The Oura Ring 4 is an unobstrusive way to track health and fitness metrics. Should you get one?

Oura isn’t a household name in India, and many would be hearing of the Finnish brand for the first time, with the launch of the Oura Ring 4. As the name suggests, Oura has been at the wearable space longer than most people realize—over a decade at this point. While other wearable brands were busy strapping screens to wrists, Oura was betting that the finger was a better place to track your vitals.

At ₹28,900 onwards (plus a monthly subscription) though, the Oura Ring costs a fair bit for something with no screen, no GPS and no notifications (thankfully!), but is it worth it? After wearing one for a month, the answer is a pretty clear yes, but with a few caveats.

A big part of the appeal of the Oura Ring 4 is down to how good it looks, more like a piece of jewelry than a sophisticated health wearable with a bevy of sensors. And unlike most fitness trackers that scream for your attention by flashing, chirping or buzzing on your wrist, the Oura Ring 4 stays quiet, unobtrusive and out of the way, so much so you can forget you have it on as you go about your day.

Aside from the initial settling period, I found the Ring comfortable to wear, but its thickness might be a tad chunky for smaller hands. You’ll want to get the size right, of course, since a loose ring won’t measure metrics accurately. For this, one can order the sizing kit ( ₹999, adjusted towards the cost of the Ring thereafter) or walk into a retailer like Croma to try on one of the 12 different sizes. Just remember to check for either the index, middle, or ring finger, as these have larger blood vessels, allowing the ring's optical sensors to get stronger, more consistent data signals.

Courtesy its water-resistant, titanium design, the Ring 4 takes everyday knocks in its stride, and comes out looking unscathed after innumerable hand washes, handing metal utensils, bicycle rides and a regular gym routine. However, I wouldn’t recommend using it for heavy weight training, not unless you want to scuff up the Ring permanently. And if you thought the shiny silver/black finishes were pricey, you’ll have to pay an extra ₹11,000 for the gold, rose gold, brushed silver or stealth black finishes. That’s a lot for a different colour.

Once the ring is paired and you sign up for the subscription, you slip it on using the visible etching to ensure that the ring is worn with the sensors flush against the inside of your finger. Thereon, the ring uses something called ‘Smart Sensing’, which allows it to automatically find the best signal path, even if you fiddle with your ring over the course of the day.

Each of the sensors—red/infrared for blood oxygen/respiratory rate, green and infrared for heart rate/variance, a temperature sensor and accelerometer for activity/inactivity levels—reports data back to the Oura app. The app then then synthesizes the data into three scores, between 0 and 100 for Sleep, Activity and Readiness, the latter a composite scope on how prepared your body is to take on the day.

The ring also measures stress levels and restorative time, periods when your nervous system is either in an elevated or recharging state, both of which serve as a good marker of overall health. Wearing the Ring 4 alongside an Apple Watch Ultra 3, I found physical activity, heart rate tracking and blood oxygen levels fall within five percent of the Apple Watch.

Now, while it doesn’t have quite the repertoire of sensors and range of workouts automatically identified and tracked, one thing the Ring 4 does exceedingly well is sleep-tracking. Not only does it capture vitals like temperature, respiratory and heart signals while you’re asleep—the form factor and the 5-6 day battery life makes the Ring 4 far more amenable to wearing overnight compared to the heavier Ultra—but it also measures your sleep efficiency (time asleep vs. awake), your time spent in REM and deep sleep, how much you tossed and turned, and even how long you took to fall asleep.

By and large, the Ring 4 is more useful as an indicator of overall wellness and your body’s baseline levels over time. This way, when something deviates, the metrics on the app make it immediately obvious, connecting the dots and explaining what the data means, whether that’s an onset of illness, a slump in readiness after poor sleep or detecting almost imperceptible changes across menstrual cycles.

There is a catch, though. To unlock that deeper analysis, Oura charges a somewhat steep ₹599 per month subscription after the first free month. Without it, you’ll still see the headline scores, but much of the context—the reason behind each of those numbers, including the excellent sleep analysis and personalized insights—is paywalled. Apple, Samsung or even fellow ring-maker Ultrahuman, by contrast, don’t charge a subscription for letting you view your health data.

Verdict

From tracking your sleep to monitoring overall health and wellness, the Oura Ring 4 works as advertised, and it does it in such an unassuming, discreet and distraction-free manner as compared to other fitness trackers. One for the wristwatch enthusiasts, perhaps, but not for fitness nerds who want to pore over every bit of their body and workout data. It’s expensive to boot, and the monthly subscription costs may give a lot of potential buyers some pause.

Tushar Kanwar is a tech columnist and commentator, and tweets @2shar.