Three of the best smart rings for fitness
The new range of smart rings means it’s never been easier to get accurate data on your health, from blood oxygen levels to whether you snore too much. Here are three top health-trackers to put on your finger
Oura Ring
From £299
Worn by Gareth Southgate and the England team during the Euro 2024 football championships, Oura is the go-to smart ring for celebrities and athletes alike: Lewis Hamilton, Prince Harry, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian and Real Madrid are all devotees too.
It’s not difficult to see why they – and riffraff such as us – might like the Oura: the ring’s sensors monitor everything from heart rate, sleep levels, stress, skin temperature, blood oxygen, reproductive cycles and more.
This third-gen device from the Finnish startup also has two new features aimed at heart health: Cardiovascular Age (does your ticker match your biological age?) and Cardio Capacity (which measures how efficiently your body delivers oxygen to your muscles during exercise). All these metrics are crunched into data which many users such as England defender John Stones have described as “addictive”.
Oura has recently been pushing its smart rings for business, citing research which says that 74% of users have reported improved stress management and 79% are more productive at work since donning one on their digits. Its subscription model (£5.99 a month to access your full data; only three daily scores are available otherwise) may exasperate some, but the reliability and hi-tech whizzery of this health-boosting halo can’t be argued.
Ultrahuman Ring AIR
From £329
Until recently, measuring data such as how much REM sleep you get a night or your heart rate variability (HRV) during a stressful work meeting would have required our torsos being hooked up to a spaghetti-like mass of electrodes and sensors.
Now, thanks to fitness rings such as the Ultrahuman Ring AIR, all this data is available through a tiny, unobtrusive hoop on your finger.
The Ultrahuman Ring AIR shares many similarities with its smart ring rivals, such as the ability to track sleep, recovery and movement – with the data popping up on an app on your phone. It also bills itself as “the world’s most comfortable and compact smart ring”; indeed, it does have a gossamer-like lightness.
The Ultrahuman Ring AIR is subscription-free too (unlike the more-famous Oura). Thanks to tracking our circadian rhythms, the Ultrahuman also dishes advice on the best time to get outside in daylight and whether we should really be sinking our fifth cup of coffee of the day.
Learn more about the Ultrahuman Ring AIR.
Samsung Galaxy Ring
From £399
The newest kid on the smart ring block, the AI-powered Samsung Galaxy Ring launched to much fanfare in July. Highlights? Its skin temperature sensors can track monthly periods and fertility windows, while its algorithms can also detect how much snoring you do at night (if your nocturnal snorting is making partner consider separate beds, then check out the Galaxy Ring’s sleep coaching programme).
Users are also bombarded with “wellness tips” which send personalised ‘motivational messages’ to your Galaxy phone if you’ve been sat at your desk for too long. Meanwhile, its ‘energy score’ feature deep-dives into sleep and heart data to recommend how ready you are to take on the day (or whether you should just hit the snooze button and get some more shuteye).
This sleek piece of titanium might be subscription-free but there’s one big downside: it doesn’t pair with iPhones. Only Android users need apply.
Discover the Samsung Galaxy Ring.