Oura Ring 5 Is the Best Wellness Tracker for the Fashion Crowd

Despite their distinct ability to ruin an outfit, I’ve worn a fitness tracker on my wrist for the past 13 years. I love tracking my step count, logging my workouts, and seeing how well I slept the night before, even though they usually look like a gadget out of a sci-fi novel. Passable for the gym, not so much for the office or a night out.

When Oura Rings first made their debut nearly a decade ago, I was curious, but hadn’t been ready to take the plunge—until my Apple Watch decided to peter out just as the Oura Ring 5 was released. Trust me when I say that I am kicking myself for not making the switch years ago, because the wellness-minded Oura Ring is as good as it gets in both aesthetics and functionality.

Like its predecessors, the Oura Ring 5 is a smart device that tracks everything from your sleep to your step count, activity and stress levels, and vital signs via tiny sensors embedded in the ring. However, the Oura Ring 5 boasts a noticeably smaller body for a more jewelry-like design, an upgraded battery life, and a bevy of new advanced health-tracking features.

Appearance

While I’m no stranger to chunky jewelry, previous iterations of the Oura Ring were quite bulky. They are thick enough that I can instantly pick out if someone is wearing one.

The 5th generation ring is 40 percent thinner than its predecessor, making it virtually indistinguishable from other bands in my jewelry box. I’m confident this would pass muster with even my most eagle-eyed editor colleagues.

After wearing my ring for a month, it has become a regular piece of my jewelry rotation. I’ve worn it solo, paired with more sculptural rings on the same hand, and even stacked it with colorful rings on the same finger.

Of course, when it comes to a piece of jewelry you’re going to wear every single day, you must think strategically about the finish. The Oura Ring 5 is available in six different colors: silver, black, stealth (gunmetal), brushed silver, gold, and deep rose. The bulk of my jewelry collection is gold, so I chose accordingly, especially because Oura’s revamped gold finish looks subtler than the more yellow-toned hue of past generations.

Wearability

Before purchasing, Oura recommends wearing a sizing kit for at least 24 hours to determine your best fit. I ended up trialing two different sizes before landing on the right one. I can twist my device off with light effort, but I’m not worried that it’s going to fly off of my finger while working out or journeying around New York City. It fits so well that I genuinely forget I have it on, even when I’m sleeping.

Another plus with the latest model? The improved battery life. After having to charge my Apple Watch every night, I’m thrilled that my ring lasts for days at a time. Previous versions of the ring could last five to eight days on a single charge, while the fifth generation lasts six to nine days. I typically charge mine once a week and have noticed it fully charges in about an hour. Just note that some features—like sleep tracking and continuous heart rate—might not work once the ring gets under 30 percent battery, as that’s the threshold for low-power mode.

If you’re frequently on the go, Oura also released a portable charging case, which can wirelessly charge your ring for up to 30 days before it needs to be plugged in. I don’t have one of these, but I’m considering adding one to my cart ahead of my next trip.

Sleep

I am a notoriously horrible sleeper. I require a Bricked phone, at least an hour with my Kindle, and thunderstorm noises on my Hatch sunrise alarm clock in order to get the requisite eight hours of shut-eye, so the robust sleep tracking features were what I was most excited to test out.

Every night, the ring tracks your sleep, then delivers a graph with an hour-by-hour look at what sleep cycle you’re in (light, REM, or deep), in addition to noting any wake-up occurrences. The app then uses that data to give you a sleep score, which is out of 100. Per Oura, a sleep score of 85 or above is optimal.

Getting this detailed look at my sleeping habits has helped me notice patterns in my behavior on nights when my sleep is less than perfect. Mornings with lower sleep scores usually accompany evenings when I’ve been drinking or when I’ve spent too much time scrolling instead of engaging in my elaborate sleep routine. My competitive nature makes me more likely to put down my phone or decline that extra glass of wine at dinner, because I know it’ll negatively affect my sleep score. Trust me, there’s no better feeling than eliminating the “sleep debt” you’ve accrued.

Readiness

The ring also gives users a daily readiness score, which provides a comprehensive view of your overall health and how prepared you are to take on the day. Per Oura, the readiness score—out of 100—factors in your body temperature, resting heart rate and heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and the aforementioned sleep score. It also considers your activity levels over the past 14 days, so your score might be slightly lower if you had a hard workout the day before and need to prioritize recovery.

While I don’t pay as close attention to this as I have been to my sleep score, I love how it gives me an idea of how my day might pan out. On days when my ring alerts me to “Pay Attention,” I notice my habits from the previous days. In one case, the Symptom Radar on the ring warned me that I was showing minor signs of strain, so I took it easy for a few days to ward off potential sickness. While I wouldn’t take this as gospel, it’s nice to have a warning before major symptoms start to appear.

Activity

Unlike my Apple Watch, which provided a move goal that I could manipulate on my own, Oura uses your readiness score to determine your daily movement and activity goals, which, in turn, helps me plan the best days to work out. I’ve never felt like I had to push myself too hard to hit my calorie burn target each day, whereas I was often stressed about “closing the rings” on my Apple Watch on days when I was extra tired or didn’t have any exercise planned.

The ring also automatically notices when you’re exercising and detects up to 40 activity types ranging from Pilates to strength training. I was surprised when it recognized that I was dancing at a concert or was at a physical therapy session comprised of stretching and small movements. And as someone who is always plugged in on my daily step count, I’ve found that data to be on par with the numbers I was used to seeing on my Apple Watch.

Other standout features

• It’s important to note that in order to have access to the full suite of features on the Oura app, users must pay a $5.99 monthly subscription fee. While the free version still allows you to see your daily scores, more detailed data and historical trend graphs are only available with the paid version.
• Stress levels: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed tracking my daytime stress levels, which are based on heart rate, heart rate variability, motion, and temperature. The data shows that I was at peak stress before a doctor’s appointment—always anxiety-inducing for me!—and most relaxed while catching up on my Bravo queue at home.
• Health Radar: The latest Oura Ring offers a new tool that continuously monitors cardiovascular and respiratory metrics, and will only alert you when it surfaces anything that’s cause for concern.
• Cycle tracking: Oura’s built-in tracking feature not only predicts when your next period will start based on body temperature data, but also offers detail about what phase of your cycle you’re in at any given time of the month.
• The latest ring also includes GLP-1 insights, the ability to upload blood work and medical records, and an AI advisor designed to motivate you to reach your health goals, though I haven’t personally tried these features.

Is the Oura Ring 5 worth it?

Is it rude to say that I don’t miss my Apple Watch at all? Without getting too philosophical about how I dislike feeling constantly plugged into my phone, I love how the Oura Ring lets me ignore notifications, whereas they constantly disrupted me on my Apple Watch. Plus, I like how I don’t see any health metrics unless I physically tap on the app. Having my vitals right on my wrist was nice in theory, but it was easy for me to get obsessive about them. Oura’s score-based format provides a nice overview of my health at a glance, and if there’s something that gives me pause or that I want more detail about, it’s easy to drill down into the data.

Because this is my first time wearing an Oura Ring, I can’t make a detailed comparison to its predecessor, although I would say that it’s worth the upgrade if the bulk of past generations is getting to you. It’s easy to style and melds seamlessly with both my everyday jewelry and statement pieces without feeling like I’m wearing a fitness tracker.