Smart rings are having a moment. After years as a niche gadget, regular people are starting to see the appeal. They’re thinner, more accurate and more convenient than a decade ago — and for some people, they’re a smarter choice than smartwatches.
Smartwatches may dominate the wearable landscape, but they don’t work for everyone. They can be huge. Daily loading is a pain. Plus, they don’t always work for people with wrist tattoos or those who participate in more specific sports. (Ever try to fit a Garmin under a boxing glove? It’s not fun.) Conversely, smart rings are discreet and often have multi-day battery life, and your finger may be a more accurate place to collect data for heartbeat.
But which smart ring is the best? To find out, I called six smart rings currently on the market: Oura Ring, Ultrahuman Air Ring, Circular Slim, Samsung Galaxy Ring, RingConn and Evie Ring. I’ve been sleeping with them for the past few months. I showered with them. Practice with them. I compared a large amount of health data until my eyes bled. For a while, I wore all six simultaneously like a mob don wearing two pairs of smart brass knuckles. I now have six ring tans. All so I can definitively tell you which is the one smart ring to rule them all.
Accuracy is a must
Folks, this is not thin circular.
On paper, the $294 Circular Slim has a lot of promise. It doesn’t run on almost any of them. The big problem was accuracy. While the metrics were generally good, my step count was occasionally so wrong that I couldn’t help but laugh. I’m talking 5,000 steps away compared to my other wearables. And that’s when I had the patience to review my metrics because syncing is an absolute chore. On average, it took two to three minutes, which meant I often left the app in anger. It would be one thing if this was a one time thing. it wasn’t. Most people want smart rings for health tracking. If you’re not accurate and syncing is a chore, what’s the point?
It’s terrible because this is the only smart ring with ambitions to be anything other than a fitness tracker. It has a vibration motor for silent alarms. When Circular was still a Kickstarter, that engine also had to alert you to notifications. This feature has been “coming soon” for years – something users aren’t too happy about. At the moment, haptics are limited to silent alerts, but even that doesn’t quite hit the mark. You need to double tap the ring above the logo to remove the alarm. In the dark, that logo is almost impossible to see. Most mornings, I’m so bored that I end up slapping my hand a few times just to turn it off. There’s also an ambitious AI chatbot that churns out daily recommendations. The problem is that it takes 14 days to calibrate, and like other AI-powered fitness features, it wasn’t very useful. But the real catch is that the charger is an easily misplaced USB stick. It would be one thing if it had great battery life, but it doesn’t. I got two to three days with all functions on. I also don’t think a roughly $300 ring should feel like it’s made from cheap, 3D-printed plastic. My least favorite ring of the bunch.
Eliminated: Circular ring
Design matters, but so does polish
The next ring on the chopping block is the $269 Evie Ring. It pains me to write this because it is the most beautiful and comfortable of the six. Most smart rings tend to be indistinguishable from each other, but the Evie ring has a clever design with open gaps, meaning it doesn’t matter if your fingers swell or put on a few pounds. You will always be able to remove it easily.
If design and comfort were the only factors, this ring would win. But it isn’t. The main issue with the Evie Ring is that it’s the quintessential first-generation product with first-generation problems. Everything works well, unlike the Circle Ring, but there is a noticeable lack of polish. Syncing and firmware updates can take a while, and Movano hasn’t figured out the best way to present and contextualize your data — though it makes a valiant effort. The ring has just reopened to address some of this backlash, but it’s still very much playing catch-up. Hopefully future versions will mitigate the issues.
Being ‘good’ is not enough
The $279 RingConn isn’t bad. It just doesn’t stand out. It has the best battery life of the pack. I probably got six to nine days on a single charge AND it has a neat little charging case. It’s just so… average. This is the smart ring I’d recommend people get if all they wanted was basic, mostly good health tracking without any bells and whistles. Syncing can sometimes take a while, but it’s not as long as the Circular Slim Ring or the Evie Ring. Honestly, the thing that bothered me the most about the RingConn was its slightly square shape. It might feel a little weird on the finger, but unless you’re hypersensitive to such things, you’ll barely notice it after a few days.
RingConn’s flaws don’t discredit it. But this is a Battle Royale. You can’t win just by being good if the other options are good, not great.
It should stand alone
For what it’s worth, the $400 Samsung Galaxy Ring nails the device. This is the slimmest ring of the bunch and the most comfortable after the Evie Ring, and the futuristic charging case adds to its elegant allure. The reason it doesn’t get the title is because this ring is basically for Samsung’s tough people – to the detriment of everyone else.
In this case, you get the best battery life if you use it with a Samsung Galaxy watch. The cool dual-tipped gesture to control the camera or dismiss notifications? Yes, you need a new Z Flip 6 or Z Fold 6. (It’s apparently headed to the S24, but it’s not available as of this writing.) It’s basically a neat accessory for your Galaxy Watch.
Training should not be the only focus
The $349 Ultrahuman Ring Air came this close to taking them all. It’s thin and light, and I’ve gotten compliments when I’ve worn it. Battery life isn’t the best, but it’s good for the category at three to four days. Where it shines is in fitness tracking and training – meaning it caters to athletes above all others.
Compared to the Oura Ring, which has a simple focus on overall well-being, this ring zeroes in on optimization. Say you’re trying to build healthier sleep habits. The companion app will give you a list of drinks with their average caffeine content and will tell you when to drink if your goal is to sleep for a certain amount of time. I’m trying to wake up earlier so I can sneak in a run before the sun starts baking the planet. When I wake up, the ring shows me a “Phase Advance” timer. If I exercise during that time, I’m more likely to shift my natural circadian rhythm earlier. There are a number of “enhancer” widgets called “Power Plugs” that allow you to further customize your experience by focusing on other goals, such as sun exposure for vitamin D, cycle tracking, circular stretching, etc. Some electrical outlets are free. Others, like the upcoming AFib detection, will cost an additional $4.90 per month, which I don’t like.
Otherwise, the accuracy is on par with my other devices, but the way my data is interpreted gives me a little pause. For example, I’m happy that my ring thinks VO2 Max – a metric used to assess your aerobic fitness – is 44ml/kg/min (apparently, that’s better) and that my heart rate at rest are Elite. Based on my years of testing other devices, this is incredibly generous. Granted, every company uses a different algorithm, but mine generally falls in the slightly above average – emphasis slightly – range.
While I really like the Ultrahuman Ring Air, that’s partly because I’m that guy who likes to exercise. All of this is a bit much if you are a more general user.
Eliminated: Ultrahuman Ring Air
Experience is king
Most smart rings I tested did a thing or two better than the $299 Oura Ring. But overall, Oura’s experience in this space keeps it ahead of the competition. If you care about accuracy and health tracking, Oura does a lot of work validating its algorithm, working with researchers, and releasing a ton of documentation metrics about its features. It has been in the works for several years now and it shows in the final product. The app is smooth, syncing and updates are never a problem, and it’s widely available. The best thing about all this new competition is that it’s also lit a fire under Oura’s butt to release more features and updates in recent months than it has in a while. The main gripes I have are the $6 monthly subscription, and its charging point is not my favorite. (Please, please, let the next version have a charging case.)
Smart rings as a whole won’t dethrone smartwatches anytime soon. They are too expensive when a smartwatch can do so much more for the same price. But if you’re going to buy a smart ring, you should get the best – and that’s the Oura Ring. I gave him five more rings every chance I got to dethrone him. Maybe it will happen one day. But until then, Oura Ring is king.