The best smart rings are highly capable wearable devices that are packed with sensors and yet small and light enough to be worn on one of your fingers. The quest to make the perfect smart ring has been a tricky one – many companies have tried and failed. But 2024 could be the year of the smart ring with Samsung’s on the way and even Apple is rumored to be working on one.
But which is the best smart ring to buy right now? Over the past few years there’s been a big influx in new smart rings. However, they’re not all created equal. Some smart rings have a poor battery life, aren’t accurate and come with confusing apps. We’re here to help. In our guide below, we’ve included the best smart rings you can buy now. We’ve included what we think each device is best for, as well as our first-hand experiences of trying them. Read on to find the best smart ring for you.
The quick list
Best for comfort
A feature-packed smart ring that reveals lots of insights. It’s also incredibly light and our most comfortable pick.
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Best budget
A unique design with solid data tracking. Much cheaper than rivals and no need for a subscription either.
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The best smart ring for most people
The Oura Ring (Gen 3) is our favorite smart ring and the one we recommend for most people. That’s because this smart ring ticks all of the boxes. It looks good, coming in a range of shades and a few different styles. It’s also comfortable and lightweight, weighing in at 4-6g depending on which size you opt for.
But it’s the wealth of data it collects that makes it an excellent smart ring – and a solid upgrade over the original Oura and the Gen 2 ring that came before it. New sensors allow it to measure your blood oxygen (SpO2) levels, 24/7 daytime heart rate (previously it was only at night), workout heart rate, restorative time, Period Prediction, improved temperature sensing, and so much more. The companion app has also been beefed up with new content, women’s and reproductive health, and improved sleep algorithms.
The only notable downside of the Oura Ring (Gen 3) is it’s a little pricier than some of the competition. It’s also only available as part of a subscription fee. It’s worth pointing out we still think the Oura ring is good value for what it offers, but if you’re on a budget or don’t like the idea of subscribing there are other options that will bring you a similar experience.
Read our full Oura Ring (Gen 3) review
The best smart ring for comfort
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is packed with sensors to track data about your health, fitness and sleep. It does this well, feeding back information via an insightful app that allows you to see trends, progress and even recommendations. There’s a big focus on sleep and energy levels – great news for anyone who leads an active lifestyle and wants more guidance about rest and recovery.
Design-wise, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is very light, weighing in at only 2.4g to 3.6g (depending on the size you need) and comfortable enough to wear 24/7. The only downside is it did get a little scratched during testing, which I think was due to the matte black finish.
The biggest competitor to the Ultrahuman Ring Air is undoubtedly the Oura Ring (Gen 3) above, the rings look similar and offer a lot of the same features. Oura just about beats Ultrahuman to the top spot. But if you don’t like the idea of a subscription and want the comfiest option, Ultrahuman is better.
Read our full Ultrahuman Ring Air review
The best budget smart ring
The RingConn is one of the best smart rings you can buy. Unlike its rivals, it has an unusual design. Yes, it’s definitely a ring. But it has subtle squared edges, which makes it stand out. It’s one of our favorites for looks, and not only is it stylish, subtle and less prone to scratches than the Ultrahuman Ring Air, it’s incredibly comfortable too.
It’s also more affordable than both the Oura Gen 3 smart ring and the Ultrahuman Ring Air. Its app and performance aren’t quite as slick as Oura’s. But it does come close in most respects. It offers reliable data tracking, and an app that performs well despite feeling a little busy and slow to sync at times.
So the RingConn smart ring isn’t the best one in this list, but it’s still refreshing to discover it’s a solid alternative to the Oura (Gen 3) smart ring and it’s cheaper without the commitment of a subscription, too.
Read our full RingConn smart ring review (coming soon)
The best smart ring for payments
The McLear RingPay 2 is the only smart ring in our guide that we haven’t had chance to test ourselves yet. But we really wanted to include it to show that, for the most part, smart rings are highly-advanced devices packed with sensors. But there are some outliers, like the McLear RingPay 2 which is still smart but in a very different way.
The McLear RingPay 2 is designed to help you make payments, there’s no health tracking here. Thanks to NFC tech fitted into the ring, it works like a contactless card does. Add a card to your RingPay wallet, then place your hand over a payment terminal. Because its features are fairly basic, no charging is required.
You’re able to track your spending in the app, set funds to top-up automatically at a certain point, add up to four rings to an account, transfer funds between rings, suspend your account if you lose it, and more. As you’d expect from a device designed to be worn often, it’s scratch-resistant, waterproof and hypoallergenic.
The best lightweight smart ring
Like its rivals, the Circular Ring Slim continuously monitors essential health metrics directly from your finger, including heart rate and sleep duration. The accompanying app becomes more intuitive and useful over time, delivering tailored health insights and lifestyle recommendations.
In this way, it’s similar to the competition. But it does fall short in a few key areas. Most notably, it has a disappointing battery life. If you use all of the features (because why wouldn’t you?), it’ll only last two days, which is a lot less than the likes of the Oura ring (Gen 3) and Ultrahuman Ring Air.
But during testing we did like that it’s comfortable to wear with a stylish design and an incredibly lightweight build. This is the cheaper version of the brand’s Ring Pro model, which explains why it falls short against its more polished competitors but is more affordable.
Read our full Circular Ring Slim review (coming soon)
How to choose the best smart ring for you
Although plenty of new smart rings are entering the market, right now there isn’t a huge amount of choice. So bear that in mind when you’re weighing up your options.
The first thing to consider is: what do you want a smart ring for? Some more basic options, like the McLear RingPay 2 above, are for NFC tasks and payments. Whereas all the others in this list are smart rings with sensors in them for tracking your health and sleep.
It’s also important to think about your priorities. If you want the best of the best smart ring, we’d recommend trying the Oura ring (Gen 3), but the Ultrahuman and RingConn options are more affordable and very similar in terms of performance and features.
Finally, do you really need a smart ring? I know that might seem like an odd question. But although smart rings are innovative and exciting, they’re not for everyone. For example, if fitness tracking is your number one priority, you might be best off with a sports-focused smartwatch. And if you’re on a budget, you may want to try a cheaper activity tracker instead.
