Oura Ring 5 review: a luxury smart ring for discreet everyday wellness tracking that’s (almost) easy to forget you’re wearing | Tech Radar

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Oura Ring 5 review: a luxury smart ring for discreet everyday wellness tracking that’s (almost) easy to forget you’re wearing

The Oura Ring 5 is so petit, I (nearly) forgot I was wearing it

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Judging the Oura Ring 5 purely on its hardware, it’s easily the most stylish and accurate smart ring around, with its stunningly light design and incredibly long-lasting battery. But that's not the full story: occasionally misleading or over-cautious health assessments can induce health anxiety, and the mandatory subscription fee does add up. It isn’t perfect, but if you want accurate sleep tracking hidden inside what could easily pass as a piece of jewellery, Oura still wears the crown.

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I've been going around in circles writing this Oura Ring 5 review. On the one hand, I find the health insights equally fascinating and motivating just like the best smart rings, and its discreet design is without a doubt comfortable to wear all day long.

But it's worth noting that Oura has been facing increasing backlash after deepening its partnership with the Department of Defense in the US last year, which is something ethically-conscious buyers may want to look into before purchasing.

That said, its ability to track more than 50 health and wellness metrics, such as sleep quality and stress levels, is undeniably enticing for anyone wanting to be more aware of their body — and the launch of this newest model brought a whole host of new insights.

What I will say is that the Oura app does try to include a lot of context about how these measurements can be interpreted and how they contribute to‚ for example, determining how prepared your body is for the day ahead based on a range of metrics, which Oura calls your 'Resilience Score'. But, again, this only scratches the surface of understanding how your body actually functions.

The best example of these assessments triggering misguided concern was when I got warnings from a feature called 'Symptom Radar', which tracks your respiratory rate and body temperature to flag signs of strain. What it didn't take into account was that a woman's body temperature naturally rises after ovulation, making its assessment unnecessarily worrying for anyone who didn't know that.

I can't deny that its claim to be the world's smallest smart ring at launch really does hold up — its lightness makes it disappear on your finger, making it ideal for everyday wear. With six stylish finishes and an even more scratch-resistant titanium surface, it's no wonder it's made headlines in the wearable tech space, with plenty of influencer reviewers fawning over the all-new Oura Ring 5.

By now you've definitely noticed my to-ing and fro-ing as I work through every side of the Oura Ring 5 to reach an honest and fair review. I won't say it's the most perfect smart ring on the market — that would be ignoring too much — but I will say it comes close. I can't argue with its premium build and the level of tech packed into those tiny sensors, which manage to achieve high levels of accuracy. That's impressive in itself, and

Oura has been facing increasing backlash after deepening its partnership with the Department of Defense in the US last year, although it doesn't use data from any of its users other than specific military personnel as part of this arrangement. It's also worth keeping in mind that there have been studies raising concerns about 'health data anxiety', and Oura's attempt to bring new biomarkers into play have given us a whole new category to worry about. But at the end of the day, I'm a sucker for brilliant tech — which the Oura Ring 5 definitely is.

$5.99 monthly subscription (priced in USD across all regions)

The Oura Ring 5 costs an extra

Beyond the high-gloss gold and silver finishes, you're paying an extra

Add the

That's no small sum when most smart rings on the market cost less and many don't require a recurring subscription. There are also plenty of wearable alternatives that track the same health vitals, which makes this very much a luxury purchase.

The closest a smart ring has come to looking like luxury jewellery

Extremely low-profile and light, making it comfortable to wear all day

By far the best justification for the Oura Ring 5's high price tag is that it could easily pass for a piece of jewellery. That's largely down to a 40% decrease in size from the previous model, the result of Oura redesigning the entire core.

That freed up space to drop multiple sensors, but it hasn't made the Ring 5 any less accurate — Oura has increased the efficiency of the remaining sensors to offset the loss. The titanium surface is also more scratch-resistant; I can't compare it directly to a previous model, but it hasn't picked up a nick yet.

What I can say is that the Oura Ring 5 is significantly smaller than the Ring 4. Holding it up against a previous-generation ring (admittedly the bulkier ceramic finish), I was shocked at how noticeable the size difference is. It's lighter and far more comfortable to wear, since it doesn't protrude — and therefore doesn't rub against — my finger as much.

That same design ethos carries through to the Oura app, which has a minimalist interface that isn't cluttered with numbers and graphs. Instead, data is presented as scores with percentages and ratings for each health vital. It's easy to use, though it's worth noting that the app needs a certain amount of data to establish your health baseline, so you won't have access to every feature right away.

Tracks vitals including body temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate

AI wellness assessments for sleep, stress, resilience, and more

Activity tracking lags behind more dedicated fitness wearables

After two weeks of wearing the Oura Ring 5, I've unlocked most features — sleep, resilience, and activity scores — which now populate what was once a fairly bare home screen.

The Oura app works best with more data, so it's constantly prompting you to add new "tags" to your day's timeline. Some are automatic, like detecting exercise, while others — what you ate, or what kind of activity you did — require manual logging.

The app's other three main sections cover your vitals, a health assessment area, and an LLM chatbot you can talk to about your data. That last part matters, because as I mentioned above, there's plenty of room for misleading interpretations if you don't understand the many factors behind your body's vitals.

I got a lot out of learning more about my sleep quality and general heart health (the app has a neat feature that lets you feel your heartbeat throughout the day via your phone's haptic feedback), but what I'm most interested in unlocking next are the new women's health features, such as Hormonal Birth Control, which builds on the existing Cycle Insights dashboard with what Oura calls a "first-of-its-kind" view into how biometrics shift across hormonal and hormone-free days.

While I find the wellness insights genuinely useful, the ring is nowhere near as practical as a dedicated fitness tracker. Without GPS — it relies on a paired device for location — and limited to activities compatible with wearing jewellery on your hand (so no weightlifting without a third-party silicone band over the top), it falls short, even with the addition of real-time tracking — which, again, you can only view through a paired device).

Sleep and heart rate tracking data is in line with our benchmark device

One of the biggest improvements that the Oura Ring 5 brings over the Ring 4 is that has managed to squeeze out a whole extra day of battery life, despite the ring itself being redesigned to be 40% smaller.

During my testing, I found it lasted a whole seven days on one full charge. But I was more impressed with was how quickly you can charge the smart ring. From a fully drained battery, it took less than an hour until it was all way back up to 100%, which means it's very easy to top it up throughout the week whenever you're, say, washing dishes or having a shower.

For the most part, I kept the Oura Ring 5 on throughout the day, allowing it to track my vitals as I moved from home to work to seeing friends, exercising and cooking, which it does very well. Most of the automated tracking suggestions were accurate, allowing me to quickly confirm all of the day's activities when I next checked into the app.

This same accuracy extends to the sleep data, which is the absolute highlight of the Oura Ring 5's feature set. I found the insights both enlightening and motivating, especially after getting my first sleep score as (like any gamification effect) I began trying to reach a new higher level. My testing also confirmed this when my readouts for my average heart rate managed to be within 3 BPM of the Polar H10 chest strap, which is the gold standard for consumer heart rate and workout accuracy as it uses actual ECG (electrocardiogram) technology.

An extremely luxury smart ring compared to others on the market.

An extremely luxury smart ring compared to others on the market.

The most discreet and comfortable smart ring to wear all day.

The most discreet and comfortable smart ring to wear all day.

Stacked on the wellness front, but not when it comes to fitness.

Stacked on the wellness front, but not when it comes to fitness.

A whole week's worth of battery, with accurate sleep tracking.

A whole week's worth of battery, with accurate sleep tracking.

You want wellness tracking From stress to sleep, you can turn your health vital's raw data into useful insights.

You want a smart ring that looks like jewellery The smart ring manages to be stylish, small and light, and comfortable.

You don't want to spend more than you need to You can find smart ring alternatives that deliver the same benefits for a lot less.

You want a fitness tracking wearable There are far more feature-rich fitness trackers available at a more affordable price.

Gold, Silver, Brushed Silver, Premium Gold, Stealth Black, Rose Gold

Gold, Silver, Brushed Silver, Premium Gold, Stealth Black, Rose Gold

I wore the Oura Ring 5 for two weeks, draining the battery completely (despite the app advising against letting it go below 30%). I have some gaps in my data from forgetting to put it back on, but I mostly didn't take it off. I tested the ring's heart rate monitoring accuracy against the Polar H10 chest strap, and compared its design to a ceramic Oura Ring 4.

Amelia became the Senior Editor for Home Entertainment at Tech Radar in the UK in April 2023. With a background of more than eight years in tech and finance publishing, she's now leading our coverage to bring you a fresh perspective on everything to do with TV and audio. When she's not tinkering with the latest gadgets and gizmos in the ever-evolving world of home entertainment, you’ll find her watching movies, taking pictures and travelling.

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• Oura Ring 5 review: a luxury smart ring for discreet everyday wellness tracking that’s (almost) easy to forget you’re wearing

• The Oura Ring 5 is so petit, I (nearly) forgot I was wearing it