Not everyone needs a screen on their wrist. Despite the popularity of smartwatches, they can be distracting and not everyone can even comfortably fit a wearable on their wrist in the first place (screens are only getting bigger, it turns out). So, what do you do if you’re worried about your heart health or the quality of your sleep? You turn to a fitness ring.
A fitness ring, also called a smart ring, provides all the health and fitness benefits a smartwatch offers. It uses a small, screen-free design with an emphasis on cramming in all the sensors you can reasonably fit in something that slides around your finger. It differs from a smartwatch or fitness watch in that it offloads information to your smartphone rather than displaying it on your wrist. Fitness rings are perfect for anyone looking for a fitness tracker that is more discreet or fashion-forward without the distractions of something buzzing and lighting up on your wrist. We’ve taken the guesswork out of deciding whether they’re right for you by collecting some of the best fitness rings around below.
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Best overall fitness ring
Oura Ring Gen3
Small tech with a big impact
The third-generation Oura Ring can track all the health information your smartwatch can in a far more compact package. However, you will have to commit to a monthly subscription to use it.
- Sleek design
- Easily digestible companion app
- Accurate sensors
The Oura Ring Gen 3 offers the best overall fitness ring experience, featuring an attractive design that can be as discrete or flashy as you’d like. Oura even partnered with Gucci for a high-fashion version. You can choose between a round style or opt for the original plateau design to save a little money.
Oura Ring Generation 3: The one to rule them all
This smart ring is able to track your activity, sleep and more from your finger. Is it worth replacing your wrist-based tracker for it?
The ring can track just about anything you’d want to know more about, including your sleep, heart rate, activity, resilience, and readiness for your next workout. It can automatically detect workouts and even counts housework towards your activity goals. Plus, Oura offers extensive women’s health features such as Cycle Insights, Pregnancy Insights, and more.
While most of the feature suite requires a monthly subscription, Oura provides comprehensive insights into your overall health and wellness without overcomplicating the data. Additionally, Oura does a nice job adding new software features on a regular basis, which we think makes the sensor-equipped hardware worth the investment.
Oura’s latest update is a game changer for women’s health
As part of Women’s Health Month, the new features will be released in conjunction with its “Be the Expert in You” campaign.
Best premium fitness ring
Ultrahuman Ring Air
All the features without extra fees
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is plain for a fashion accessory, but its slim profile and mastery of fitness ring basics without the need for an added subscription is worth considering.
- Slim and lightweight
- No monthly subscription
- Granular data on sleep and activity
If you’re not willing to deal with a monthly subscription in addition to the cost of the hardware, look to the Ultrahuman Ring Air. This ring offers all of Oura’s features in a slimmer package, making it less noticeable on your finger. The Ring Air currently comes in five different finishes: Raw Titanium, Aster Black, Matte Grey, Bionic Gold, and Space Silver.
Ultrahuman Ring AIR: A ringing endorsement
There’s a new smart ring is in town, but can its wellness tracking performance match up to market leader Oura?
The Ring Air manages to cram many sensors into its slim ring, including LEDs for heart rate monitoring, temperature sensors, motion sensors, and an Infrared Photoplethysmography sensor (for help with blood-oxygen measurements, among other things). All of these sensors allow you to track your heart rate, sleep, movement, and more.
Inside the companion app, the Ultrahuman Ring Air offers plentiful insights into physical activity and readiness, like most fitness rings, alongside other, more unique metrics. For example, Ultrahuman can tell you when you should stop having coffee for the day and still get a good night’s sleep or if certain physical activities throughout the day could affect your circadian rhythm. Beyond that, the app offers access to workout videos and can also sync with Ultrahuman’s glucose monitor. If you’re looking for more of that nitty-gritty health information without a monthly fee, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is worth considering.
Ultrahuman is shaping the future of health wearables by looking at the big picture
In an interview with Pocket-lint, Ultrahuman CEO Mohit Kumar said a holistic view of health is essential.
Best value fitness ring
RingConn Smart Ring
Stress tracking features included
The RingConn Smart Ring adds stress monitoring to the typical sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and body temperature measuring of most fitness rings.
- Comes with a charging case
- Seven days of battery life
- Budget-friendly
Along with the usual charts and graphs on sleep and heart rate variance, RingConn also promises to track stress levels, a unique health metric that’s begun trickling out to more wearables like Fitbit’s Sense 2 smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 2, and plenty of Garmin devices over the last few years.
If stress-tracking skills aren’t a draw, the RingConn Smart Ring also ships with a charging case that can charge the ring 18 times, something only the Evie Ring can claim. Plus, RingConn promises seven days of battery life, so you can go awhile without needing that case to begin with.
Movano Health Evie Ring
Detailed monthly information at your fingertip
The Evie Ring tracks heart rate, body temperature, and sleep, all through the lens of menstrual health.
- Unique design
- Menstrual cycle tracking
- Heart rate, SpO2, activity, and temperature tracking
Best fitness ring for cycle tracking
Movano Health’s Evie Ring is designed with a special focus on menstrual cycle tracking and women’s health. In terms of sensors, it’s not doing anything radically different from other fitness rings. It does, however, have an eye-catching and unique design.
The Evie Ring uses a body temperature sensor to help predict menstrual cycles and ovulation. It can also help you understand the reasons behind your physical and emotional states based on where you are at in your cycle. The app provides a colorful, approachable, and fun experience that is quite different from the other options.
Considering smartwatches are just now starting to do any kind of period tracking, Evie makes a strong case for itself as the go-to wearable for women, or at the very least, a strong alternative to the Oura Ring Gen 3. And that could be a meaningful difference for some.
The bottom line: What’s the best fitness ring?
If you’re looking for a way to stay on top of your health without having to strap a smartwatch to your wrist, it’s worthwhile to invest in a fitness ring. We think the Oura Ring Gen 3 offers the best overall experience, with an attractive design that comes in plenty of finishes, plenty of useful sensors, and easily digestible insights into your health. In-depth information requires a monthly subscription, but it’s worth it for the growing list of features Oura offers, including period predictions.
Oura Ring Gen3
Editor’s Choice
How did we choose the best fitness rings?
The writers and editors at Pocket-lint have decades of experience testing wearables, including fitness rings. I’ve personally used multiple wearables focused on tracking your health and fitness, including multiple options included here. I combined what I liked best in the fitness rings I’ve worn with what features I identified as important in past reviews to come up with a method for singling out the rings featured in this guide. I specifically evaluated the look of the rings, their features (what they tracked primarily), and how they feel to wear.
FAQ
Q: How do I know if a fitness ring will fit me?
In most cases, ring manufacturers will send you a sizing kit with multiple different-sized plastic rings that you’ll then have to try on and choose from before ordering your actual ring. Getting a fitness ring that’s the right size is not only good for your personal comfort but also critical for the sensors on the inside of the ring to capture accurate data so you can get the most accurate insights.
Q: Why should I choose a fitness ring over a fitness tracker?
First and foremost, style. Some people don’t like wearing normal watches, so a smartwatch or wrist-based fitness tracker won’t fit their personal aesthetic. The second reason comes down to comfort. For sleep tracking, having a way to keep the tracker on your body the entire time you’re asleep is key to figuring out how much rest you’re getting. Most people aren’t used to wearing a watch to sleep, and it could legitimately bother light sleepers. A ring is smaller, hugs your finger closer, and is easy to keep on for longer periods of time. The goal with any kind of tracker, whether it’s a fitness ring or something else, is to keep it on your body for as long as possible. The more data it collects, the easier time it’ll have giving you insights into your health. Smaller trackers are just easier to wear.
A third benefit is that smart rings and fitness rings are largely agnostic to whatever smartphone you’re using, something you can’t really say about many smartwatches. You can use almost all of these rings with Android and iOS without breaking a sweat. With Samsung’s Galaxy Ring on the way, that could change, but for now, it’s a real plus.
