Oura can, beyond any doubt, take credit for putting smart rings on the map. The Oura Ring Gen 3, released in 2021, is on 2.5 million fingers per the health tech company’s reporting. (This includes mine for well over a year now.)
But as a reminder to the growing number of newcomers on the smart ring scene, Oura has just revealed a substantial two-pronged response: the redesigned Oura Ring 4 and an updated Oura app experience.
The Oura Ring 4 — not branded Oura Ring Gen 4 — looks to be the most discreet, comfortable and accurate smart ring yet. Starting at $349 and available on October 15, the ring’s all-titanium frame is completely leveled on the inside thanks to new recessed health-tracking sensors.
According to Oura, more than double the signal pathways than before (now 18 up from 8) mean the ring can determine optimal sensing paths through your finger on the fly. This makes it more forgiving in terms of data gaps when the ring is rotated out of position. Plus, the blood oxygen readings are supposedly 120% more accurate on Oura Ring 4, too.
What surprised me most is that this new Smart Sensing technology doesn’t hit the Oura Ring 4’s battery life. In fact, the battery life of this ring now lasts up to 8 days, which is a day longer than both the Oura Ring Gen 3’s and Samsung Galaxy Ring’s best estimates.
My experience with the Gen 3 was that battery lasts closer to the 4-5 day window with all the features enabled and frequent exercise tracking, so I’m definitely curious to see whether there’s obvious improvement in testing.
Other things worth noting in terms of design are the sizes and color options. The Oura Ring 4 comes in sizes 4 through 15, which is four more than before. The Galaxy Ring comes in sizes 5 through 13, for comparison. As for colors, customers will have Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Brushed Silver, Black, and Stealth to choose from.
However, if you're already a Gen 3 wearer and want to upgrade, you'll need to check your size again with a new sizing kit. The older ring had slightly raised sensors which affected the sizing, but the Ring 4 has a flat interior which has changed the fit.
The new Oura App
Alongside the Ring 4, Oura is rolling out an overhaul to the companion app starting on October 3. The new layout and features will be available to both Oura Ring 4 adopters and existing Gen 3 users, with the $5.99/month membership fee remaining in place.
The app has been reorganized with three new tabs: Today, Vitals, and My Health. ‘Today’ is effectively the home page, with changing information based on what might be relevant to the user at a given point in the day.
The Today tab will also have shortcut buttons up top for viewing metrics, a list of spotlight cards that populate intelligently, and a new timeline that lets you see all the factors that impact your health throughout the day.
‘Vitals’ is a more stable page with expanding and collapsing cards covering all your recent metrics, such as your sleep score, daily readiness, activity progress or menstrual cycle status.
Then, “My Health” is a zoomed out picture of your health, spanning things like resilience, heart health, sleep chronotypes, cardiovascular age, and more. This section is where you can view your monthly and yearly reports, if you’re curious to see how your health is changing over time.
What’s specifically new is better automatic activity detection with heart-rate tracking and information on heart rate zones. A new daytime stress chart lets users see an overview of their stress levels throughout the day pitted against lifestyle tags that might explain stress peaks.
Finally, coming in a few months, cycle insights will add a Fertile Window feature that can help users estimate their peak fertility as they’re trying to conceive.
Oura Ring 4 outlook
Approximately three years after the last generation, the Oura Ring was due for some big changes if you ask me. I've only see it become more popular on social media and the likes over the past year in particular. I get it, there's major appeal in being able to track your health without a smartwatch or other device buzzing you every 10 minutes to stand.
Unfortunately for Samsung, the Oura Ring 4 manages to make the Samsung Galaxy Ring that's just a few months old already look a bit outdated. Recessed sensors for an smooth interior is a big upgrade in terms of comfort. As for accuracy and other improvements I'll have to test that out for myself.
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