A smart ring promises a lot from a tiny bit of metal. It can track your sleep, heart rate, activity and recovery around the clock, without a screen competing for your attention or a watch taking up space on your wrist. But while the best models can offer surprisingly detailed health insights, not all are equally good at turning those numbers into something useful. And then there’s the question of battery life, comfort and whether you really want another monthly subscription.
The Oura Ring 5 is our choice for its sleep tracking and clear recovery insights, which help you understand how well you're resting and when you might need to take it easier. It also works with both iPhone and Android, so you don't need to be tied to a particular phone brand to get the most out of it.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is a better fit for Samsung phone owners who want to avoid any extra subscription fees (we are looking at you, Oura), while the Amazfit Helio Ring and RingConn offer more affordable, subscription-free alternatives. The Ultrahuman Ring Air is worth a look if you want detailed wellness tracking in a lightweight design.
We’ve worn every ring in this guide for at least two weeks, day and night, to see how they hold up beyond the spec sheet. We’ve assessed sleep and heart rate tracking, explored workout and recovery features, and checked how long each battery lasts in practice. Comfort, design and value matter too, because a ring is only worth wearing if it fits into your life, and only worth buying if its insights justify the price.
With Black Friday approaching, it’s also worth keeping an eye out for smart ring deals. These devices can be a fairly big investment, particularly if you’re considering a premium model, and sales can be a good opportunity to save on an older generation that still offers excellent tracking. Just don’t be swayed by a big discount percentage alone. Check the ring’s price at other retailers and compare it with its usual selling price, rather than the potentially inflated RRP. If you’re shopping for an Oura Ring, remember to factor in the ongoing membership fee too, as a cheaper ring won’t necessarily mean cheaper ownership.
Matt Evans is TechRadar's Senior Fitness and Wearables Editor with years of experience testing health and fitness gadgets. He has personally tested the top picks in this guide and overseen the curation of our other options.
Best smart ring overall
Some smart rings collect plenty of data but leave you to work out what it means. The Oura Ring 5 does the interpreting for you, turning your sleep, recovery and activity into clear insights you can actually use.
It’s also remarkably easy to forget you’re wearing it. In testing, our reviewer Amelia found the redesigned titanium ring so discreet and comfortable that it quickly faded into the background. It looks more like jewellery than a fitness tracker, lasts around a week between charges and takes roughly an hour to recharge.
Sleep tracking is a particular strength. The Ring 5 monitors more than 50 health and wellness metrics, using them to calculate Sleep and Readiness Scores that help you understand how well you’re recovering. Amelia also compared its heart rate readings with a Polar H10 chest strap and found they closely matched, adding confidence to its recovery insights.
The catch is the cost. The Ring 5 is fairly expensive to buy, and you'll need an Oura membership to get the most out of it. That costs £5.99 / $5.99 per month, or £69.99 / $69.99 annually, after a free first month for new members. Without a subscription, you'll have access to only limited health data and insights, making the ongoing expense difficult to ignore.
What makes it worth considering is how well it brings everything together. The Oura Ring 5 combines detailed health tracking with an app that makes your data easy to understand, and it works with both iPhone and Android, giving it broad appeal.
Read our full Oura Ring 5 review
Best Samsung smart ring
Already have a Samsung Galaxy phone? We'd point you towards the Galaxy Ring. It delivers reliable sleep tracking, skips the monthly subscription you'll pay with the Oura Ring and integrates seamlessly with Samsung Health. Over time, that makes it the more affordable option if you're already part of Samsung's ecosystem.
Comfort is every bit as impressive as the Oura Ring 5. During testing, our reviewer often forgot he was wearing the Galaxy Ring, making it easy to keep on day and night. Battery life is another plus, lasting around a week between charges. If you also own a compatible Galaxy Watch, Samsung can even share health tracking between the two devices to eke out a little more battery life, although most people won't need to rely on it.
The sleep tracking is impressive. We found the overnight reports reliable, with insights that feel like having the sleep features of a Galaxy Watch without wearing one to bed. Samsung Health also does a pretty great job of explaining what your data means, rather than leaving you to interpret endless graphs on your own.
The trade-off is flexibility. The Galaxy Ring works with many Android phones, but Samsung owners get the fullest experience, with some features reserved for Galaxy devices. There's no iPhone support either. That's why the Oura Ring 5 remains our best overall pick, but if you're already using a Samsung phone, we'd happily save the subscription fee and choose the Galaxy Ring instead.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Ring review
Best smart ring on a budget
If you want a smart ring that's cheap and don't mind a bit of compromise in other areas, the Amazfit Helio Ring is a great choice.
Amazfit is well known for making affordable but reliable gadgets, such as the five-star Amazfit Active 2 smartwatch. The ring has a nice finish and design, standing out against some of the other picks on the market. It's very comfortable, so won't be a pain to wear in bed, and the sleep tracking metrics held up well in our testing.
We were really impressed by the extensive sleep tracking metrics including sleep stages, duration, and metrics that are presented as easy-to-read charts. You also get data for your breathing, temperature, and heart rate while you sleep, which is combined to produce a morning readiness score.
It's not perfect, the sizing and colors are limited, as are the workout modes, and the battery life is much less than you'll get from more expensive picks.
Read our full Amazfit Helio Ring review
Best smart ring for comfort
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is a lightweight smart ring for people who want to dig into their sleep, activity and recovery without paying a monthly subscription. Weighing just 2.4–3.6g depending on size, it's comfortable enough to wear overnight, while its app turns data from its heart rate, movement and skin temperature sensors into recovery scores and practical suggestions, including when to get outside or have your morning coffee.
We found the app impressively detailed, with clear summaries for anyone who doesn't want to pore over every metric. But there's a lot to explore here, so the Ring Air is best suited to people who enjoy tracking their habits and using that information to fine-tune their training and recovery. If you'd rather have a simpler overview of your health, it could feel like information overload.
The lightweight design is another plus, although the matte finish scratched noticeably during our reviewer's testing, particularly with regular weightlifting. It's a good reminder that a ring worn around the clock needs to withstand plenty of knocks, and we'd be cautious about wearing it while handling weights.
Read our full Ultrahuman Ring Air review
Best smart ring for battery life
The RingConn Gen 3 makes a strong case for a smart ring that you can put on and largely forget about. Its biggest advantage is battery life, with the ability to last up to 14 days between charges, while its charging case can provide more than 150 days of combined power. That means far less time spent taking the ring off and putting it on a charger, which is particularly useful for a device designed to track you around the clock.
It also packs in plenty of health tracking without charging you a monthly fee. The Gen 3 monitors heart rate, HRV, blood oxygen, skin temperature, stress, activity and sleep, while new vascular health insights and sleep apnea pattern tracking add more depth to its health data. It also has vibration alerts, so it can proactively flag certain changes rather than leaving you to constantly check the app.
In our testing, we found the Gen 3 comfortable enough for continuous wear, although it's a little thicker and heavier than the previous generation. The titanium ring weighs between 2.5 and 3.5g depending on size, and it's rated to 10ATM for water resistance, so there's little reason to take it off during normal day-to-day activities.
The main compromise is the app. RingConn does a good job of presenting your data, but its insights aren't quite as polished or actionable as Oura's, and some of its newer features feel less mature. Still, if you want a feature-packed smart ring with exceptional battery life and no recurring subscription, the Gen 3 is a pretty good alternative to Oura.
Read our full RingConn Gen 3 review
Also tested
Not every ring can be a winner. Here are the models we've tested but wouldn't recommend over our top picks.
How to choose the best smart ring for you
The smart ring space is still relatively new, which means there isn’t much choice when it comes to finding the best smart ring for you.
The first consideration needs to be why you want one in the first place. Right now, the main types of smart rings can roughly be divided into three categories: those designed to track all of your vitals with a focus on sleep, those solely for sleep tracking, and several others that enable you to make payments. We imagine that soon these uses will be combined, but for now your first decision is what you’d like one for.
The next consideration is design. You’d be forgiven for assuming all of the best smart rings in the guide above are the same device. But there are some subtle differences, like the finish and colours, as well as the fit and weight. For example, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is lighter than its rivals in our list. That gap could narrow following the announcement of the Oura Ring 5, which is being marketed as the world’s smallest smart ring.
Finally, have a look at the different features on offer. Although many of the rings in each of those categories we’ve outlined above bring you similar features, there are some that are unique in what they offer.
If you’re unsure about whether a smart ring is for you, we highly recommend ordering a testing kit – most of the companies in the list above will send one out to you for free. This way you can be sure you’re getting the perfect fit but also wear the test ring for a few days to see if the design is right for you. Just remember the actual ring itself is likely to be a little heavier but will feel much more comfy and premium given the materials it’s made from.
How we test the best smart rings
We've had chance to test several of the best smart rings in this guide. Which means we know what to expect when it comes to key features, design, battery life, accompanying apps and more.
During our testing, we were very keen to truly assess how comfortable each ring is, as we know this is a major concern with the smart ring form factor. We wore the rings for days and even weeks at a time, assessing general comfort, bulkiness, whether we had to remove them for certain activities and how they fare in water.
We used each of the apps extensively, digging into all of the data and assessing them for thoroughness and whether they pair data with generally useful insights and recommendations. It's not handy to simply present a series of graphs without context.
Each of the smart rings above has its own set of unique features, so we made sure to assess each separately based on what they offer and which ring we believe is the best for each purpose.
We've made it clear which of the best smart rings above we've yet to get our hands on and will be adding reviews for those devices as soon as we can. Until then, we've based our recommendations on specs, features, other reviews and how our experience with other smart rings informs these choices.
The best smart rings: FAQ
Should you buy a smart ring instead of a smart watch?
• A smart ring is a great alternative to a smartwatch, because it's comfortable and unobtrusive
• Smart rings track your health and fitness without the intrusion of a display
• However, smart rings can't perform all the functions of a smartwatch, such as taking calls, replying to messages, and using built-in GPS
A smart ring is a great alternative to a smartwatch for a number of reasons. You get many of the same features including health and fitness tracking without the intrusion of a display and notifications.
They also tend to have better battery life than smartwatches such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch and the Apple Watch, and are generally built to exist in the background of your life rather than as a personal assistant on your wrist.
It's a personal choice, but if you're focused on health and wellbeing, rather than communication, a smart ring is definitely worth considering.
What features should I expect to see in a smart ring?
• Smart rings offer passively-tracked features such as heart rate and sleep tracking
• Most smart rings estimate your step count and automatically track workouts
• Some smart rings feature menstrual cycle tracking, while Oura can estimate when you're going to get sick
All good smart rings should offer heart rate and sleep tracking, as well as exercise monitoring and other wellness features, such as predicting illnesses and auto-tracking certain workouts. They'll then present these findings in a companion app.
Generally, they don't come with a display and aren't built to deliver notifications to you in real time.
You should also look for good software, which can deliver insights like scores for energy and daily readiness. Oura features a metric it calls "resilience", predicting whether you're adequately rested and relaxed, and ready to handle life's stresses.
Using heart rate and sleep information in conjunction with body temperature, activity, stress and other metrics, some rings can even predict menstrual cycles and illness windows.
How much does the average smart ring cost?
• The Samsung Galaxy Ring and Oura Rings start around $399 / £399 / AU$750
• Some rings are cheaper
• Others like Oura come with multiple finish options, and monthly subscriptions
The most expensive smart rings cost around $399 / £399 / around AU$750. While there are some cheaper options, some of these, like the Oura Ring range, come with follow-up subscriptions that mean you have to pay a monthly fee to use them.
More expensive options are available based on the finish: Oura and Samsung, for example, vary in price depending on the colour and material used to coat the exterior of the ring. Samsung offers Titanium Silver, Titanium Gold and Titanium Black options, while the latest Oura Ring 5 is available in Black, Silver, Stealth, Brushed Silver, Gold and Deep Rose finishes.
Our cheapest pick comes in at around $199/£185/AU$380, the Amazfit Helio Ring, but we wouldn't recommend going lower than this in price as cheap no-brand rings can cause problems. Poor quality rings might swell and become uncomfortable, while if the company making the ring isn't a trusted name, it might be an unreliable place to store sensitive health data.
Are smart rings reliable compared to fitness trackers?
• Smart rings offer accurate heart rate and sleep metrics
• Their readings are comparable to some of the most accurate smartwatches
• However, they're missing a few features dedicated fitness fans will want to track
Smart rings excel at sleep tracking as they're generally more comfortable to sleep in than a watch. They're also great at heart rate tracking: we've tested them against the best smartwatches such as the highly accurate Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Oura prides itself on being medical-grade in several areas, while Samsung uses the same algorithmic infrastructure as its smartwatches.
However, smartwatches provide more reliable data than smart rings for in-depth working out due to more metrics like stride length, running speed, cycling power and features such as onboard GPS. If you're doing a lot of endurance training, you might want to consider something like a Garmin watch.
What are the disadvantages of smart rings?
• Smart rings can be expensive
• Smart rings can't take calls, use third-party apps, store music or pack onboard GPS like a smartwatch can
• Smart rings can scratch during exercises like weight training
Smart rings are quite expensive, some of them even requiring ongoing subscriptions to use properly, and as such they're prohibitive to those on a budget.
Smart rings also don't deliver some of the features of a smartwatch, such as GPS, music storage, the ability to field calls and texts, and they don't generally have displays for notifications. They don't even use haptic feedback to vibrate, to alert you to notifications like incoming calls.
They're also a bit more fragile than smartwatches, so they scratch during weight training. That means they're unsuitable for many gym-goers.
How to choose between the Oura Ring and Samung Galaxy ring
- Choose the Oura Ring 5 if you want the best smart ring for both iPhone and Android.
- Choose the Samsung Galaxy Ring if you already own a Samsung Galaxy phone and want to avoid a monthly subscription.
Here's the short version, the Oura Ring 5 is the easiest smart ring for us to recommend because it delivers an excellent experience whether you use an iPhone or Android phone. The Galaxy Ring is arguably the better value choice if you already own a Samsung Galaxy phone and don't want to pay a monthly subscription.
