Best smart ring 2024: compact, lightweight health-tracking wearables

Experience wearable innovation at your fingertips with the best smart rings available now

best smart ring: RingConn Smart ring Gen 2 worn while playing chess
(Image credit: RingConn)

The best smart rings are gaining popularity thanks to their compact and lightweight design, which makes it much easier to wear them continuously. Thanks to recent advancements in sensor and battery technology, you can now access features previously only available in larger devices using a smart ring.

Smart rings have several benefits over the best smartwatches. They are more compact and feel less cumbersome to wear, enabling you to wear them day and night. Smart rings are also excellent sleep trackers. By not wanting to take them off, these clever gadgets can help analyse your slumber in incognito.

Thanks to its widespread use by celebrities and athletes alike, smart rings are becoming more popular with the general public. Plus, big players like Samsung are also helping to spread the word by relating their own take on the concept.

Our current favourite smart ring is the Oura Ring Gen 3. It provides the ultimate smart ring experience, albeit for a small ongoing cost. If you prefer not to pay a monthly fee, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is an excellent alternative. Finally, if you're not too keen on advanced data, RingConn's Smart Ring is the best affordable choice.

Recent updates

12 August 2024 – The Samsung Galaxy Ring now supports almost all features on non-Samsung Android phones, enhancing its connectivity. Despite initial concerns, AI features like Energy Score and Wellness Tips work well on other devices, though updates may be slightly delayed. Read more here.

Best overall

Oura Ring Gen 3 review

(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
Best smart ring overall

Specifications

Weight: 4-6 grams
Thickness: 2.55 mm
Available sizes: 6-13
Battery life: up to 7 days
Water rating: Water resistant up to 100m/328 ft

Reasons to buy

+
Provides a wealth and health data
+
Automatic activity and illness detection
+
Lightweight, durable hardware
+
Sensible algorithm suggestions

Reasons to avoid

-
Membership fee is something to consider
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No vibration motor

The Oura Ring Gen 3 has impressive sleep-tracking, activity-monitoring, and resilience-tracking capabilities. It has a sleek design, durable build quality, and accurate health data collection. In short, it's the best smart ring on the market today.

The ring automatically detects activities and illnesses, providing valuable insights into the user's health status. Despite the premium price and membership fee for accessing full health data, the Oura Ring Gen 3 is a worthwhile investment for those seeking detailed health insights in a discreet and stylish wearable.

Key features include comprehensive sleep tracking with a Sleep Score, automatic illness detection, and activity monitoring with a variety of supported exercises. The Resilience Score is a new feature that evaluates your ability to withstand and recover from physiological stress over time.

While the subscription fee may be a consideration, it's cheaper than most streaming service fees, and in return, you get a reliable health companion, which is not something you can say about subscribing to Netflix or Disney+.

Read our full Oura Ring Gen 3 review.

Best for sleep tracking

Ultrahuman Ring Air review

(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3§)
Best smart ring for sleep tracking

Specifications

Weight: 2.4 - 3.6 grams
Thickness: 2.45 - 2.8 mm
Available sizes: 5-14
Battery life: up to 6 days
Water rating: Water resistant up to 100m/328 ft

Reasons to buy

+
Offers a convenient way to track your health
+
Lightweight and comfortable to wear
+
Tons of recommendations and trends via the Ultrahuman app
+
One-off cost (no subscription fee)
+
Fitness and mindfulness workouts available in the app

Reasons to avoid

-
Outer paint can get damaged easily
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Fitness tracking is so-so

The Ultrahuman Ring Air is a unique fitness wearable concept, not just because of its lightweight, compact design. Through the accompanying app, this smart ring can help you optimise your life to improve your health and general well-being, as long as you are happy to adhere to the algorithm's recommendations.

Thanks to its many metrics and suggestions, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is the best smart ring for sleep tracking. It monitors your circadian rhythm and suggests a daily window during which you should consume all your stimulants (e.g., tea, coffee) so as not to disturb your sleep.

If you're more interested in keeping a keen eye on your sleep trend and gradual health improvements, you should check out the Ultrahuman Ring Air. Sure, there is an initial cost to buy the ring, but thanks to the lack of subscription fees, you can access any and all future software upgrades – for free.

Read our full Ultrahuman Ring Air review.

Best affordable

Ringconn Smart Ring review

(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
Best affordable smart ring

Specifications

Weight: 3-5 grams
Thickness: 2.6mm
Available sizes: 6-14
Battery life: 7 days (150 days on-the-go use with the portable charging case)
Water rating: IP68 rated water resistant up to 50m/165ft

Reasons to buy

+
Spot-on health tracking
+
Long battery life (plus cable-free charging case)
+
Good sleep and stress insights
+
Some gamification to improve habit building process
+
Ringconn app provides an easy-to-understand overview of your key stats
+
Ring connects to smartphone quickly

Reasons to avoid

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Doesn't automatically recognise exercise
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Health Timeline feature could provide more information
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LEDs are almost bright enough to be used as flashlights

It's probably not fair to call Ringconn a new player in the smart ring market, where most companies are only a few years old. The company's smart ring, aptly called Ringconn Smart Ring, is one of the most affordable models and offers basic health metrics coupled with an easy-to-understand app.

The Ringconn Smart Ring connects to smartphones easily and better still, it collects data and provides insights and suggestions as soon as you start wearing it. For comparison, Oura's wearable requires around four weeks of use before it starts suggesting anything.

On the flip side, Ringconn's wearable provides less personalised suggestions on how to improve your health and fitness, similar to some fitness trackers that use general assumptions based on your age, weight, sex, etc., to offer guidance, as opposed to truly personalised insights.

That said, Ringconn is said to be working on adding more features to its Smart Ring, including menstrual cycle sleep apnea and blood pressure monitoring. As long as they can provide free access to this data, we can't wait to see them materialising in the near future.

Read our full RingConn Smart ring review.

We also reviewed the RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 and were thoroughly impressed with the improvements. The reason why it isn't listed here is that the wearable is still only at the crowd-funding stage, so we're being a bit cautious before replacing the readily available first-generation ring with the new one.

Best hybrid

Amazfit Helio Ring review

(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
Most hiybrid smart ring-smartwatch combo

Specifications

Weight: 3.75-3.83g
Thickness: 2.6 mm
Available sizes: 10, 12
Battery life: up to 4 days
Water rating: IPX8

Reasons to buy

+
Lightweight construction
+
Tracks sleep stages, resting heart rate and breathing quality
+
Provides a readiness score and estimates recovery time needed based on training load

Reasons to avoid

-
Subscription features are confusing and expensive
-
No stress tracking
-
No automatic exercise recognition

Weighing just under 4 grams, the Amazfit Helio Ring's design is similar to other smart rings, featuring a BioTracker PPG heart rate sensor, temperature sensor, EDA sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, and gyroscope (the EDA sensor is currently inactive pending FDA approval).

The ring excels in sleep tracking, providing detailed insights into sleep stages, heart rate, and breathing quality. It works best when paired with an Amazfit smartwatch, tracking nighttime metrics while the watch handles daytime activities. However, it lacks standalone functionality, missing features like automatic activity recognition and daytime stress tracking.

A standout feature is the readiness score, based on heart rate variability, training load, and sleep. The Helio Ring also offers Zepp Aura, an AI assistant providing tailored sleep melodies, and Zepp Coach, though both require additional subscriptions.

Priced at $300, the Helio Ring is costly for a device that primarily serves as a sleep tracker. While its hardware is promising, it currently falls short compared to competitors offering more features without extra fees. Ideal for Amazfit smartwatch users seeking enhanced sleep data, others might want to wait for future updates.

Read our full Amazfit Helio Ring review.

Best lightweight

Circular Ring Slim review

(Image credit: Beth Girdler-Maslen / T3)
Most lightweight smart ring

Specifications

Weight: 2 grams
Thickness: 2.2 mm
Available sizes: 6-13
Battery life: up to 5 days (see below)
Water rating: IPX8

Reasons to buy

+
Collects health and wellness data, including sleep, stress and steps
+
Gives helpful tips via the app and AI wellness assistant, especially for sleep
+
Lightweight and comfortable design

Reasons to avoid

-
Battery life is terrible, even on eco mode
-
App has some data loading and syncing issues
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Doesn’t always connect to the app when you’re wearing it

Touted as the 'world's thinnest smart ring', the Circular Ring Slim combines sleek design with advanced features. With no screen or buttons, it discreetly collects health data using PPG sensors, a temperature sensor, and a three-axis accelerometer. Notably, it introduces Kira+, an AI wellness assistant for personalised insights.

Despite its promising features, the Circular Ring Slim faces challenges, most notably occasional connectivity issues and synchronisation delays with its accompanying app. Moreover, its battery life falls short of expectations, with many struggling to achieve even two days of operation despite claims of six days.

Nevertheless, the Circular Ring Slim offers a compelling option for those seeking a subtle and comfortable health-tracking solution. Its intuitive app layout provides comprehensive health and wellness data, albeit with occasional setbacks.

While improvements are needed to address connectivity and battery concerns, its sleek design and advanced features, including Kira+, position it as a promising contender in the wearable technology landscape, appealing to users seeking discrete yet effective health monitoring options.

Read our full Circular Ring Slim review.

How to choose the best smart ring for you

Smart rings are a new phenomenon, and as such, they aren't often specialised in terms of feature sets. That said, there are a few things to bear in mind before you buy your first smart ring.

Sizing is one of these. Smart rings often come only in a few sizes, which, to be fair, usually covers the most popular finger circumferences (apart from the upcoming Amazfiot Helio Ring, which only comes in two sizes, 10 and 12). If your hand size is on the extreme end of the spectrum (either way), it's worth requesting a sizing kit.

Although most smart rings have similar features, there are minor differences. Some, like the Ultrahuman Ring Air, are better at optimising sleep, while others, such as Oura Ring, are best suited as an overall health tracker. Yet others focus on essential sleep and fitness tracking, e.g. RingConn Smart Ring.

Finally, it's worth considering the capabilities of companion apps and potential subscription fees. Oura only grants access to basic stats for free, while Ultrahuman offers a subscription-based extension of its service called Ultrahuman X. Yet others, like Amazfit, will charge you for accessing AI coaching and more.

How we test the best smart rings

There is no way around testing smart rings than wearing them continuously for weeks on end. Similar to wrist wearables, most smart rings need at least a couple of weeks to establish a baseline and provide more accurate estimations and suggestions.

Thankfully, smart rings weigh next to nothing, meaning prolonged wear doesn't irritate you. We tend to test smart rings for a month to ensure all systems are fully functional and have enough time to do all the different health and fitness activities these clever wearables can track.

For more info about testing, check out this explainer: How we test at T3.

FAQ

Can you answer calls on a smart ring?

Yes, some smart rings do have the capability to answer calls. They utilise Bluetooth connectivity to pair with your smartphone, allowing you to receive call notifications and, in some cases, even answer or reject calls directly from the ring. However, due to their small size, the functionality and ease of use for answering calls may vary between different smart ring models.

What finger do you wear your smart ring on?

The finger you wear your smart ring on can vary depending on personal preference and comfort. However, most people typically wear smart rings on their index finger or middle finger of their dominant hand for ease of use. Some may also choose to wear it on their ring finger if it feels more comfortable or if they prefer the aesthetics.

Can you buy Oura Ring in the UK?

Yes, you can buy the Oura Ring in the UK. The Oura Ring is available for purchase both online and in physical stores. You can buy it directly from the Oura Ring website, where products are priced in GBP and shipped from Europe. Additionally, the Oura Ring is available at John Lewis, both online and in their physical stores across the UK.

Matt Kollat
Section Editor | Active

Matt Kollat is a journalist and content creator who works for T3.com and its magazine counterpart as an Active Editor. His areas of expertise include wearables, drones, fitness equipment, nutrition and outdoor gear. He joined T3 in 2019. His byline appears in several publications, including Techradar and Fit&Well, and more. Matt also collaborated with other content creators (e.g. Garage Gym Reviews) and judged many awards, such as the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance's ESSNawards. When he isn't working out, running or cycling, you'll find him roaming the countryside and trying out new podcasting and content creation equipment.