5 reasons I’m a fan of the Oura Ring 4, and 2 reasons why I’m not

The Oura Ring 4 is a popular wearable device that discreetly monitors your health and fitness. It’s slimmer, smarter, and lasts longer than its predecessor. From a distance, it’s a simple yet stylish silver, gold, or black ring. On closer inspection, it’s packed with advanced technology and clever sensors.

Like many of the best smart rings, the Oura Ring 4 tracks sleep, monitors heart rate, measures body temperature, detects motion, and logs workouts. Based on that information, it provides insights and advice through the accompanying smartphone app. I use it to track my sleep, health, and fitness. There are many reasons why I’m a big fan, but there are a couple of downsides.

It’s one of the best sleep trackers I’ve tried

My rest has improved since wearing the Oura Ring

Getting enough sleep is essential for a healthy mind and body. According to Oura, adults should aim for 7 to 9 hours of rest each night. When you achieve this, research shows you promote a stronger immune system, increased energy, reduced mental stress, better weight management, improved focus, enhanced memory, and more.

Investing in a sleep tracker can raise your awareness of sleep quality and help you take steps to improve it. I’ve tested several sleep-tracking devices, including the Google Pixel Watch 3 and the Withings Sleep Analyzer mat, but the Oura Ring 4 has had the most significant impact on my perspective.

It records your total sleep time versus the time spent in bed, informs you about your sleep efficiency, and provides a sleep score reflecting its quality. You’ll see the duration spent in each sleep stage (light, REM, and deep), your resting heart rate overnight, how long it took to fall asleep, and more. Key metrics can be tracked over time through weekly, monthly, and yearly graphs, allowing you to monitor changes.

The app provides tips on improving your sleep and guided meditations to help you relax. Additionally, an AI Advisor is available for questions about specific topics, such as “can you give me tips to unwind at the end of the day?” or “how can I improve my sleep schedule?”

The Oura Ring can help monitor your health

It tracks everything from your heart rate to body temperature

If you’re health-conscious, the Oura Ring 4 is a must-have wearable device. It measures your heart rate, body temperature, skin temperature, movement, and blood oxygen levels to create a picture of your overall health, sleep, stress, and activity levels. Using this information, the app offers suggestions on how and where you can improve.

A daily readiness score, on a scale of 0 to 100, indicates how ready you are for the day and whether your body is under strain. It considers your recent activity, sleep, and body signals (like resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and body temperature) to produce the score.

You can track how it changes daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, providing an understanding of how your health changes over time. Linked to that is a daily activity score, which helps you recognize how well you balance your activity, rest, and recovery.

The app uses the collected data to provide other insights, such as your cardiovascular age, resilience to stress, cardio capacity, and potential symptoms of illness like a common cold or flu. It can also track and predict menstrual cycles.

The battery lasts over a week

It rarely needs charging

It’s easy to forget to plug in devices each night, but that’s not a problem with the Oura Ring 4 because it has up to eight days of battery life.

Placing it on a charging dock once a week feels more manageable than every day, and it ensures you don’t miss much tracking time due to charging. It takes less than an hour and a half to recharge to 100% when placed on the dock.

You can ask the AI Advisor for guidance

Find answers to your health and sleep-related questions

Within the Oura app, an AI Advisor checks in on you and offers guidance about your health and sleep. It leans on your recorded data to provide personalized recommendations and advice on various aspects of your health, including your sleep, energy levels, heart health, and menstrual cycle.

You can use the app to understand your long-term health data, visualize your health and fitness through graphs, and create plans to improve your habits moving forward.

You can ask the chatbot about topics you want to learn more about or choose from preset subject areas to explore. You can customize its response style, opting for either a friendly, conversational assistant or a direct, goal-oriented one.

The Explore section in the app is dedicated to educating and coaching you through lifestyle changes. It features guided meditations, breathing exercises, suggestions on how to relax, and a wealth of information about various topics such as cardiovascular health, caffeine, and fertility.

The design blends in with my jewelry

I can wear it 24/7

I wear silver jewelry, and the silver Oura Ring blends nicely with my rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Because of that, I wear it all day, every day, even when dressing up for an evening out. It’s as comfortable as any other ring, even though it’s a little heavier, meaning I can wear it without discomfort, even while I sleep.

But it’s not as good for activity tracking as my smartwatch

The lack of a screen means it’s not as good for workouts

If you’re into fitness and want a tracker to measure your exercise and activities, you’re better off buying a smartwatch. While the Oura Ring 4 tracks exercises and automatically recognizes some workouts, it’s not as practical as a watch with a display.

The screen on a smartwatch allows you to start activities with accurate beginning and end times. You can also monitor how the workout is going from your wrist. You don’t need to pull out your phone, which can help improve performance or give you an extra push.

You need to pay a subscription fee for a lot of features

The Oura Ring 4 doesn’t come cheap

Many of the best features offered by the Oura Ring require a monthly subscription fee, costing $5.99 per month or $69.99 per year. With a membership, you unlock in-depth sleep analysis, workout heart rate tracking, the symptom radar, restorative time, SpO2 monitoring, long-term trends, rest mode, and more.

The membership and the purchase price, starting at $349, make the Oura Ring 4 a costly piece of equipment.

Should you buy the Oura Ring 4?

If you like the design of the smart rings and see the benefits of tracking your sleep and overall health over time, consider the Oura Ring 4. There are clever features to help you monitor and improve your health. The battery lasts over a week. It looks stylish and feels comfortable to wear. Also, the app provides detailed insights into everything from cardiovascular health to sleep quality.

Some people may prefer a smartwatch, though. While the Oura Ring tracks workouts effectively, if you want super-precise activity tracking or like to see your progress as you exercise, you will be better off buying something like the Garmin Venu 3S.