You may or may not have heard of smart rings, but you've certainly seen them. One of the most buzzworthy smart rings today is the Oura Ring, which has been spotted on celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian, according to media outlets. What's so special about this smart ring, might you wonder? While the Oura Ring may look like just any other chunky ring, it's full of technology and gathers data while being worn to give you a better overall picture of your health. It's similar to a smart watch or fitness tracker, minus the distractions, and disguised as a ring. Best of all, it doesn't require daily charging.
The product analysts and experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute Media & Tech Lab test everything from gadgets like smart watches for men to cheap earbuds and sleep apps. We put the Oura Ring to the test and loved it so much that it earned a Good Housekeeping 2023 Fitness Award. Meanwhile, I've continued testing the Oura Ring daily over the past several months to share everything I love about it, as well as areas that call for improvement.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Oura Ring in 2023 and whether it's worth it for you.
Pros
- Comfortable, lightweight design
- Intuitive and easy to use app
- Great battery life
- Provides a variety of health insights
- Includes women's health features like period prediction
- Free sizing kit
Cons
- Expensive
- Activity tracking could be improved
- Subscription required for access to all insights
What is the Oura Ring?
Though the Oura Ring may look strikingly similar to the rest of your jewelry, don’t be fooled by its discreet appearance. Behind a sleek, minimalist design it houses three sensors that make the Oura Ring a smart ring that can track health data. Each day you wear your ring, your personal data will be summarized into three easy-to-digest scores: readiness, sleep and activity. These scores are based on measurements taken by the ring’s tiny sensors as well as other metrics, including heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), temperature, activity, sleep and more. Also unique to the Oura Ring is that it doesn't feature a display, so you'll have to access everything through the Oura app on your smartphone.
How to set up the Oura Ring
Before you’re able to set up your Oura Ring, you’ll be sent a free sizing kit to determine the correct size for your finger. Oura recommends wearing your ring on your index finger, though you can wear it on your middle or ring finger if preferable. Because your fingers can swell throughout the day, it’s super important to wear your sizing ring for at least 24 hours and follow Oura’s instructions. When I first tried out my sizing ring it initially felt comfortable, but by the next morning I could barely remove it so I ultimately decided to go up a size.
Once you’ve found the right size and your Oura Ring arrives, download the Oura App and set up your ring by pairing it to your smartphone via Bluetooth. Just make sure that the ring is placed on its charger during the pairing process.
How much does the Oura ring cost?
The Oura ring keeps things simple by only offering two styles, the Heritage or Horizon. Both styles are similar, the only difference being that the Heritage has a distinctive flat-top while the Horizon is completely round. Heritage rings are slightly cheaper, starting at $299, while Horizon rings start at $349. I’ve tested both styles and though I do prefer the clean design of the round Horizon, the $50 upcharge may or may not be worth it for you.
Each Oura Ring is offered in a variety of popular shades that also impact its price; these finishes are gold, silver, black and stealth (matte black) and rose gold. Silver and black Oura Rings start at $299, but the price goes up if you opt for the Horizon style and it increases even further for a stealth or gold finish. If you’re eyeing rose gold, this finish is only available in the Horizon style and comes at the most expensive price of all rings at $549.
Keep in mind that to access all of your Oura Ring’s insights, a monthly subscription of $5.99 per month is required. Without a subscription, you’ll still be able to see your readiness, sleep and activity scores but as someone who had access to all of Oura’s data and saw it disappear going forward because my free trial subscription ended, I can confirm that you will be missing out on a lot of useful insights that make up these scores.
What does the Oura Ring measure?
You wouldn’t guess it, but there’s a lot of technology packed into the Oura Ring. Inside the ring you’ll find three sensors that should sit against the bottom or palm of your index finger: PPG (infrared photoplethysmography) sensors to measure heart rate and respiration, a NTC (negative temperature coefficient) sensor for body temperature and, lastly, a 3D accelerometer that tracks movement.
The PPG sensor uses LED lights to capture your heart’s activity; if you wake up in the middle of the night, this is why you’ll see a green light being emitted from your Oura Ring. According to Oura, the finger provides a stronger heart rate signal thanks to its proximity to arteries in your finger; the brand recommends using your index finger but to avoid fingers that have a narrower base than the knuckle. The NTC sensor also works at night by monitoring your nighttime skin temperature. After a night of sleep, you’ll be able to view how your body temperature deviated from its baseline, which can help indicate hormonal fluctuations, illness and more. Lastly, the 3D accelerometer is used for tracking daytime activity such as walking and running as well as nighttime tossing and turning. It also helps identify sleep stages.
The Oura Ring can even detect overall blood oxygen saturation levels (SpO2), or levels of oxygen in your blood, during your sleep to indicate any breathing irregularities. To calculate SpO2, it sends red and infrared LEDS into your finger.
Testing the Oura Ring: Design
One of my favorite features about the Oura ring is its comfortable and lightweight design. As someone who gets easily annoyed by jewelry (and takes it off the second I get home), it’s a big deal if I’m going to start wearing a new ring every day and night. With that in mind, I was frankly surprised by how quickly I got used to the Oura. I could feel it for the first few days, but by the following week I forgot that it was even there. "The ring is comfortable as far as rings go," says one tester. "However, it would be nice to have an adjustable ring for when it gets more humid and my fingers expand in size." This is exactly why accurate sizing is so important.
Though the Oura ring is chunkier and larger than my other rings, it does a very impressive job at blending in so unless you look closely, you simply can’t tell that it’s a smart ring housing tiny sensors inside. I also appreciate its titanium design and "diamond-like coating," according to the brand. After nearly a year of use, my Oura Ring only has a few minor scratches that are barely noticeable.
Thanks to its minimalist design, Oura takes the edge over other watches when it comes to tracking my sleep. I’ve tried time and time again to sleep with a watch, but hate being able to feel it on my wrist. The Oura, on the other hand, feels no different than my wedding band — it’s small enough to be unnoticeable. In fact, the only times I ever feel the need to take off my Oura Ring (aside from charging it) is when I’m lifting weights at the gym or washing heavy pans and the ring starts to rub uncomfortably.
Testing the Oura Ring: Battery life
Speaking of charging my Oura Ring, another standout feature is its battery life. According to the brand, the Oura Ring has a claimed battery life of up to seven days. For the most part, I’ve found that I have to charge my ring every five days or so, but when I do it charges super quickly in around 30 minutes or so. Great battery life also means that when I head out on quick weekend trips, I don’t even have to bring my Oura charger. But for longer vacations, you'll need the charger. This can be frustrating as it's another thing to pack, but ever more so because I can't share the charger with my partner who wears a different size (the charger is specific to your ring size). Nevertheless, I'd still choose traveling with a fairly compact charger over having to charge a device daily.
Testing the Oura Ring: Sleep tracking
The Oura Ring is my go-to wearable when it comes to sleep tracking. It doesn’t feel as invasive as a smart watch, and I know it’ll never wake me up vibrating with notifications because I forgot to turn on sleep mode. I actually appreciate not seeing any notifications on my Oura Ring and being able to properly disconnect when I need to wind down, which I find impossible to do with other gadgets.
Though I don’t really need a device telling me I slept like a rock or spent the night tossing and turning, it feels like a reward when I grab my phone upon waking up and see a high sleep score. It’s become very clear how the effects of alcohol or late night binge-watching impact my sleep cycles, and I appreciate Oura’s gentle reminders on my phone when it’s time to go to bed. In my testing, I’ve found sleep tracking to be accurate and that the ring registers when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or grab some water. Though I haven’t conducted a full study comparing the Oura to other devices, I have noticed that, on average, it seems to capture my moments of restlessness or movement more effectively.
"The ring has transformed my sleep and has helped me prioritize getting to bed early so I can feel refreshed, recovered and rejuvenated for the next day," raves Stefani Sassos, the Nutrition Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute, registered dietitian and NASM-certified personal trainer who has also been testing the Oura Ring for the past several weeks. "It also has great meditations to help you wind down for sleep."
Testing the Oura Ring: Readiness
The Oura Ring’s readiness score is an indicator of how well your body has recovered, and it’s based on several metrics that your ring calculates such as sleep, activity, HRV, temperature and more. A high readiness score (anything above 85) means that you’ve recovered well and should be in great shape to take on the day while anything below 60 indicates that you should consider taking it easy to give your body time to rest and relax. There's even a rest mode that you can activate on days when you need to prioritize recovery.
Above you'll see an example of one of my readiness scores on a great day, when I was rested and feeling good. Next to it, you can see my readiness score on a day when I should have slowed down due to a very long night of travel delays and a severe lack of sleep. In fact, the day my readiness score plummeted to one of the lowest scores I've ever had is also the day that I had a skiing accident and the misfortune of tearing my ACL. I'm not saying that listening to my Oura Ring could have prevented the injury from happening in the first place, but it serves as a harsh reminder that I should have taken the time to listen to my body. It's made me really respect Oura's mission to prioritize recharging and bring overall awareness to one's sense of well-being, especially in the fast-paced society we live in.
Testing the Oura Ring: Activity
The Oura Ring doesn’t track as many activity metrics as more fitness-focused wearables, but it will track some basic stats like steps, calories burned, daily movement and more. When comparing the Oura Ring to an Apple Watch Series 8 and Garmin Forerunner 555, I did notice that my Oura Ring tended to overestimate how much I walked. I do, however, find it handy that the Oura Ring imports workouts from apps like Apple Health, Google Fit and Strava to provide you with a more comprehensive activity score. If you don’t own a smart watch, you do have the option of manually adding workouts to your activity log (just don’t forget to do so)!
I also appreciate that the Oura Ring can automatically detect activity and will prompt you to save those sessions in the app, yet I’ll admit that it doesn’t seem to recognize some of my lighter workouts like weightlifting, bike rides and outdoor walks. Without a display, the Oura Ring ultimately isn’t comparable to some of the feature-rich wearables out there and leaves something to be desired when it comes to activity tracking. Without a display, you don’t have the possibility to hit “start” on your wrist when you’re ready to begin a yoga class, and you certainly can’t glance down at your wrist mid-sprint to check your heart rate or pace.
Though you now can actually record your heart rate during a workout through the Oura app, it's an extra step to take. If the most accurate and advanced activity tracking is a priority for you, you may be better off investing in another device or using one alongside the Oura Ring. "I love that my Oura Ring syncs to Apple Health so I can wear it at night and then my Apple watch during the day for a full day profile of my metrics," says Sassos.
Testing the Oura Ring: Women’s health
Oura offers a glance into women’s health with one of its latest features, period tracking. Though an Oura Ring cannot predict days when you’re most fertile, it still can help as a tool for pregnancy planning by providing you with useful insights into your cycle. By tracking your body temperature every night as well as any deviations from its baseline along with your HRV and other data, the Oura Ring estimates your period start date as well as where you are along in your cycle. It's been fascinating witnessing my temperature drop when I'm about to get my period and how Oura notifies me when I should expect it. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to sleep with the ring for at least 60 days before it can base predictions on your health data and that birth control, pregnancy and other hormonal therapies prevent Oura from being able to predict your period.
What I like about the Oura Ring
There’s so much that I love about the Oura Ring, from its lightweight design to accurate sleep tracking to fewer distractions in my life. But one feature that also deserves attention is the Oura app and how intuitive it is. I’ve tested a lot of health apps, and I’ve found that the Oura App truly stands out. Data is presented in a way that’s extremely easy to understand, starting with three main scores on the homepage. From there, you can dig as deep as you want to get a better understanding of your sleep, activity, recovery and other stats. From a quick glance, I can understand what exactly brought down my sleep score, or why Oura is telling me that I should take it a bit easy that day. If I don’t understand a certain metric, Oura has explanations that you can access within the app with a simple tap.
There’s also a rest mode that can be activated for days when you’re sick, under the weather or just need a break. As someone who has spent the past three months recovering from an injury and knee surgery, I’ve really appreciated being able to turn off my activity score and goals so I can focus on healing as opposed to pushing myself harder.
I’ve already mentioned that I’m obsessed with the Oura Ring’s design, but another feature that I like is that it’s extremely durable and can tolerate both extreme heat and cold. This means that I’ve been able to take my ring into the hot tub with me, the bath and the beach. I’m an avid swimmer, and I love not having to think twice about taking my ring off before jumping in the pool. In fact, it can be submerged up to 330 feet, according to Oura!
Another feature that Sassos pointed out to me is that the Oura Ring has much lower EMF exposure than a cell phone, which can ultimately be harmful to our bodies. "You can also put the ring on airplane mode, which I have now been doing when I sleep to eliminate any EMFs," she shares. "All you do is turn airplane mode off on the app when you want to sync the data or just put the ring on your charger and it will turn off airplane mode. I really like this option and that it still tracks my metrics."
What I don’t like about the Oura Ring
All that being said, the Oura Ring isn’t perfect and activity tracking is subpar. If you’re a fitness enthusiast and like tracking your performance, you’ll probably find the Oura Ring lacking. While it has registered some of my workouts in the past, I’ve found that it recently hasn’t picked up on any of my walks with the dog, so to make sure that activity goes toward my goal I would have to add it in manually (something I never take the time to do).
Sassos has had a similar experience. "My only negative feedback is that I can’t wear the ring during heavy lifting workouts without damaging it, though I can wear it during cardio workouts and lifting with certain light neoprene dumbbells," Sassos shares. "It does automatically sync the workouts for you, but sometimes it does this inaccurately or won’t pick up on my workouts if they are lower-intensity or low-impact like barre or Pilates."
Another downside is that a subscription is involved. I really think it would be a shame to use the Oura Ring without having access to all of its insights, but it's an extra fee you’ll have to factor in.
Is the Oura Ring worth it in 2023?
If you're asking for my honest opinion, then yes, the Oura Ring is absolutely worth it, though it isn’t cheap and the price is actually much closer to that of the Apple Watch Series 8 and other premium smart watches. If you’re not sold on the concept of wearing a ring as your primary wearable, you can find cheaper options that are equally attractive like the Fitbit Luxe or the Garmin Lily. That being said, none of these alternatives are rings — and that’s Oura’s main selling point. The Oura Ring provides you with access to a lot of the same metrics, without bombarding you with notifications or tempting you with a distracting display. If you're like me and love to wear an analog watch, it's really nice that you can still do so without sacrificing access to your health data.
If you want a smart ring, this is the one to get. But if you want to track workouts and receive notifications directly to your device, you may need to think twice. I’ve loved testing the Oura Ring and it’s the first time in my life that I’ve tracked my sleep so consistently, though I recognize it’s not a replacement for a smart watch. However, if you’re serious about health insights and understanding your body, you’ll be pleased with the breadth of information the Oura Ring has to offer — just take it from me and don't forget to look at that information.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Media & Tech Reviews Analyst Olivia Lipski oversees product testing and covers everything from popular wearables the Apple Watch Ultra to smart watches for women and Garmin running watches. She continues to stay on top of the industry's latest innovations and helps readers make better buying decisions by testing and reviewing the best products to hit the market. She's been testing the Oura Ring (both the Heritage and Horizon style) on her index finger since September 2022. Not only has it helped her become more aware of her terrible sleep habits, but she's learned that some days you need to just hit pause and relax.
Olivia (she/her) is a media and tech product reviews analyst at the Good Housekeeping Institute, covering tech, home, auto, health and more. She has more than five years of experience writing about tech trends and innovation and, prior to joining GH in 2021, was a writer for Android Central, Lifewire and other media outlets. Olivia is a graduate of George Washington University, with a bachelor's degree in journalism, political science and French, and she holds a master’s degree in communications from Sciences Po Paris.
