Which of the best smart rings is right for you all depends on your budget and expectations. Do you want a smart ring that can provide in-depth sleep analysis? A device that can count your steps? Or do you want one that can help you track your menstrual health?
Most of the best smart rings can do all of the above, but there's one that does it best; the Oura Ring 4. This is the follow-up to the Oura Ring 3, previously the best smart ring around. It's comfortable, lasts around a week, and generates impressively accurate data too.
Price-wise, the best smart rings range from $299 to $399; some require a monthly/annual subscription and others, like the Ultrahuman Ring Air, don't. Also, not all of the best smart rings play nicely with all smartphone operating systems. The Samsung Galaxy Ring, for example, only works with Android. Meanwhile, the Amazfit Helio Ring works with iOS and Android handsets.
So, which is the best smart ring for you? We've spent weeks testing every smart ring model we could get our fingers on, wearing them while we slept, worked out, ran errands and crunched the keyboard. The whole time, we assessed comfort, battery life, the depth and digestibility of health data, and of course, overall looks.
The quick list
The Oura Ring 4 is the best smart ring overall for most folks with impressive insights into sleep, female health, physical activity and workout recovery. It also works with Android and iOS devices.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is the best smart ring for sleep analysis with AI-backed insights into nightly heart rate, breathing patterns, body temperature, movement and more. It also boasts a week of battery life and ships with a handy portable charging case.
The Amazfit Helio Ring is the best smart ring for budget-minded individuals because it doesn't require a subscription fee and is priced the same or less than the competition, despite offering similar health-tracking tech.
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is the best smart ring for keeping tabs on your fitness goals, including daily step counts, calories and distance covered. It also tracks sleep and is completely subscription-free.
My name is Dan and I lead our coverage of wearable fitness technology including smartwatches, smart rings and fitness trackers. I also look after our wearables buying guides, ensuring roundups of the top Fitbits, Garmin watches and cheap fitness trackers remain up to date. When I'm not writing, you can find me out hiking, biking, snowboarding or kayaking suited up from head to toe in the latest gorpware and fitness gadgets, all in the name of testing (and fun).
The best smart ring you can buy today
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The best smart ring overall
The Oura Ring 4 is by some margin the best smart ring available right now. It's an upgrade to the Oura Ring Gen 3, which launched in late 2021, and although the updates are fairly modest, no other smart ring offers this level of performance and insight.
There's only a single design to choose from (circular) replacing the circular Horizon and flat-topped Heritage from the Gen 3. The sensors are recessed into the ring, so the sensor bump is gone too, which we found made the ring more comfortable to wear.
And the epoxy (plastic) coating on the interior is gone too, replaced by an all-titanium design and a new 'smart sensing' platform that improves the accuracy of Oura's measurements. While testing, we found that this led to fewer gaps in sleep and stress data, as the ring could adapt to changing positions on your finger.
There's a slight bump in battery life too, increasing to a theoretical eight days between charges. We didn't find it lived up to this promise, achieving closer to six days, but it's an improvement on the previous models seven-day specifications and five-day performance.
But Oura's real edge over the competition is the companion smartphone app. Alongside the new ring, the app was redesigned to make it easier to see daily insights, long-term trends and an overall picture of your health. But it keeps the impressive analysis that made it the top smart ring in the first place.
So while it's still relatively new, it should be able to do everything the older ring could, but with improved accuracy. This means its also still the best smart ring for women, as its integration with Natural Cycles means you can keep tabs on your cycle and fertility, a feature that's so impressive it worked out one of our editors was pregnant before she did.
While the overall experience with the Oura Ring 4 is still miles ahead of its competitors, there's one major downside; the monthly subscription. You need to pay $5.99 to use the ring, which is a substantial ask when you've already paid at least $350 for the hardware.
This is where alternatives like the Samsung Ring shine, as there's so subscription or charge for its AI-backed analysis. However, the Oura Ring 4 works with iPhone and Android smartphones, so is more versatile than other smart rings too.
- Read our full Oura Ring 4 review
The best smart ring for sleep tracking
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is the new kid on the smart ring block. Easily the most highly-anticipated smart ring ever to launch, its debut didn't disappoint. The companion Samsung health app is brimming with health metrics and insights into sleep, energy levels and workout recovery, many of which are underpinned by AI. It's also quite light and comfortable.
There's no subscription fee to speak of, though, the Galaxy Ring is the priciest of any smart ring in this guide. However, it's important to keep in mind the lifetime cost of the ring, which will be less than the Oura Ring once you factor in Oura's mandatory monthly membership fee.
On the flip side, you do need a Samsung phone to get the most from the ring. So, if you're using another Android device or iPhone, the Oura might be the better choice. Plus, it doesn't come in quite as many finishes as the Oura Ring and sizing ranges from 5 to 13, while the Oura Ring 4 is available in 4 to 15.
Battery life is also good for up to a week and the Galaxy Ring similarly provides female health tracking in partnership with Natural Cycles. That said, it isn't quite as comprehensive as what you get with the Oura Ring, since you don't get access to Natural Cycle's full suite of fertility and contraceptive features.
Sleep tracking is where the Galaxy Ring really shines with details on nightly body movements, breathing patterns, body temperature, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels and more. You also get a daily Sleep Score based on all of the above, along with insights and tips for improving your score.
- Read our full Samsung Galaxy Ring review
The best value smart ring
The Amazfit Helio Ring is the best value smart ring because it offers similar health-tracking tech to the Galaxy Ring and Oura Ring for less money than the former and without the mandatory subscription cost of the latter. It also works with both Android and iOS devices.
This is Amazfit's first stab at a smart ring, the brand is better known for its fitness trackers and watches, and the results are impressive. While sleep and recovery insights don't go nearly as in-depth as what you get with Samsung, they're accurate and useful nonetheless. Battery life also isn't rated as highly as the competition but you can still easily get up to four days of power on a charge.
The Helio Ring also supports female health tracking, with period and ovulation predictions. Better yet, data from the device can be shared with several popular health-tracking apps including Apple Health, Google Fit, Strava and Adidas Running.
Presently, the Helio Ring is only available in sizes 8, 10 and 12 in a Titanium finish, but Amazfit assures us more options will be coming soon. Similar in size and weight to the Galaxy Ring, the Helio Ring is also quite comfortable to wear day and night.
- Read our full Amazfit Helio Ring review
The best smart ring for tracking steps
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is the best smart ring for counting steps, especially for folks who want a subscription-free experience. In addition to providing daily step-count tallies, the Air also monitors your daily calories burned, VO2 Max and distance covered. You also get lots of sleep data, including insights into nightly body temperature and heart rate, along with helpful recovery tips.
While reviewing the Ultrahuman Air, we appreciated the fact that the companion app also provides suggestions for the best times of day to take a break and boost your vitamin D while in the fresh air, your ideal window for caffeine consumption and how screen time may be impacting your sleep.
The Ultrahuman app is available on both the Apple App and Google Play stores and though it can feel a bit overwhelming to navigate, there's a lot of useful health data that can be gleaned. You also get basic female health tracking, however, Ultrahuman makes it cumbersome to export health and fitness info to other apps.
Like its competition, the Air offers a comfortable wearing experience. You can choose four styles and the widest range of sizes of any device here. The build quality is solid, however, we found that the Ultrahuman scratched the easiest of these four smart rings.
- Read our full Ultrahuman Air review
Also tested
We put every smart ring we can get our hands on through thorough testing, but only the best models are featured above. That said, there are smart rings we've assessed that impressed us, just not quite enough to earn our full-fledged recommendation. You can find details on those below.
Best smart rings: specs compared
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Oura Ring 4 | Samsung Galaxy Ring | Amazfit Helio Ring | Ultrahuman Ring Air |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $349 | $399 | $299 | $349 |
| Subscription | $5.99 per month | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Sizes | 4 - 15 | 5 - 13 | 10, 12 | 5 - 14 |
| Finishes | Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, Brushed Titanium, Black, Stealth | Titanium Black, Titanium Silver, Titanium Gold | Titanium | Titanium, Black, Grey, Gold, Silver |
| Thickness | 2.88 mm | 2.6 mm | 2.6 mm | 2.4 - 2.8 mm |
| Weight | 3.3 - 5.2 g | 2.3 - 3.0 g | 3.8 g | 2.4 - 3.6 g |
| Battery life | Up to 8 days | Up to 7 days | Up to 4 days | Up to 6 days |
| Water resistance | 100 meters | 100 meters | 100 meters | 100 meters |
How to choose the best smart ring
Picking the best smart ring may seem challenging but once you dig into the differences between all the major models, things become more clear. If you have an Android smartphone and want the very best health insights, your choice boils down to the Samsung Galaxy Ring vs. Oura Ring.
iPhone users will likely be choosing between the Oura Ring vs. Helio Ring. The former has more impressive insights, the latter has no mandatory subscription fee. Of course, the Oura Ring vs. Ultrhuman Ring Air is another matchup worth taking a closer look at as the Ultrahuman is also subscription-free.
How we test the best smart rings
Testing the best smart rings involves wearing them for weeks at a time while we sleep, work, eat, exercise and perform daily chores. During this period we're taking diligent notes on overall comfort, durability — does it scratch or scuff easily? — how long the battery lasts and how quickly/easily data syncs with the device's companion app.
Assessing the accuracy of the best smart rings is another crucial part of our testing. It involves wearing them alongside other fitness trackers that have proven reliable to see how the results compare. For example, I walked 5,000 steps with the Helio Ring and Garmin Forerunner 165 to gauge the accuracy of the former; it proved quite precise.
We also do testing while we sleep to ensure the rest/recovery data is legit. For this assessment, we're noting how sleep duration, sleep cycles, heart rate and other core metrics compare to other popular sleep trackers worn during the same period.
Finally, we look at how the core features of each smart ring line up with other options out there by evaluating the data presented in each app. Are these metrics easy to parse? Are there insights and tips to help you better understand the big picture? And, are any core data points missing?
FAQs
Do you need to pay for a smart ring subscription?
Whether or not you need to pay for a smart ring subscription all comes down to which device you choose. Neither the Samsung Galaxy Ring nor the Ultrahuman Ring Air have any paywalled features. They are, however, pricier than the Oura Ring hardware, but that requires a $5.99 monthly fee to use.
Most of the Helio Ring's metrics are free within the companion Zepp app, however, some extra insights and features can be unlocked via one of two monthly subscription add-ons: the Aura app ($69.99 per year) or the Zepp Fitness membership ($29.99 per year). Fortunately, the Helio Ring comes with a free trial to try both.
What are the pros and cons of a smart ring vs a fitness tracker?
Unlike most wrist-based fitness trackers and smartwatches, smart rings don't have a screen, which means that you primarily interact with them through a companion app. For fitness tracking, smart rings also don't have onboard GPS, unlike some trackers and watches, so you'll need to bring your paired smartphone along for location data.
On the flip side, smart rings tend to offer better battery life than non-finger wearables. Most last somewhere around a week before needing a recharge. I also find smart rings less cumbersome to wear to bed than smartwatches. And for the fashion-conscious, they're all but inconspicuous compared to an Apple Watch or Garmin device.
