9/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDMuch smaller, more comfortable design. Improved fitness features, including Live Activity, heart-rate monitor support, and more reliable automatic workout detection. Thoughtful privacy additions. Seamless multi-ring support.TIREDSymptom Radar still isn’t as predictive as Oura claims. Subscription still feels mandatory.Since establishing the smart ring category in 2015, Oura has spent the past decade maintaining its leadership as competitors like Ultrahuman, RingConn, and Samsung entered the market. The Oura Ring 5 doesn’t attempt to overhaul what already works. Instead, it offers a careful refinement: smaller, more comfortable, and equipped with a smarter software experience that emphasizes AI-driven health coaching. After three weeks of wearing it, I consider it the best smart ring Oura has produced, though Ring 4 owners might find it hard to justify upgrading.
A Sleeker Ring
Sometimes I forget I’m wearing the Oura Ring 5. At 6.09 mm wide and 2.28 mm thick, it’s approximately 40 percent smaller than the Ring 4, and Oura says it’s the smallest smart ring on the market. After sleeping with it every night, wearing it through workdays, and keeping it on for most workouts, I found it way more comfortable than previous generations.
Photograph: Boutayna ChokraneFortunately, the slimmer build doesn’t sacrifice durability. The titanium exterior now has a tougher physical vapor deposition coating, and the ring retains its IP68 rating and 100-meter water resistance. After three weeks of daily wear, mine still looks surprisingly clean. A few hairline marks have started to appear, but they’re far subtler than the scratches my Ring 4 picked up within its first week.
Setup remains straightforward, and pairing took just a few seconds. Oura has trimmed the size range: the Ring 5 comes in sizes 6 through 13, compared to the Ring 4’s 4 through 15. Existing Oura owners should still order the updated sizing kit before buying. Although I stuck with the same size as my Ring 4, the Ring 5 fit more snugly, and I could easily see some people needing to size up.
Despite Oura’s hardware upgrades, I didn’t notice dramatic differences in the data itself. My overnight resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and activity tracking closely match what I was already seeing on the Ring 4. That’s less of a criticism than it sounds, considering the Ring 4 was already among the smartest rings I’ve tested. That said, Oura attributes any accuracy improvements to LEDs that are four times more powerful, redesigned sensors that sit closer to your skin, and 12 independent signal pathways intended to improve readings across different finger shapes and skin tones.
Battery life was also a modest improvement, averaging between six and nine days per charge. This slightly exceeds its predecessor’s five- to eight-day estimate. Oura also released a new portable Charging Case ($99), which stores enough power for roughly five full charges. A physical button lets you check charging and pairing status, and it’s compatible with the new Locate feature, which lets you find both your ring and charging case in the Oura app. It’s a nice travel accessory, though not an essential purchase for most people.
Smarter Insights
The biggest changes are in the app, but earlier generations also benefit from the upgrades.
Oura is increasingly positioning the Ring 5 as a proactive health platform powered by AI. Much of that strategy centers on Oura Advisor, the company’s large-language-model-powered assistant introduced last year, alongside new predictive health features that aim to tell you what’s happening in your body before you notice it yourself. Oura also partnered with Counsel Health to expand Advisor beyond wellness coaching. Through the app, members can ask health questions, receive personalized guidance informed by their biometric data, and connect with licensed health care professionals without leaving the app.
Courtesy of OuraFitness tracking has also become more capable. The new Live Activity feature lets me start workouts from my phone and view pace, distance, and heart rate on lock-screen widgets. During runs, I appreciated being able to glance at these metrics without unlocking my phone. It’s a small improvement, but it makes Oura feel more like an active fitness tracker. Automatic Activity Detection also appears more reliable. The Ring 5 consistently recognized my walks and even caught Pilates sessions that earlier generations often missed.
I also appreciated Oura’s new ability to pair with third-party heart rate monitors via Bluetooth. For workouts like strength training, where wearing a ring isn’t comfortable, I could leave my Oura in my gym bag without losing heart rate data. This solves one of my biggest long-standing complaints about smart rings, but it does still require buying another sensor.
Sleep remains Oura’s biggest strength. Over three weeks of testing, it consistently produced some of the most believable data I’ve seen from any wearable. Nights when I stayed up too late or woke up multiple times were accurately reflected in both my Sleep and Readiness Scores. Those scores also almost always aligned with how I actually felt before opening the app.
Symptom Radar still isn’t perfect. I came down with the flu during testing, and while the Ring 5 eventually flagged subtle physiological changes, it happened about a day after I’d realized I was getting sick. That’s roughly in line with my experience using the Ring 4, despite Oura’s claims that Symptom Radar has improved.
The new Health Radar includes two new health-monitoring tools: Blood Pressure Signals looks for biometric patterns that may correlate with cardiovascular strain, and Nighttime Breathing provides a rolling 30-day analysis of breathing disturbances during sleep. My Ring 5 hasn’t detected any significant breathing disruptions, which lines up with the results I’ve seen from other sleep trackers I’ve tested over the past year. Note: Health Radar was still rolling out during my testing, so if you don’t see it yet, updating the app may help.
Courtesy of OuraOura has also introduced GLP-1 tracking. Members can log injections or oral medications, monitor side effects, and record weight changes. You’ll also receive reminders on scheduled dose days and progress recaps through the Today tab. Even if you’re not taking a GLP-1 medication yourself, it’s easy to see why Oura added the feature, given how many people now use these drugs as part of long-term health management.
The company is placing greater emphasis on privacy as well. A new time-based Data Deletion feature lets users across all Oura generations erase data from specific periods without deleting their entire health history. Members also have more granular oversight with configurable controls over how their data is used and shared with third parties.
Oura also now supports multiple rings on a single account. You can pair both Ring 4 and Ring 5 devices and switch between them without paying for another membership, making it easy to alternate styles without losing your health history.
I especially appreciate this feature, because as much as I enjoy the Ring 5, I’m not quite ready to retire my Ring 4 Ceramic. Sure, that’s largely because of its look, but now I don’t have to choose between aesthetics and continuity. I can wear whichever ring fits the occasion without sacrificing my data.
The gap between Oura and its competitors has narrowed considerably. Samsung’s Galaxy Ring integrates well with Galaxy phones; Ultrahuman avoids subscription fees altogether, and RingConn still offers some of the best battery life in the category. But after living with all of them, I still think Oura, despite the required subscription to access all features, delivers the strongest software experience. (Without the $6-per-month subscription, you can only view your Readiness, Activity, and Sleep Scores.)
Whether the Ring 5 is worth buying depends entirely on what you’re upgrading from. If this is your first smart ring, or you’re coming from a Ring 2 or Ring 3, the Ring 5 is an easy recommendation. The smaller design, improved comfort, and steadily expanding software platform make it the most polished version Oura has released.
If you already own a Ring 4, the decision is less straightforward. I didn’t see dramatic gains in sensor accuracy, and most software additions are coming to older hardware anyway. Unless you particularly want the slimmer design or value the improved comfort enough to justify the cost, I’d probably wait another generation.
That said, the Oura Ring 5 remains the smart ring I’d recommend to most people. Plenty of wearables collect health data, but Oura does the best job of actually influencing how I train, sleep, and recover. That’s what keeps me wearing it long after the novelty has worn off.
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$399 at Oura$399 at Amazon
