Oura Ring 4: A Marginal Upgrade, But Still the King of Smart Rings
For much of last summer, I embarked on a quest: wearing six smart rings simultaneously to determine the ultimate champion. The Oura Ring Gen 3 emerged victorious, but the landscape has shifted. Just two weeks after concluding that experiment, a new contender has claimed the crown: the Oura Ring 4.
Oura has reigned supreme in the smart ring arena for a decade. While a smart ring renaissance has invigorated the market this year, competitors are largely either newcomers or releasing second-generation products. The Oura Ring 4, however, is the fourth iteration of Oura’s flagship. This longevity reflects years of dedicated research and development, collaborations with leading scientists, and extensive in-house studies. Its widespread availability, frequent appearances on the fingers of wellness influencers and A-list celebrities, and a flurry of new features introduced in the past 12 months cement its influence. Now, with several key updates to both hardware and software, Oura finishes 2024 strong.
Scorecard:
The Good:
- More sizes (expanding the range significantly)
- Slimmer design (flatter inner surface)
- Expanded auto workout detection (now encompassing 40 activities)
- Redesigned app (streamlined and more user-friendly)
- Better battery life (up to 7-8 days compared to 3-4 days on the Gen 3)
The Bad:
- A subscription is required to access all featured
- Still lacks a charging case (a missed opportunity for convenience)
The Oura Ring 4 builds upon its predecessor, extending Oura’s lead over the competition. However, the crucial question remains: how long can Oura maintain this dominance against rivals offering lower prices, subscription-free models, and innovative features?
Slightly Better in Every Way (But Not Radically So)
While wearing the Oura Ring 4 feels largely similar to its predecessors, subtle yet significant improvements are present. Previous generations utilized resin interiors with prominent domed sensor bumps. The Oura Ring 4, crafted entirely from titanium, boasts a flatter inner surface with recessed sensors. This seemingly minor change represents a substantial feat of miniaturized engineering. The titanium construction, compared to the resin of older models, facilitates more precise light diffusion from the sensors. The asymmetrical placement of the sensors further contributes to improved accuracy, mitigating issues caused by ring rotation and the natural variations in finger shapes. This is enabled by the new Smart Sensing algorithm, which increases the number of sensor signal pathways from eight to 18. This allows for a wider range of measurements and compensates for less stable sensor-skin contact.
Practically speaking, the average user might not perceive a dramatic difference between the Oura Ring 4 and the Gen 3, aside from the improved comfort and potential pain removal for users with knobby knuckles. The elimination of the sensor bumps represents a notable victory from a design and comfort standpoint. In terms of overall design, the all-titanium ring closely resembles premium competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Ring or Ultrahuman Ring Air, though the fully round shape (already introduced in some Gen 3 models) shows to be a welcome improvement from earlier angled or flat models. Size selection has been expanded, particularly important for those who struggled to find an accurate fit with the previously limited offerings between size 6-13. The addition of four new sizes (4-15) makes this ring more widely accessible than before.
Battery life has received a substantial upgrade, offering approximately seven to eight days on a single charge, a notable jump from the three to four days of the Gen 3. This improvement is evident even with the power-consuming blood oxygen sensing feature activated. The updated charging dock, while aesthetically appealing, is unfortunately susceptible to accidental displacement (as my cat demonstrated). A charging case, like those found with some rival rings, would be a welcome addition.
Software and Science: Oura’s True Differentiator
While the hardware refinements are impressive, Oura’s true strength lies in its software and unwavering commitment to scientific rigor. Its commitment to validating data scientifically through partnerships with independent researchers is a core benefit in a space rife with inaccurate claims.
The modernized app presents a much-needed improvement. Previous updates, while adding features, resulted in a cluttered interface. Now, the app is streamlined into three intuitive tabs: "Today," "Vitals," and "My Health". The “Today” tab provides quick access to key metrics and a daily activity timeline. "Vitals" displays detailed metrics in a digestible format, and "My Health” is the primary location for access to longer-term health and fitness reporting and visualizations.
Automatic activity detection has been boosted via an expansion of supported activities to 40; allowing for reasonably accurate route maps through GPS tracking, provided location permissions are enabled. Manually logged activities are prioritized over automatic activities and imported workout data, mitigating the issues of duplication which can be problematic in multi-platform users. Oura cites an external study improving accuracy across different metrics resulting from the upgraded algorithms.
While I can’t independently verify the accuracy claims of this study, my experience aligns with their findings. The Oura Ring 4 consistently displayed accurate sleep and wake times congruent with my manual logs. While occasional heart rate gaps persisted, determining whether the frequency has diminished accurately after only two weeks of use is impossible. Step counts and calorie estimates remain somewhat inflated compared to smartwatches, as with most smart rings, but the degree of these inaccuracies remains on the smaller side.
Oura’s commitment to scientifically validating its claims via multiple publications is its primary difference from competitors in the space. A recently published peer-reviewed study compared Oura’s sleep algorithm to those of the Apple Watch Series 8 and Fitbit Sense 2. Oura’s algorithm demonstrated 5 percent greater accuracy than the Apple Watch and 10 percent greater accuracy than Fitbit in detecting sleep stages. Although it would be irresponsible to ignore the potential for bias, as one researcher is a member of Oura’s medical advisory board, the publication of such findings is a vital positive and a display of adherence to scientific rigor.
The combination of a polished app experience, consistent measurement across devices, a history of feature updates, and a track record of participation in and publication of scientific study results give Oura a considerable advantage within the market. This strength is reinforced by many years of data on sleep and fitness collected across platforms and devices, which allows for extremely robust accuracy compared to other services. Samsung and Ultrahuman are beginning to make headway and build on this, but Oura remains ahead for the time being.
The Elephant in the Room: The Subscription
The Oura Ring 4 achieves its place as the market leader, but it falls short of satisfying its potential in many key areas. The most pressing challenge that Oura faces is the $6 monthly/$70 annual subscription. While the features included are arguably valuable, this cost poses a significant barrier to entry for many potential customers, especially when competitors offer comparable features without a subscription fee.
The hardware improvements, although notable, are not sufficiently transformative to justify an upgrade for existing Oura Ring Gen 3 owners. Notably, additional software features are not limited to the Oura Ring 4. The relatively modest price increase with no trade-in program makes the upgrade less appealing for existing Oura users, making the target market for this product almost exclusively new customers and those who previously couldn’t find a fitting size.
The subscription model remains Oura’s largest hurdle. While the company’s quality and data are undeniable, competitors are increasingly appealing, often with more compelling price points and no subscription requirements. Samsung, with its substantial resources, is innovating rapidly, actively pursuing interactions between its smart rings, phones and smartwatches. The Galaxy Ring, for example, includes gesture controls and benefits from increased battery life when paired with a Galaxy Watch. A potential entry into the market from Apple could also severely threaten Oura’s market share. Smaller competitors, such as RingConn, can further undercut Oura’s prices while providing essential smart ring functionality.
Oura’s strategy is a gamble: wagering on the assumption that the superior quality of its data and features is worth the ongoing subscription charge. This gambit is currently winning, likely due to the relatively slow adoption of competitors who are still in the process of catching up in terms of software, algorithm sophistication and research publication. However, the inherent challenge of maintaining a competitive advantage within a rapidly evolving landscape should remind Oura that holding on to the top spot will require continued innovation and the ability to meet customers where they are — without the constant barrier of a subscription model in the long term.