is a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 13 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
So, you’re thinking of buying a smart ring. Well, some good news. Picking the best of the lot is incredibly easy right now. The “bad” news is that, as far as trustworthiness and reliability, your choices are somewhat limited, as this is still a niche and emerging gadget category.
Smart rings are in the middle of a resurgence. That means a lot of experimental ideas and newcomer tech brands you’ve probably never heard of. Enough competitors have cropped up that I spent the better part of last summer rocking six rings like a high-tech mafia don. While these aren’t necessarily bad products (some are pretty good), many aren’t as polished as what you’d see in more mature categories like smartwatches, headphones, and smartphones.
Speaking of which, there are a few things to know about the category. Currently, these devices are primarily health trackers. Their benefit is that they’re more discreet and better suited to sleep tracking than a smartwatch. However, the vast majority don’t include smart alarms or push notifications. This makes them best suited for casual athletes or more wellness-minded people. In most cases, hardcore athletes would be better served by a smartwatch or fitness tracker, with a smart ring serving as a supplementary source of data. (But that’s quite an expensive endeavor.) Smart rings are also ill-suited for weightlifters, as they can easily scratch against equipment.
With that in mind, here’s the best smart ring for most people in 2025 — and a handful of runners-up worth highlighting for the more tech-adventurous.
What I’m looking for How we test smart rings Collapse Smart rings are meant to be a stylish and discreet alternative to traditional fitness trackers. That requires a combination of experiential testing and benchmarks. We wear them daily for weeks to see how well they accommodate bloated fingers and temperature changes. We don’t take them off in the shower or to wash dishes to test waterproofing. And we compare them to a smartwatch, the Oura Ring, and a smart bed to gauge sleep and health tracking accuracy. Other factors we consider are size ranges, sizing kits, app design, syncing times, and, of course, battery life. Sizing Collapse Your fingers will bloat. How accommodating is the design? What’s the size range offered? (Some of us have tiny fingers!) How easy is it to return? Design Collapse Many people want a smart ring to double as a piece of jewelry. Is it comfortable to wear 24 / 7? Is the design versatile for all sorts of events? Will you get compliments for wearing it? Durability Collapse Does the finish scuff? Will you see visible scratches if you wear other rings alongside it? Charging and battery Collapse Rings are easy to lose. Does it have a charging case or does it use a charging dock that a cat can easily knock off your nightstand? Sleep tracking is one of the most popular use cases for a smart ring, and for that you need good battery life. How much do you get on a single charge? App Collapse Many smart ring companies are newcomers. The hardware can be nice, but it means nothing if the app is a nightmare. How easy is the ring to update and sync? Does it sync with larger platforms like Apple Health or Google Health Connect?
Best smart ring for most people
Surprising no one, it’s the Oura Ring 4.
I can already hear some of you shouting, “But what about the subscription!” And I agree. Even Oura’s relatively affordable $5.99 monthly fee can feel more like $100 when you consider the sheer number of apps, gadgets, and services asking for a chunk of your monthly paycheck. However, Oura is still the best in terms of hardware, size range, features offered, app, dedication to research, and experience in the field. Many of the smart rings available today follow the example Oura set this past decade.
The upgrades from the Oura Ring Gen 3 to the Oura Ring 4 were mostly software-based, with minor hardware refinements. You can read more in my review, but the gist is a more accurate heart rate and blood oxygen algorithm, improved automatic activity detection, and an expanded range that spans size 4 to 15. The app has been redesigned to be less cluttered, and in the last few months, Oura added AI-powered meal logging and glucose tracking, the latter of which requires Oura users to purchase a Dexcom Stelo CGM ($99). It also recently launched an AI chatbot. (Of the AI chatbots in health trackers I’ve tested, this one is among the more polished implementations — though it often feels like Captain Obvious-level insights.)
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