If you’re like me, you don’t want to give up your daily mechanical watch for a smartwatch. However, the benefits of health tracking always appealed to me. I’ve seen some people who wear both (on opposite wrists) but in terms of monitoring my heart, blood oxygen level, and other metrics, I much rather prefer an Oura Ring.
Bursting onto the scene in 2015 after a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, Oura has become the de facto eponym for the smart ring category. It now debuts the fourth generation of its flagship Ring.
Oura Ring 4 Basics
The last update to the Oura Ring came in 2021, but the Ring 4 has some much-welcomed improvements. While updates on smart rings aren’t as sexy as, say, an iPhone, they’re nevertheless crucial to ensuring accuracy in monitoring your health and fitness goals.
This time around, the Oura Ring 4 introduces the Smart Sensing technology, which combines an algorithm and research-grade sensors inside the ring to respond to the wearer’s “unique finger physiology.” The previous generation Ring only had 8 signal pathways, while the fourth-gen version has 18, which helps the ring achieve a more continuous and accurate data reading. Not to mention, the sensors have been better integrated within the ring’s frame for comfort. Battery life has also been increased to 8 days long.
Research for the new ring shows a 120% improvement in signal quality for blood oxygen sensing, 30% increased accuracy in overnight blood oxygen measurements, 15% more accurate breathing disturbance index, 7% fewer gaps in daytime heart rate, and 31% fewer gaps in nighttime heart rate.
Along with the ring rollout, the Oura App has been updated for a more streamlined functionality for both short- and long-term health goals, as well as new categories like Stress & Resilience, Women’s Health, and Heart Health. Future plans include metabolic health categories as well.
An Improved Look
While previous iterations were made of titanium with epoxy interiors, the Ring 4 features a full-titanium build. Commonly seen in the watch world, titanium is known for being much lighter than other metals, like stainless steel, silver, and gold. Expanding the visual range to sizes 4 through 15 and to six different colors (Brushed Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, Stealth, and PVD-coated Black), the new ring will also sport the more rounded aesthetic introduced with the Horizon models back in 2022.
Spec Sheet
Material: Titanium
Battery Life: 8 days
Compatibility: iOS and Android
Release Date: October 15
Price: $349
Pricing & Availability
Best of all, the price really hasn’t changed with the Oura Ring 4, still remaining at $349 from retailers. You can pre-order your smart ring now from Amazon for an October 15 release.
Recap
Oura Ring 4
Oura unveils its fourth-gen smart ring, with improved accuracy across the board and a full titanium build for improved comfort.
