From tracking your sleep habits, daily activity, heart rate, and even your stress, smart rings are the new smartwatches that came to improve one very important aspect of our lives; Our health. There are many reasons that anyone should get a smart ring, and many companies have already created robust smart rings which are available for sale.
Samsung is also on its way with the new and upcoming Samsung Galaxy Ring, which I suspect is going to become pretty popular once it gets released. But if you’re not a fan of Samsung’s work, there are so many great alternatives out there, including the Oura Ring 3, Ultrahuman Ring Air, and RingConn Smart Ring, among many others.
But what exactly do smart rings offer, and why some are so expensive? We’re taking a better look at the most important features and options smart rings currently offer and how they differ from each other.
Why are Smart Rings so important and what are their benefits?
There are so many benefits when using a smart ring, it’s crazy they’re not more popular. Starting from the basics, you can track your steps and movements, and most smart rings also come with their own exercise monitoring system, which helps you monitor specific exercises that you do.
Apart from tracking your activity, you also get sleep monitoring, which is important if you want to better understand your sleep quality. More advanced smart rings may also track your sleep habits and then suggest the best ways to improve them with detailed sleep analysis.
Then there are even more important features that can actually save lives, including the “Heart Rate Monitoring” that most smart rings should include. This is a continuous procedure and being able to know when it’s time to rest and check your heart rate at any time it’s important. HRV (Heart Rate Variability) data can also give you more insights that focus on your stress levels.
But only monitoring is not enough, as you’d want to get a smart ring that can detect any irregular heartbeats or other anomalies that can alert you before anything serious happens. And, as they become smarter, they can easily become your little coaches, reminding you when you’re staying inactive for a long period of time.
Last but not least, they’re a whole lot more comfortable than any other device, including smartwatches, which I was never really a fan of as I prefer the good old-fashioned and traditional watches.
3. A subscription-free smart ring
ULTRAHUMAN Ring AIR
The ULTRAHUMAN Ring AIR is a subscription-free smart ring, meaning that you won’t have to pay every month to use the app’s features. It’s a smart ring that comes in many sizes, has a sleep tracker, can track recovery, offers a fitness tracker, and can last up to 6 days.
Buy On AmazonHow to choose the perfect Smart Ring for your needs
There’s a big difference between every company and every smart ring model. There’s also a reason that some are cheaper than others. First things first, you’ll have to take a good look not only at the features that you get with the smart ring but also at how its application is performing. Unlike smartwatches, smart rings don’t have any touch screen on them, meaning that you’ll see everything inside an app using your smartphone or tablet.
Some companies can create a great smart ring, but that doesn’t mean they did a good job with their app too. Then there are the basic features that it provides, and many of them are important for specific uses and monitoring.
Here are a few important features that most smart rings include:
- Tracking: Track your sleep, activity, stress, heart rate and more.
- Monitoring: Monitoring 23/7 for any heart rate changes or specific anomalies is pretty crucial for most people.
- Notifications: A good smart ring should provide detailed notifications.
- Syncing and combability: Your smart ring should be compatible with both Android and iOS devices and should be able to automatically sync all of your data.
- Membership subscriptions: To continue using their app and all the features that it provides, you’ll have to get a subscription that most companies include in their apps. Make sure the app is not expensive.
- Size: Before you buy your first smart ring, make sure you get your size right. Not every company has the same size policy, so make sure you’ve read all about their size guide on their official websites.
It’s also important to take a good look at the quality of the smart ring, including how it’s been made. For example, many people prefer titanium because it’s non-allergic and water resistant, while it’s lighter than other materials. Whatever your personal preferences, if you’re allergic, make sure you choose a high-quality smart ring.
If you want a smart ring for your exercises, I’d also suggest looking specifically for fitness smart rings that are waterproof and provide the most advanced tracking and monitoring when it comes to athletes.
3. Best Smart Ring Overall
Oura Ring Gen3
The Oura Ring comes in different colours and sizes and tracks your sleep, activity, stress, heart rate, and more. New members get the first month free, then it’s $5.99/mo for Oura Membership on the Oura App.
Buy On AmazonWhat are the types of Smart Rings and how do they differ?
When it comes to choosing the right smart ring for your needs, it’s important to check what every company is providing and which types of smart rings they’ve created. Some smart rings have been designed for specific purposes, such as health and fitness smart rings that are focused on providing the best features and options when it comes to staying healthy.
There are also sleep-tracking smart rings, which are designed to help you monitor and improve your sleep, often including crucial features and tools such as analysing your sleep patterns and detecting any sleep disorders, including apnea. Then there are smart rings with NFC (Near Field Communication) to help you quickly make contactless payments, while they may also include biometrics for securely accessing other devices and even buildings, offices, etc.
Most people though will be more interested in getting a multifunctional smart ring. Those are the smart rings that provide multiple different features and can be used by any individual, they work great for fitness and health tracking and monitoring, and some can even make calls and send messages, or even let you control other devices inside your house.
Smart Rings work better with great applications
A smart ring is basically useless if you don’t combine it with its mobile application. Every company that designs and creates smart rings has their own mobile app. Unfortunately, not every manufacturer has created a good app, and if it’s missing important features, functions, and integrations, or it’s not even compatible with your device, you won’t be able to use it for your needs.
With that said, you should start by looking at the reviews of the app in the review section in the App Store to get more insights. By now you should probably have already figured out that the smart ring should also provide an application that’s compatible with both Android and iOS devices, and it should be able to integrate with popular third-party apps.
There are many great fitness, tracking, health, and monitoring apps out there that can be integrated with third-party apps, which means your smart ring’s application should also support them if you’re looking for the best experience. For example, you may be using apps such as Strava, Natural Cycles, Google Health Connect, Apple Health, Connect, and more, just to name a few, so make sure they’re all supported.
Then there’s the thing with the pricing model, with some applications being pretty expensive. For example, if you get the Oura Ring, you’ll then have to pay $5.99 per month for the Oura Membership on the Oura App, which if you ask me, is crazy and annoying.
Last but not least, don’t forget about notifications, as they’re very important when we get a smart ring. Notifications can be used for many different things, including notifying us about any heart rate or sleep anomalies, incoming calls or text messages, meetings and to-do lists, and some may offer other alerts from third-party apps and even emergency alerts.
Should you wait until Samsung and Apple announce their own Smart Rings?
Reportedly, both Samsung and Apple are developing their own smart rings, and both companies will announce their new devices in 2024. So far we know that there’s a Samsung Galaxy Ring on its way, and it’s expected to have health tracking features, an ECG sensor, a blood flow monitor, integration with the Samsung Health app, and more. Based on rumours, the Galaxy Ring will cost between $300 to $350, but there’s still no official response from Samsung.
As for Apple, again, that’s rumours and there’s no official announcement, the company is working on developing an Apple Ring, a device that may include biometric sensing for health tracking, gesture recognition, and full compatibility with other Apple devices. There are also rumours that say that the Apple ring will probably be announced at the end of this year.
I’ll keep updating this article when I hear more or if I see an official announcement from any of those two companies.
Conclusion…
Choosing the right smart ring depends on the primary functionality you are looking for, whether it’s health monitoring, secure payments, personal safety, or multifaceted features.
Reading the reviews is crucial, because not every smart ring has been designed for specific purposes, and you may end up spending your money on a smart ring that is great for tracking and monitoring your sleep habits, but you wanted one that was for activity and fitness tracking. If you’re looking at using your smart ring for contactless payments, make sure it supports NFC.
Companies may look for an NFC-based smart ring with biometrics support, which may be useful if they want to use it for accessing buildings, devices, and more.
Have you ever bought a smart ring? And if so, what was your experience with it and what did you like and hate the most?
