Oura ring 4 review: this smart ring is better than ever

Despite having tried numerous fitness trackers and wearables over the years, I am fairly new to the world of smart rings. But I suppose there are worse introductions to this burgeoning genre than the Oura Ring 4 — arguably one of the biggest dogs in an increasingly contested kennel.

The rivals are now accomplished and plenty, with the likes of the Ultrahuman Ring Air offering a similarly dazzling array of metallic finishes and features; the Samsung Galaxy Ring providing a hefty technological punch and RingConn, the Amazfit Helio Ring and the Circular Ring 2 delivering slightly more wallet-friendly options.

However, the Oura is the OG of the smart ring world — the Lord of the Rings, if you will — with this fourth iteration offering a beefed-up battery life, more precise sensors and a more comfortable design in a slightly thinner shell.

All of this equates to more accurate vital readings, as well as a more comfortable fit thanks to recessed sensors and a wider array of sizing options.

Prices start at £329/$349 and rise to £499$499 for the hot-off-the-press ceramic versions, which offer more muted tones for those that don’t want to rock precious metal on the daily.

Alas, there’s also a monthly or yearly subscription model to cough up, with Oura charging £5.99/$5.99 per month or £69.99/$69.99 per year after a month’s free trial expires.

Given the premium price tag of the ring itself, this is a bitter pill to swallow.

Oura ring 4 design

The biggest physical changes occur on the inside of the ring, where the plethora of sensors have now been designed in such a way that they don’t really protrude from the ring’s inner surface.

Owners of the previous generations complained that the ring had to be in a certain position to reliably read things like heart rate and blood oxygen levels, but that’s not as important now, thanks to the updated hardware.

That said, it still comes with its own bespoke charging stand, so you’ll have to take that away with you if travelling for more than the eight-day claimed battery life (expect more like five or six).

There is an impressive array of sizes to choose from, and Oura will post out a ring sizing kit for free. It’s best to do this, as nobody wants a baggy ring. Fnar.

Once sized, the ring can be specified in a number of finishes, from traditional silvers and golds, to slightly more subtle blacks and coppers. Plus, a new line of ceramic options offers something a bit different in the market.

Whatever you choose, it’s still a relatively chunky unit, appearing larger on my hand than my wedding band, for example, and if I had the choice again, I wouldn’t go for the overly shiny silver option. It just looks a bit cheap.

Oura ring 4 features

Oura Ring 4 tracks sleep, automatically detects a claimed 40 different fitness-related activities and analyses heart rate throughout the day to build a better picture of overall health and wellness.

Within the new, redesigned app, users get easy-to-read scores out of 100 on sleep, activity and readiness, which gives a brief overview of the quality of rest and the ability to attack the day.

Of course, there’s plenty of adjustability, and I was able to punch in my height, weight, age, daily step targets and calorie burn goals that allow Oura to build a more accurate daily picture.

This all manifests in an adjustable timeline — viewed within the app — that charts any activities the ring detects and offers a nice visual cue to highlight anything that might be helping or hindering overall wellness — whether that’s something that messes with sleep patterns or causes stress, for example.

Alongside constantly checking for potential activities and monitoring the body temperature and heart rate, the ring also acts as a reliable sleep tracker, able to categorise the stages and quality of sleep.

It’s far less bulky and cumbersome than wearing a smartwatch or wrist-based tracker to bed, which is worth thinking about if sleep tracking is a big deal.

Being a man, I couldn’t really test the menstrual cycle and ‘Fertile Window’ features, but these are a huge reason why the majority of Oura users are now women — 59%, to be precise.

Oura Ring 4 performance

It takes weeks for Oura to properly build out a picture of your overall health and ways to improve certain aspects, all of which can be explored using a new AI Advisor that will clarify or explain what many of the metrics mean.

You can essentially ask it anything, like how to get stronger or how to sleep better, and it will tailor guides based on your vitals within the app to help with this. However, some of these feel very generic, and it won’t build you a specific workout or diet plan, for example.

Instead, it will highlight things that could peak stress levels or the reasons why a night’s sleep didn’t feel particularly restful.

During my time with it, the ring did a good job of automatically detecting and tracking walks or occasions where I would kick a ball around with kids. These can then be confirmed in the app later and help to give an accurate view of calorie burn.

However, Oura Ring 4 still won’t replace a smartwatch or wrist-based fitness tracker in my humble opinion, purely because it is very difficult to wear in the gym or when performing any exercise that requires grip or grip strength.

I tried one classic strength routine in my local gym and immediately noticed scratches appearing on the ring’s surface, as well as considerable discomfort as it dug into my hand.

Load up a heavy bar, and there’s a real risk you could damage the tech.

I also found that the ring’s heart rate readout was inaccurate compared to my Garmin and chest strap heart rate monitor during treadmill sessions, often reading far lower than the actual figure.

With that in mind, it becomes a great tool for offering a holistic picture of overall health, but it’s not so good if you are deeply ingrained in an existing fitness-tracking ecosystem or are looking for athletic insights.

Oura Ring 4 smartphone app

The Oura app has recently been redesigned, and it is a smooth operator, proving extremely easy to set up and then navigate once everything is up and running.

As previously mentioned, it takes weeks of constant wearing to get readings on things like resilience, cardiovascular age and Chronotype  (a tool that analyses your body clock and ideal circadian rhythms), but it is worth the wait.

These insights are where the ring really shines, offering gentle reminders to make subtle changes to the daily routine in order to feel less stressed, more energetic and generally in better moods.

The app allows for integration with things like CorePower Yoga, Strava and The Sculpt Society, as well as mindfulness apps like Headspace and Open. In addition, Clue, Flo, and Natural Cycles integration also allows a deeper understanding of women’s health.

There’s not much the app doesn’t cover, and you’ll find yourself diving in regularly — whether that’s to dismiss or log activities the ring has detected or to take pictures of your dinner plate and have the new AI feature “analyse” the nutritional values and your choice of time to dine.

It is worth reminding here that Oura is one of the few smart ring companies that charges a subscription fee to use its app-based services, offering a free month’s trial but then demanding either £5.99/$5.99 per month or £69.99/$69.99 per year thereafter. Ouch.

Oura Ring 4 verdict

Oura Ring 4 is a very accomplished smart ring that constantly monitors key body metrics, such as temperature, heart rate and the amount of activity undertaken during the day. While it lacks GPS, the step counting is accurate, and the sleep-tracking is arguably better than that offered by wrist-based systems.

For a holistic overview on general health and wellbeing, it is very difficult to fault, with the accompanying smartphone app delivering a wealth of insights and advice on how to improve aspects of the increasingly busy modern lifestyle.

But being a ring, it is difficult to wear in the gym and doesn’t possess the same kind of performance-tracking metrics that something from a dedicated fitness watch can. But hey, there’s no reason why you can’t wear both, right?

Oura Ring 4 Technical Specifications