Smart rings have become all the rage in recent months, with a few different variations on the market. If you are considering buying Molly Mae’s favourite, here’s what you need to know before splurging
Molly Mae Hague has been raving about her smart ring on YouTube and Instagram in recent months, admitting she’s become “obsessed” with tracking her sleep.
Smart jewellery is becoming increasingly popular for those wanting to follow their health and wellbeing, with smart rings taking over from the smart watches thanks to their discreet look. Molly Mae has been using the Oura Ring for a few months, a smart ring that has gone viral online time and time again thanks to its elegant design and unique tracking functions.
She even jokes that she’s “in a relationship” with the ring, and had a breakdown in her latest YouTube vlog when she struggled to reconnect the device to her phone after turning off Bluetooth. As a self-confessed “sleep lover”, she mostly uses its impressive sleep tracking function which allows users to see different sleep stages and exactly how long they have been asleep for.
But is the Oura Ring worth the hype? And is it worth the expensive £299 price tag? I’ve put the smart ring to the test for the last month to see whether it’s worth ditching your smart watch in favour of this ring.
Appearance
As someone who has been an avid user of a smart watch for the last few years, I was immediately impressed by the ring’s much more discreet and fashionable look. I got the Oura Ring Gen3 Horizon in Gold which is currently on offer for £349 but usually retails for £499.
However, there is a more affordable option; the ring in silver is currently on offer for £249 but usually costs £299. You can order a sizing kit to determine the right size before ordering, which gets taken off the cost of your order, or head to a John Lewis to try a ring sizer.
I decided to wear the ring on my middle finger as I liked the way it looked. At first, it felt quite chunky on my finger as it’s definitely thicker than a usual band, but to an outsider, it just looks like an ordinary gold ring.
After wearing it for a month, I grew to love the way it looked and now see it as an accessory. I also ditched my Apple Watch in favour of the ring for day-to-day wearing as it looks much more sophisticated and more discreet.
You can also wear it for a night out without feeling like it ruins your outfit – which is a big plus.
Key features of the Oura Ring 3
- Sleep tracking: Monitors your sleep stages (deep, light, and REM) and offers insights to improve your sleep quality.
- Activity tracking: Tracks steps, calories burned, and movement. Plus, it gives you a readiness score to help you plan your day.
- Heart rate monitoring: Measures your resting heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) for stress and recovery insights.
- Temperature sensing: Keeps an eye on your body temperature, which can help you spot early signs of illness—or even predict your period.
- Period prediction: Thanks to its temperature tracking, it helps you keep tabs on your cycle.
- SpO2 monitoring: Measures your blood oxygen levels while you sleep.
- Long battery life: Lasts up to 7 days on a single charge.
- Water resistance: Swim, shower, and sweat without worrying about damaging it.
Oura Ring Gen 3 Facts
- Oura Ring measures resting heart rate at 99.9% reliability compared to a medical-grade electrocardiogram (ECG), and validated against the sleep lab golden standard – PSG.
- Oura Ring measures heart rate variability at 98.4% reliability compared to medical-grade ECG.
- Oura Ring temperature sensors match performance with research-grade sensors at >99% and are able to detect baseline deviations as small as 0.13 °C.
- The Oura Ring infrared PPG sensor matched performance with clinical-grade ECG and consistently outperformed other PPG tools relying on green light LEDs or the iPhone camera.
- The Oura Ring has an almost perfect agreement with PSG for 2-stage sleep classification and an inter-device reliability of 94.8%.
My honest review
I wasn’t immediately obsessed with the ring. You have to pay £5.99 a month for the app which is another expense once you’ve bought the ring. You can opt for the free version but you can’t unlock some of the best features like the in-depth sleep analysis.
For the first week, I remember questioning whether it was any better than my usual smart watch. But, having worn it for a solid month, I now can’t live without it.
I hardly notice it when I’m sleeping, which is a big plus as I struggled to sleep wearing a smart watch so would often take it off and wouldn’t make use of the sleep tracking. The Oura Ring seems very accurate, it knows when I fall asleep and when I wake up and everything in between.
I’ve found it’s really improved my relationship with sleep and I now prioritise getting a good night’s rest. I also like the activity function, which can guess what activity you are doing (such as walking) and estimate your calorie burn.
But I haven’t completely ditched my smart watch. As someone who loves running, the Oura Ring lacks a screen to see your pace, heart rate and time.
For me, the Oura Ring works better as a lifestyle smart ring, while my Apple Watch is better for tracking workouts. Having said that, I don’t think I could live without either now.
The pros
This is also Molly Mae’s favourite feature – and I can see why. Before I used the Oura Ring, I would often wake up feeling tired and unsure of how well I slept. Now, I wake up and can see exactly how I slept, receiving an overall sleep score in the morning.
I was surprised how accurate the score was – if I felt tired when I woke up, my sleep score was lower. I could also see the different sleep stages, from REM to deep sleep.
This morning, for example, my sleep score was 84/100 – which is considered ‘good’. I had a total of seven hours and 53 minutes of sleep, with one hour and 50 minutes of REM sleep and one hour and 37 minutes of deep sleep.
It also gives you advice ahead of the day, with an overall readiness score of 76/100. I find this useful for determining what activities I want to do that day, prioritising rest days when my readiness score is low.
This is a great benefit for females and something that I didn’t realise the smart ring had. You can track your cycle, with the app offering stats and resources for women wanting to learn more about their menstrual cycle.
The ring also tracks your temperature, which can indicate phases of the cycle like ovulation and the chance of conception.
As someone who loves all things fitness and health, I like being able to track my activities in one place and see exactly how many calories I am estimated to have burned that day.
It tracks sleep and can import information from your smart watch to help calculate this if you opt to wear one while working out. But it can also track activities without a smart watch, guessing which activity you have completed using your heart rate and temperature.
It also gives you an activity goal, which has really helped me in ensuring I get up and move. Mine is 350 active calories a day, which can be achieved through simply walking, or going to the gym and working out.
It also gives you a total burn, helping those wanting to lose weight to determine how many calories they should be taking on board throughout the day. You also get a score throughout the day depending on if you are on track to achieve your activity goal, or giving you a push to go for a walk, or complete a workout.
This is a really interesting function that I haven’t come across before. The Oura Ring can measure when you are most stressed using your heart rate throughout the day.
I have found this to be really accurate, with it typically spiking when I’m commuting. I’ve found this has helped me to be more mindful throughout the day and ensure I give myself five minutes here and there to just breathe and take a break.
Could be improved
As with any smart device, there can be problems with the level of accuracy. While I have found the Oura Ring to be impressively accurate when it comes to sleep, it’s not always the best at determining when I’m doing an activity and what exactly that is.
You are able to edit activities as you go though, which means you can keep the timeline consistent as long as you remember to add it in. According to a study presented at Sleep Europe 2024, the ring remains the most accurate sleep tracker on the market.
As previously mentioned, you do have to pay for full use of the app at £5.99/month, which might not sound like a lot but can add on to expenses. For me, it’s definitely worth it but it’s important for those purchasing the ring to be aware of this extra cost.
The main criticism I have seen online is that the ring can scratch easily, particularly for those wearing it in the gym when weight lifting. You can get cases for them, but this only adds to the chunkiness of the band.
You can opt to wear fitness gloves, but it’s something to bear in mind when wearing it.
Final verdict
If you are someone who loves all things health and wellbeing, this is the ideal smart jewellery for you. It’s discreet but has impressive technology allowing you to develop a better sleep routine and get more of an insight into your overall health and wellbeing throughout the day.
But for fitness enthusiasts, you might struggle with the lack of a screen to track workouts in the moment and the accuracy around tracking activities.
For me, I couldn’t live without the ring and have recommended it to all my family and friends. I find myself wearing the Oura Ring daily, and now only wear my smart watch while working out or running to ensure I can track my movements accurately in the moment without a phone nearby.
