative to competitors like the Oura Ring.
Crowdfunded with over $1 million in 2023, the one-off $279/£220 price tag has no ongoing subscription, which puts it on par with the likes of the Circular Ring Slim and Ultrahuman Ring Air.
The design mirrors the sleekness of the Oura Ring, with a titanium build, and various color options.
We found it one of the best-fitting rings we’ve worn, with minimal movement on the finger, which allowed for solid and accurate heart rate data in our review period.
It also packs a strong array of health and fitness tracking capabilities including step counting, sleep monitoring, heart rate tracking, and stress insights. However, there’s no provision for workout tracking.
However, the RingConn app, while functional, lacks the polish of Oura, and the software needs development.
Sleep tracking accuracy was comparable to Oura, and offers metrics like heart rate variability, SpO2 levels, respiratory rate, and more.
And it’s the battery life that stands out, lasting up to five days – and the charging case is capable of 18 recharges.
Overall, while the hardware excels, the software needs refinement to match the serious health insights offered by competitors like Oura.
But RingConn excels in terms of battery life, and with no subscription, works out much cheaper.
- Read our full RingConn Gen 1 review
Movano Evie Ring
Price: $269 | Movano
- Weight: 3.2-3.7g
- Sensors: PPG sensor, temperature sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope
- Color options: Silver, rose gold, black (coming soon)
The Movano Evie Ring is a female-focused smart ring – so it’s one of the rare wearables that’s designed with women’s health in mind.
We’re still loosely in the process of testing the Evie, but we’ve run into technical problems and our sample is being changed. We’ve also heard from readers who have also run into issues with Evie – and there’s a Reddit thread dedicated to the issue, too.
We recently published an early review that concluded that the tech issues around Evie, and the basic nature of its tracking and analysis, mean buyers should avoid the smart ring for now.
On paper, Evie packs a bold design, and thin build, which should make it more wearable. And the Evie Ring will also be released in three colors: gold, silver, and rose gold.
It doesn’t hold back on features, either. The Movano Evie will measure heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep, respiration rate, temperature, and blood oxygen. It will also track mood and menstrual cycle symptoms (via user inputs) and aims to track a holistic overview of health and activity via the Daily Summary window.
Movano has applied for FDA approval for its heart rate tech – although this has not been granted yet – so it means business about accuracy.
- Read our early Movano Evie review
Amazfit Helio
$299/£269 | Amazfit
Weight: 3.75-4g
Color options: Titanium
Sensors: PPG, accelerometer, temperature sensor, EDA sensor
We love the build of Helio and the design – and it might be our favorite smart ring to date purely in terms of how it looks and feels. The titanium alloy ended up scratch-free in our weeks of testing, and its slim and light too. What’s more, it’s 10ATM water resistant.
But when it comes to the data and insights, things aren’t so good.
First up, at the time of writing, it only comes in US10/US12 sizes.
The problem is that Helio doesn’t really do much. It adds data such as Readiness and recovery to the Zepp Health app, and sleep tracking metrics (which are already part of the company’s smartwatches). It will also track sleep heart rate variability (HRV) and resting HR.
Sadly, we found the sleep data itself to be significantly overestimated compared to Whoop, Oura and Apple Watch. And compared to the similarly priced Ultrahuman, the insights feel limited. It doesn’t feel worth the money.
If you’re committed to Amazfit sports watches, then it can make a nice companion device for your Zepp Health ecosystem. And the spec sheet lists a host of sensors that don’t seem to be enabled yet. But we have to question how many people are so wedded to Amazfit they’d spend $299 on such a limited device at this moment in time.
- Read our full Amazfit Helio review
Smart ring specs compared
| Smart Ring | Weight (grams) | Sensors | Color Options | Water Resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oura Ring Gen 3 | 4g | PPG, infrared LED, ambient light, accelerometer | Silver, matte black, stealth black, rose gold, gold | IPX8 (swim-proof up to 100 meters) |
| Samsung Galaxy Ring | 2.3g | Skin temp, PPG, accelerometer | Black, gold, silver | IP68/10ATM (100m) |
| RingConn Gen 1 | 4.7g | PPG, accelerometer, gyroscope | Silver, black, rose gold | IP68 (water resistant up to 50 meters) |
| Ultrahuman Ring Air | 3.6g | PPG, infrared LED, accelerometer | Stealth black, silver, rose gold | IPX8 (swim-proof up to 100 meters) |
| Circular Ring Slim | 2g | PPG, accelerometer | Black, silver, rose gold | IPX8 (as of June 2024) |
| Prevention Circul+ | 4.9g | PPG, accelerometer | Silver, black, rose gold | IP67 (water resistant up to 1 meter for 30 minutes) |
| Movano Evie Ring | 4.5g | PPG, accelerometer, gyroscope | Silver, rose gold, black (coming soon) | IPX8 (swim-proof up to 50 meters) |
| Amazfit Helio | 3.75g | PPG, accelerometer, temperature sensor, EDA sensor | ‘Titanium’ | IP68/10ATM (100m) |
Smart ring key considerations:
Getting the size right
This applies to all wearables, but if you’re looking at buying a smart ring, you need to make sure you get a good comfortable fit.
Most of the smart rings we’ve tested provide a sizing kit with a plastic version of that ring so you can try a range of different sizes before the one packed with smarts is sent out to you. Samsung’s is optional but don’t skip this step. You should wear that test ring for a day or two to make sure it fits well and doesn’t fly off when you wash your hands (we’re speaking from experience!)
A snug fit that doesn’t twist around is also key to getting accurate sensor data, so this aspect is really important. Also, if you wash your hands with a smart ring that’s a size too big, expect to feel it fly across the room.
Scratch and water resistance
Smart rings take a battering, so getting something that won’t be torn to shreds after a couple of months is important. Many rings (see RingConn and Oura) are made of titanium, which is light and super-scratch resistant.
We’d suggest taking it off when doing activities like lifting weights, however.
Many smart rings are 5ATM water resistant, so they can be worn in the pool or shower. That’s not universal though, and there are rings with lower ratings that only protect against washing your hands. Be aware.
Health and fitness features
Many of the rings we’ve seen so far have been designed to track elements of your health and fitness. Whether that’s tracking steps, sleep, or monitoring heart rate and body temperature, they promise to offer a level of accuracy that matches or even surpasses other wearable form factors.
To deliver that data it’s using similar sensors used in wrist-based devices, so light-based optical sensors that can deliver continuous heart rate monitoring and blood oxygen data. You can also find rings that pack in ECG sensors to offer a level of heart rate tracking seen in the medical space.
Payments and other smarts
Some rings prioritize putting other features onto your finger and that includes the ability to make payments or letting you take control of features on your phone. That payment support is driven by similar NFC and contactless technology used in smartwatches and bank cards, letting you raise your ring to the terminal to make a payment. Those rings that offer smartphone control features are tied to maintaining a connection with your phone via Bluetooth to deliver those control powers.
Battery life
Planting those innovative sensors into an even smaller form factor than watches and fitness bands does mean you’re currently not going to enjoy weeks and months of battery life.
Despite to their size, most smart rings will last around 6 days between charges. So you will need to charge on a pretty regular basis and need to use a proprietary charging cradle to power things back up. The RingConn 2 goes even further with 12 days – and we’ve also seen rings such as Evie and RingConn use charging cases – like a pair of AirPods for example – which can offer charging on the move.
The post Best smart rings 2024: Top fitness, sleep and recovery tracking rings appeared first on Wareable.
