Oura Ring 4 review

After two weeks of wearing the Oura Ring 4, the smart ring has given me a better understanding of how sleep, stress, and exercise affect how I feel in my daily life.

The Oura Ring 4 began shipping to customers and became available in retail stores on Tuesday, and is an impressive option for those looking for a stylish and convenient way to learn more about their bodies and make healthier choices.

The smart ring offers more accurate sensors, a more ergonomic design, and longer battery life than its predecessor. The gadget is available in 12 sizes and six colors, including a new black, and costs $349, although users have to pay $5.99 per month, or $69.99 per year, to subscribe to use all the features of the companion app.

Overall, the Oura Ring 4 is comfortable to wear and its app is easy to navigate. The ring was a little heavier and scratched more easily than I would have preferred, but after two weeks of testing it, the Oura Ring 4 was providing me with useful information about my health.

Setting up

I've never worn an Oura ring before, so the whole experience was new to me.

The first order of business was choosing a color and determining a ring size, which I did using the company's sizing kit. Oura recommends new and old customers to order the size as size can change from generation to generation. These collections are available online and in-store sizing is available at retailers such as goal and Best buyThe company said.

Silver jewelry has always been my style of choice, so I chose a silver Oura Ring 4 ring to match my accessories.

Gaining size proved more difficult. I personally selected the size with the Oura team, but I misjudged it a bit. The ring I was wearing is a bit large, so there are sometimes gaps between my finger and the metal parts. I never felt like my ring would fall off, but I would size it down if I did it again.

The ring was delivered to my apartment in a small box that contained a charger and some basic instructions on how to clean and wear it.

I charged the ring while downloading the Oura app and filled it out with biographical information like my date of birth, height, and weight. Pairing the ring with my iPhone was very easy, and once the battery died, it was time to put the ring on.

Which is good

As someone who has never liked the look of smartwatches, I was excited to try out the Oura Ring 4 and use it to track my sleep. The wearable was so comfortable, I often forgot I was wearing it.

This is at least partly due to the device's new sensors, which are much smaller than previous ones. The third-generation Oura has sensors that are raised and look like little bumps, while those on the Ring 4 are essentially flat, giving it a smooth interior like any other ring.

I intentionally wore the ring on my right index finger. I still write a lot of my stories by hand (old school, I know), so I wanted to see if it would bother me while holding a pen or pencil. It didn't happen. The ring is also designed to be worn 24/7 and is waterproof, which has never caused me any issues when I wash my hands or shower with it.

Another highlight is the Oura app. The company started rolling out the redesign of the app to all of its users earlier this month, and I thought the design of the app was very intuitive. Data from the smart rings is displayed in three tabs called “Today,” “Vitals,” and “My Health.”

The Today tab highlights information based on the time of day, and includes shortcuts where I can quickly view the latest readings for things like my sleep, activity, heart rate, stress, or how ready I am for the day. These quick metrics are easy to understand and useful to look at when I'm having a quick minute throughout the day.

I also enjoyed looking at my reading at a more granular level in the Vitals tab. There is a lot to learn and decipher. Oura shows you nearly 20 different data points about your sleep alone. However, the company does a good job of breaking down all these concepts in simple language. For example, I wasn't familiar with the term latency, but the app taught me that it's the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.

The My Health tab gives users access to long-term insights like heart health, sleep health, and resilience, a metric that measures your ability to recover from stress over time. These metrics are calibrated once the Oura has been recording several weeks' worth of data, so I wasn't able to explore this feature in depth in this review.

Before the review, I was concerned about whether Oura's metrics would negatively impact my mood. For example, if Aura told me I didn't sleep well, would I feel less equipped to take on my day?

I was pleasantly surprised by how the company handled this framework. I never felt like I was being reprimanded for having a bad night's sleep, being stressed, or not exercising. Instead, Aura gave me tips on small changes I can make to feel better throughout the day, like taking a few minutes to break or meditate.

I also liked that the exercise goal in the app varied based on my readings. If there was a day when I was particularly tired or stressed, Oura lowered my activity goal. This helped me feel accomplished even when I wasn't at my best.

After only two weeks of wearing it, the ring was scratched. It's not noticeable from afar, but I can say that for sure.

Oura says on its website that users can prevent scratches by wearing the ring on their non-dominant hand, keeping it separate from other rings and taking it off in high-friction scenarios like weight lifting.

Despite this caveat, I was surprised at how quickly the Ring 4 showed signs of wear, especially considering its price. And no, scratches are not covered by Oura's warranty policy.

Another disappointment was the ring's battery life. It didn't last, Ora said.

The company touts eight days of battery life, but I'm usually prompted to charge the ring after about five or six days. The company said that battery life depends on users' ring size, feature configuration, app settings, usage and other factors, so it varies from person to person.

Five to six days is still better than the Apple Watch, which typically needs a daily charge, but I definitely didn't get the eight days I was expecting.

My final gripe was purely aesthetic. I have small hands, so I thought the 4 ring seemed a bit heavy compared to the jewelry I usually wear. My friends said they didn't notice it, but Ring 4 isn't the style I usually go for, although I've gotten more used to it over time.

It's worth noting that access to Oura's full list of features doesn't come cheap.

You don't have to pay the company's monthly subscription if you don't want to, but without it, you'll only have access to your daily sleep, readiness, and activity results, according to Oura's website. I've really enjoyed being able to track my stress levels, so, for that feature alone, I'd get the membership. If you want this kind of information, be prepared to make a monthly commitment of $5 before linking up with the Oura Ring 4.

Overall, the new Oura smart ring is easy to wear and use, and is a great option if you're looking for a low-maintenance way to track your health. I've recommended it to my family and friends, and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up buying one for myself one day.