I tested 3 popular smart rings to improve my health habits — How they fared

The Oura ring was my favorite smart ring because its app was easy to understand and I liked some of the new features in its latest software update. The $299 smart ring is made from aerospace-grade titanium, one of the strongest materials on earth, according to the site. Before I received my ring, Oura sent me a ring sizer to measure my ring. Other smart rings have done the same, as sizes vary by brand.

After purchasing the Oura ring, I downloaded the Oura app (available for iOS and Android). The interface of the application shows you recent sleep informationyour fitness (or how loaded you are), your heart rate, your thoughts about your period during your period, and your stress levels. There’s also a timeline for when you went to bed, woke up, and did any physical activity in the last 24 hours. Oura uses a score of 100 to determine where you rank in various categories that they look at daily.

You can also see the battery life of your ring based on the circle icon in the upper right corner. The ring is easily refillable with its own ring holder that you can keep on your nightstand. In general, you can expect to recharge this ring about once every three days.

To get the most accurate information and recommendations from the smart ring, it is recommended that you wear it for at least a month to collect data about your habits. To get more out of Ring, you need to sign up for an Oura membership, which costs $6 a month. As I mentioned, one of my goals was to improve my sleep, or at least get into a sleep schedule that would work even with a baby interrupting my nightly rest. I opted to wear a smart ring rather than a smartwatch to track it because I barely wear it.

The Oura ring determined that my ideal bedtime is between 9:30pm and 10:30pm in bed. I did a decent job of following the ring’s recommendations, at least for the first few months, but then I was in the process of moving and the holidays came around, so I was experiencing extra stress. I could tell I felt more tired and less energetic on days when I slept later than suggested by Oura. It would give me a lower readiness score on days when it could tell my sleep and stress levels were affected.

After the move, I was able to get back to my recommended sleep schedule. I have never felt better rested. In a briefing with Oura, I was told that the brand never wants to make users feel guilty for not recovering or getting enough sleep. Instead, the brand wants to let you know what you can do to improve these factors. For example, if Oura senses that you are under extra stress, it can tell you to take it easy for the day.

An interesting feature of the Oura ring that distinguishes it from other wearables is that it can detect signs of illness. So far, I haven’t gotten sick since using Oura, but other CNET staff have said they can. when under the weather. Oura recently launched the Oura Ring 4, and along with that, the app has been updated to have more advanced features, using AI to uncover more information about your habits.

While I’m not personally a fan of the fitness tracking option on any of the smart rings I’ve tested, I like that with its latest update, Oura can detect when you’re active. For example, if it senses you doing chores or walking around, it will record the time frame it thinks you were doing that activity and count it toward your activity score. You can confirm this through the app or change it to the correct action form. I think this is ultimately the key to creating a better fitness tracking feature. If you’re familiar with wearables for tracking your workouts, you know that it’s sometimes easy to forget to set a pre-workout record. I like that the Oura ring recognizes that formal exercise isn’t the only activity that counts as movement, and that everyday behaviors like cleaning your house or taking the dog for a walk are important too.

With the new update, I can also see my cardiovascular age, which Oura estimates for your age. Apparently my cardiovascular system is 8 years younger than my age, so it’s nice to know that my healthy habits are working. If you really want to dial in your cardiovascular fitness, you can take the walking test offered by Oura. Oura can tell you too your chronotype it’s based on your natural circadian rhythms and determines whether you’re a morning or night person. I’m not surprised that I’m considered a morning person because I’ve always been an early riser.

Another important feature that I think is important to pay attention to is stress. Oura can track your stress levels throughout the day and tell you when you’re stressed, busy, relaxed, or recovering. This information tells Oura that you should pay more attention to your recovery based on your stress levels. I’ve had a few days (mostly moving days!) when my ring of oura has seen me stress more than usual compared to other days.

I appreciated Oura’s holistic approach to looking at my health data as a whole, rather than focusing on one feature like most wearables. Oura has an Oura Advisor that offers personalized advice based on your data to improve your lifestyle. If you get your period and want to track your period, Oura tracks that information. It also provides a period prediction window for when you can expect your next period. It’s been accurate for me so far – even with some missed periods. If you are pregnant, it also provides pregnancy information.

If you own an iPhone, you can allow Oura to share data with other app integrations, such as Apple Health, Strava, Wild AI, Cronometer, Noom, Zero, Headspace, Natural Cycles, Clue, and the Flo app. This is another area where I think there is scope for expanding Oura’s integration. New parents are known to be the most sleep-deprived, and with all the different Wi-Fi enabled baby monitors out there, it would be great for Oura to connect with them to target this demographic. If Oura can detect when sleep has been interrupted by a crying baby, it can provide parents with its own unique data set and advice.

You don’t want to handle the ring too roughly. Since the exterior is shiny, it is easy to scratch or scratch. As I’ve already mentioned, I wasn’t a fan of the fitness tracking aspect of any of the smart rings, and that was part of the reason. It would be nice to have a protective cover on the rings in case someone wants to wear them while lifting weights. I had to take the ring off during the workout because I didn’t want to scratch it, plus it wasn’t comfortable to wear while holding dumbbells.

My other gripe with fitness tracking is that the Oura can only detect cardio-based activities. You can log in if you’re running, cycling, or walking in real time, but for other forms of activity, you must log in after the fact. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a fitness tracking option, but I also admit that it’s not a smart ring essential.

Overall, if you want an overview of your health information, Oura does a great job of condensing it into an easy-to-read and easy-to-follow app. I realize that at $300 (plus a $6 monthly membership) it’s not the cheapest wearable out there, but depending on what you want to know about your health, it might be worth it.