It's been less than two years since I reviewed the Oura Ring 4, so I was surprised to learn that the Oura Ring 5 was coming so soon. After all, we went roughly three years between the launch of the Oura Ring Gen 3 and the Oura Ring 4.
But while I expected the Oura Ring 5 to simply be a refresh, the updated design really proves it's something of a generational leap over the Oura Ring 4. In fact, with the smaller profile, long battery life, and other notable upgrades, the Oura Ring 5 feels like the smart ring that all other rings should strive to be.
Category | Oura Ring 5 |
|---|---|
Materials | High-performance titanium exterior, titanium interior |
Protection | IP68 Water resistant at a depth of 100m/328ft |
Sensors | Red, green, and infrared LEDs (heart rate, blood oxygen) Digital temperature sensor Accelerometer |
Battery | 6-9 days, up to 80-minute charge time |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 LE |
Platform support | iOS (Apple Health), Android (Health Connect) |
Dimensions | Width: 6.09mm Thickness: 2.28mm |
Weight | 2g+ (depending on size) |
Sizes | 6-13 |
Colors | Silver, Black, Stealth, Brushed Silver, Gold, Deep Rose |
At first glance, the Oura Ring 5 looks a bit smaller than the Oura Ring 4, but you don't really get the full effect until you hold it in your hand. At just over 2 grams for my size 11, the Oura Ring 5 is surprisingly light. It honestly feels like a regular ring in the hand, unlike previous generations, which had a little heft.
Not only that, but the ring is surprisingly small, and if you're coming from the Oura Ring 4 (and especially the Oura Ring 4 Ceramic), then you'll definitely notice the difference. The narrower width helps the Oura Ring 5 blend in with the rest of your jewelry, making it look like a regular ring rather than a smart tracker.
I can see this going a long way towards popularizing wearable tech, as a major problem users had with previous Oura smart rings was their size. I didn't mind the size of the previous models, but now that I've used the Oura Ring 5, I can't imagine going back to anything bigger.
The ring is also thinner than previous models, and that's great for multiple reasons. Firstly, it makes it less noticeable in general, especially when carrying things or lifting weights. That last part is especially important because the ring doesn't protrude as much, so there's less concern about scuffing it against items like dumbbells in your hands.
Secondly, the thinner profile makes it even better to throw on a cover without worrying about adding too much thickness. Oura still doesn't make first-party cases, so I continue to use third-party covers I find on Amazon when I work out. I notice that the ring doesn't appear to scuff and scratch as easily as previous models, but it's not immune, so a cover helps keep it as pristine as possible.
One thing that surprises me about the Oura Ring 5 is the battery life. Despite being 40% smaller than the Oura Ring 4, the latest model offers better battery life. Oura says it should last from six to nine days per charge, which is in line with my use.
When I began tracking the battery life, the Oura Ring 5 was at full charge on Monday morning, and I didn't need to charge it until the following Wednesday. This included several days of manual and automatic workout tracking, as well as daily sleep tracking, with 8% battery life left to spare.
Speaking of tracking, the Oura Ring 5 still provides detailed health monitoring, especially for sleep. I've noticed that the heart rate data is much more consistent when tracking things like sleep or activities, whereas previous models would often have many gaps or fail to gather heart rate data altogether, particularly during workouts.
That said, workouts are the only area where the Oura Ring 5 falls a bit short. When tracking high-intensity exercise, I notice that the Oura Ring 5's heart rate data is often much lower than that of other wearables I've used, such as the Garmin Venu 4 and Fitbit Air. I don't notice this same deviation when at rest, as the live heart rate data lines up with the Garmin Venu 4 and Fitbit Air, but the Oura Ring 5, like its predecessors, shouldn't be relied on as a workout device.
That's actually not too surprising to me; the Oura Ring is more of a passive health tracker than an active fitness monitor. Fortunately, Oura has added the ability to connect another device to the app as a live heart rate source. You can use a dedicated heart rate monitor or even a smartwatch to see live heart rate data during your exercise, along with distance and pace (via location data from your phone).
Fortunately, the step count seems improved, despite this being an area that smart rings struggle with. I tracked a 5,000-step walk between the Oura Ring 5, Garmin Venu 4, and Fitbit Air, and while the ring had the largest deviation, it was only 15 steps off, which is pretty good.
Device | Step count |
|---|---|
Oura Ring 5 | 4,985 |
Garmin Venu 4 | 4,996 |
Fitbit Air | 5,004 |
One area where the Oura Ring 5 excels is automatic activity tracking. The ring can pretty accurately determine when I'm doing certain activities without me having to manually track them. That includes walks, runs, and even more varied activities, like yard work and dancing. I continue to be impressed every time I check my phone after a night out and see the ring asking me to confirm I was dancing.
As for the app experience itself, it's very visual, with a customizable set of focus metrics at the top. These shortcuts make it easy to dig into your sleep, activities, stress, and more. You can even track your weight either via manual logging or syncing to third-party apps like Withings, and the app will show your weekly, monthly, and yearly trends.
The Today view dynamically changes, showing the most important metrics at the top, such as your sleep score when you wake up and your steps toward the end of the day. You can also view a timeline of your activities toward the bottom, which also shows tracked activities or synced workouts from other apps.
The Vitals tab shows daily measurements, while the Health tab gives you a more long-term look at your health trends. From the + button, you can access quick actions, where you can start an activity, begin an unguided meditation session, or even log meals. The meal-logging tool is actually pretty neat, as Oura can fairly accurately analyze what you're eating from a photo and provide nutritional and meal-timing insights to help with things like regulating hunger and cutting down on snacking.
Throughout the app, Oura Members also have access to the Oura Advisor, an AI chatbot that focuses on health and wellness. You can trigger it using the + button for general questions, or within each major metric, like sleep and activity, for more specific conversations about recent changes and updates.
Unlike Google's new AI-focused Google Health app, which often feels like an overload of information, Oura's insights are light throughout the app, allowing users to tap Advisor to learn more. When chatting with the Advisor, you can ask it about your metrics or general health questions, and it will tap into its health-focused large language model (LLM), which "draws from a broad foundation of established medical standards, research, and knowledge sources," to provide relevant and contextual responses.
One of my favorite aspects of the Advisor is how it checks in with me every so often, based on recent activities and more. You can even change the tone of the Advisor's responses and how often it checks in, which adds a nice bit of customization.
One new feature for Android phones is Locate, which I've been asking for for years. With it, Oura Ring 5 owners can know where their ring was when it last connected to their phone, which can provide a good starting place for where to search. If you're within range, the app will let you know when you're getting close to the ring.
Since the ring doesn't have built-in GPS, ultra-wideband (UWB), or Bluetooth 6, the app won't give you precise tracking, so you'll have to rely on the app's proximity clues and do a bit of the work yourself. Still, it's a lot better than nothing, and will hopefully keep me from losing a third Oura Ring model.
Of course, nearly all of these features are available only via the Oura Membership, a monthly (or yearly, if you prefer) subscription that provides access to the ring's most useful features and insights. Many people are still unhappy to learn that the Oura app basically requires a subscription to be truly useful, but I do think it's well worth the cost, especially given how Oura has continuously improved its products over the years and consistently produces the best smart ring on the market.
And that's exactly what the Oura Ring 5 is. The Oura Ring 5 is what other smart rings should strive to be: slim, light, and practically invisible while keeping your health and wellness in check. Starting at $399, it's not cheap, and the membership is still a point of contention for some, but Oura proves that smart wearable tech can truly blend in.
Put a ring on it
The Oura Ring 5 is the latest smart ring from Oura, featuring a much smaller and lighter design but with longer battery life and better sensing.
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