The Oura Ring is an awesome sleep and overall wellness tracker, but it’s historically been quite limited when it comes to activity tracking.
Oura knows this and has announced a number of ways to boost the accuracy and functionality of activity tracking. There’ll be more accurate step tracking, more accurate active calorie counts, new fitness metrics, and plenty more.
Oura said it has improved the step counting algorithm to ensure it acts like a pedometer rather than using generic movement. It’s boosted the daily step count errors by 61%, the wearable manufacturer says.
There is a caveat, as “members will see approximately 20 percent fewer steps,” but it’s better to have an accurate number than a high number right? In terms of the Active Calories, devices like the Oura Ring 4 will now take the intensity of your heart rate into the calculations, which it probably should have been doing all along.
The company is also bringing running and walking splits into its Automatic Activity Detection tools by leveraging your phone’s GPS. Furthermore the company is introducing new metrics to active minutes, enabling users wearers to spot trends. It’s also possible to add max heart rate determinations for more accurate zone tracking.
Wearers can add or edit activities for up to seven days, while activities will be auto tracked around the clock. So, if you feel like going for a run between midnight and 4:00am, your Oura Ring will ensure you get credit for it without having to manually start an activity.
The company says in a press release: “Oura Members value Automatic Activity Detection more than any other feature outside of those related to sleep.”
So with that in mind it’s great to see Oura taking it more seriously.
Opinion
I didn’t get on very well with my Oura as an activity tracker. It doesn’t do a great job of tracking HR activities at all and would often double up on your activity score when importing workouts from apps like Strava. There was probably a way around that but it just felt really clunky. So I’ve been wearing it solely for the sleep tracking, wellness metrics and ability to detect stress and other ailments.
I’m not confident any of the new features announced today will do anything to make me more comfortable using it as an activity tracker, but for those who aren’t rocking a Garmin or another of the best fitness trackers on their wrist.
