Oura on Thursday announced the fifth generation of its popular smart ring, starting at $399. The Ring 5, which Oura describes as the world’s smallest smart ring, arrives just a year and a half after the company launched the Ring 4 and seven months after the launch of the Ring 4 Ceramic. Ring 5 is 40% smaller than its predecessor, with more accurate sensing and enhanced battery life.
Ring 5 will be released with a new software update that includes blood pressure signals, live activity tracking, on-demand care, and other features that will also roll out to Oura Ring Gen3 and beyond.
The new smart ring is available for pre-order starting today and will start shipping on June 4th. Available in sizes 6 to 13, it’s available in six finishes including a redesigned gold with a more authentic gold tone, an updated deep rose with a copper look, plus silver, brushed silver, black, and stealth. The black and silver retail price is $399, while the rest are $499. For comparison, Ring 4’s price started at $349.
Maz Bulman, vice president of products at Oura, told TechCrunch that the company has reduced the width of the ring by about 2 millimeters and the thickness by about 30%. Brumand noted that Oura members are asking the company to make smaller, thinner rings, pushing for a move toward slimmer designs. Oura achieved the new size by redesigning its mechanical, electrical, optical, battery and sensing architecture, Bulman explained.
The new ring is designed to be desirable to a wider audience, especially those who previously found smart rings too large. Oura says the latest model is designed to look and feel like any other ring.
Oura has previously been able to get away with larger designs as the dominant player in the smart ring market, but new products from subscription-free rivals like RingConn and Ultrahuman have increased pressure to innovate. Increasing competition may also explain why Oura is launching a new ring just a year and a half after Ring 4, compared to the roughly three-year gap between Ring 3 and Ring 4. It’s also worth noting that the Ring 5 announcement came a day before the third generation of Ring-Con was scheduled to begin shipping.
In terms of enhanced battery life, the Ring 5 lasts 6-9 days compared to the 5-8 days of the Ring 4.
Oura also says it has redesigned the sensor to improve skin contact and added more powerful LEDs to increase accuracy across a wider range of finger sizes and skin tones.
Software updates
As for software updates, Oura is releasing a “Health Radar” designed to monitor important biological signals behind surface patterns that members should pay attention to. Health Radar will be released with two basic features: blood pressure signal and night breathing.
Oura said it continuously detects changes and patterns that could indicate cardiovascular strain and alerts members if biometrics suggest signs of elevated blood pressure. Blood pressure should naturally drop overnight, so Oura uses blood pressure signals to track your blood pressure patterns during sleep, when your body’s cardiovascular patterns are most stable. If not, Oura points out that daytime readings may indicate potential cardiovascular risks that may be missed.
Members can also record actual blood pressure readings from the cuff directly in the Oura app.
With Night Breathing, Oura wants to help users better understand how their sleep and breathing patterns impact their health. Members will now be able to see their sleep-related breathing patterns and breathing disorders for 30 consecutive days, extending the insight they already have into the regularity of their nighttime breathing.
Mr. Oura also goes beyond insight to providing practical care. The company has partnered with Counsel Health, an on-demand platform that combines AI and certified physicians to deliver care directly to the Oura app. Members can ask health questions, receive personalized medical advice and connect with U.S.-licensed physicians. To access this, members will have to pay an additional fee on top of the standard $5.99 monthly subscription, although Oura did not say how much the additional service would cost.
U.S. members can also import diagnosed symptoms, medications, test results, and allergies into the app for a more complete picture of their health. While some people may be wary of uploading their health data to an app, the company promises to take a privacy-first approach to its records.
Additionally, Oura is adding a new live activity tracking experience that allows members to start a workout and view key metrics like pace and distance during activities like running and cycling in real-time on their smartphones. The company has also updated its “Automatic Activity Detection” to more accurately detect low-motion activities like Pilates. Members can also connect a third-party heart rate monitor to check their heart rate in real time.
Oura also adds GLP-1 insights that give members a long-term view of their medication treatment and allows them to track weight and body changes in one place.
For the first time, Oura is also conducting research into brain health. Eligible members can enroll in a brain health study that aims to match short in-app tasks with long-term physiological trends. Oura believes that eventually we will be able to map how daily choices and recovery impact mental sharpness and long-term brain health.
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