Oura Ring 5 review: The ultimate lifestyle tracker I can't imagine not wearing

I hit my five-year Oura anniversary while reviewing the Oura Ring 5. It’s safe to say not only is the smart ring very familiar with me, but I’m also very familiar with it and the app too.

Has the Oura Ring 5 experience greatly differed to previous Oura Rings, or is this just a hardware refresh that doesn’t offer anything really new? More than a month into wearing it, I know the answers.

Oura Ring 5

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                **Battery life**
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six-to-nine days
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                **Built material**
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Titanium
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                **IP Rating**
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IP68
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                **Heart rate monitor**
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Y

The Oura Ring 5 further refines an already winning formula, making the smart ring slimmer and lighter, while retaining all features, adding new ones, and maintaining a week of battery life.

Pros & Cons

Durability improvements
Unobtrusive
Expertly designed app
Helpful automatic workout and activity tracking
Usable battery life
Monthly subscription
Few reasons to upgrade outside of design

Price, specs, and availability

The Oura Ring 5 is available to buy now through Oura’s own online store and retailers including Amazon and Best Buy.

The black or silver finishes cost $399, and the Brushed Silver, Gold, Stealth, or Deep Rose (which is in our photos) cost $499. It's currently available in ring sizes six to 13, and it's recommended you use a sizing kit before finalizing your order.

We hope to see Oura introduce additional sizes in the future, as the Oura Ring 4 comes in sizes between four and 15.

A subscription of $6 per month or $70 per year is required for the app. If you don’t pay, only basic daily scores are shown, and you will miss out on features including in-depth data, advice, and the AI chatbot..

Alternatives to the Oura Ring 5 include the RingConn Gen 3, which starts at $350 and does not require a subscription, and the $479 Ultrahuman Ring Pro. It does not have a mandatory subscription, but some features do require an ongoing cost to unlock.

Finally, the aging $400 Samsung Galaxy Ring should be considered, as should the $100 Google Fitbit Air, a more reasonably priced screen-less activity tracker.

Specifications

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                **Heart rate monitor**
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Y

                **Notification support**

N
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                **Battery life**
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six-to-nine days
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                **Sensors**
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Red/Green/Infrared LEDs, temperature sensor, accelerometer
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                **Water Resistance**
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100 meters
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                **Ring sizing**
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Size 6 to 12
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                **Workout detection**
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Y
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                **Exercise modes**
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Y
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                **Weight**
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From two grams
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                **Built material**
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Titanium
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                **IP Rating**
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IP68
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                **Charging**
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80 mins

Oura Ring 5 design

A beautiful piece of wearable tech

The Oura Ring 5 is dramatically different to the Oura Ring 4 and Oura Ring 3. It’s thinner, lighter, and less wide. The actual numbers are tiny, and imagining the difference between its 6mm width and the Oura Ring 4's 7.9mm is hard. In reality, the alterations are huge.

The changes have moved the Oura Ring 5 closer to being jewelry and further away from being a piece of tech. It looks and wears a lot more like a non-smart ring.

We’re dealing with tiny physical alterations, but there is a sweet spot for everything we put on our bodies. From wearing the correct shoe size to having glasses that don’t slip down your nose or leave marks behind your ears, we all become very familiar with what works and what doesn’t.

The Oura Ring 5 works. It sits closer to your knuckle, where you feel it less when you bend your finger, and it is so light it becomes unnoticeable after you’ve worn it for just a few hours. It’s not intrusive, and leaves your wrists free to wear a watch or a bracelet.

However, the size does cause a small problem of its own. Because it’s worn so much closer to the pad where my finger meets my palm, I’ve developed a slight callous caused by how it rubs when this area creases when I’m gripping something. I wear the Oura Ring 5 on the middle finger of my dominant hand.

It’s not painful or sore, but it is noticeable, and not something I’ve had with previous Oura Ring models. Minimizing, avoiding, or worse, exacerbating, this will come down to getting the right ring size. It’s important to use the sizing kit for the Oura Ring 5. I’m wearing a size 11, and it’s about as snug as I’d want.

What’s useful to know is my size 11 Oura Ring 4 was considerably less snug. Using the sizing kit will be the difference between your Oura Ring 5 fitting or not, if you’ve also been between sizes before.

Oura brought back the contact nodules on the underside of the Ring 5 after removing them for the Ring 4. They’re smaller than before, and I noticed them for a short while, but they haven’t been uncomfortable.

Oura talked about making improvements to the titanium’s durability, and after more than four weeks of wearing the Oura Ring 5 all day, every day, it has so far resisted all scuffs. A small, but quite deep scratch has appeared, but I only found it when examining the ring before taking photos.

I’m wearing the new Desert Rose finish. It has a warm copper tone, and is far less gold than it looks in some images. It’s definitely suitable for everyone, has more of a jewelry-like finish, but isn’t as flashy as the actual gold finish.

I appreciate how the Oura Ring 5 doesn’t make a statement. A smartwatch often does, particularly if you wear a Garmin, Suunto, or activity-focused model. They tell others something about your lifestyle, but the Oura Ring 5 is unobtrusive, and few will be aware of what it actually is.

The Oura Ring 5 is supremely comfortable and easy to wear, durability appears to have been improved, and the new finish looks great. This is peak high-tech jewelry, with the emphasis on jewelry.

Oura Ring 5 data and accuracy

A reliable, informative partner

I’ve spent plenty of time talking about the design of the Oura Ring 5, and for very good reason. There are only small changes inside, and everything the Oura Ring 5 can do, the Oura Ring 4 and Oura Ring 3 can as well.

Oura says the sensor architecture has been optimized for greater accuracy, contains more powerful and efficient LEDs, and 12 stronger, more accurate signal pathways. The return of the nubbins on the underside of the smart ring ensures better contact with your skin too.

After four weeks wearing the Oura Ring 5, I have not noticed any change in the data it presents. Looking back over 2026’s results, it’s all broadly consistent, indicating it’s as accurate as it was before.

One thing to note is since changing to the Oura Ring 5 is, so far, there have been no overnight gaps in my heart rate or Heart Rate Variability (HRV), but these were rare occurrences with the Oura Ring 4. It’s too early to say if this issue has been eradicated with the Oura Ring 5.

I compared sleep data with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Google Fitbit Air. While none are medical devices, it’s a decent indicator of overall accuracy if they all generally agree.

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| 90 | 7h 22m | 2h 4m | 1h 38m | 52 bpm | 16.1 brpm | 33 ms |
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| 90 | 7h 10m | 1h 46m | 1h 45m | 55 bpm | 15.8 brpm | 34 ms |
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| 87 | 7h 33m | 1h 53m | 1h 16m | 64 bpm | 17 bprm | 32 ms |

I also used the same devices to track a 40-minute walk.

Variations are to be expected when they all occupy different areas on your body. The Fitbit Air is the outlier, returning different results in several areas to the broadly similar Oura Ring 5 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. A smart ring is the most unobtrusive way to track sleep, unlike some smartwatches.

Trying to decide which one is accurate is almost impossible without a medical device or exam. Instead, establishing a baseline where you can see any real-time changes is where you’ll get most value, as it can serve as an early warning system for any dramatic alterations.

Oura’s Symptom Radar is a good example of how this works. It monitors key metrics and other body responses to look for strain. If it sees multiple changes, it will warn of minor or major signs of heavy strain, which can be a sign of impending illness. I’ve seen it work multiple times, and consider it one of the Oura Ring 5’s most helpful features.

The Symptom Radar feature will evolve to become Health Radar, but frustratingly, this feature has not been released in the UK yet, where I'm testing the smart ring. It is available in the US, and joins the new Blood Pressure Insights and Nighttime Breathing metric.

Because of my considerable historical data in the Oura Ring’s app, I can see how my body has changed over the years through the many different graphs. They’re all very well-presented and can be scrolled through quickly, giving you a graphical view of any alternations without having to note down or remember any figures.

Oura Ring 5 activity and health tracking

Surprisingly comprehensive lifestyle tracker

What do you learn about yourself when you wear the Oura Ring 5? There are three main scores the app allocates you: Sleep, Activity, and Readiness.

Sleep is core to Oura’s metrics. It measures time spent asleep, sleep stages, restfulness, efficiency, and data points like heart rate, respiratory rate, and HRV.

While you can manually track a variety of exercises using the Oura Ring 5, it’s very good at automatically recognizing activity. It’s not just walking or running either, and it records housework and yard work, helping you reach your daily goal.

This unusual tracking system highlights the Oura Ring 5’s place as a lifestyle tracker. It expects you to wear it all the time, and wants to take real-life activities that aren’t sporty into account, giving you a more realistic view of what you do each day.

If you’re training for a marathon or spend hours lifting weights each week, the Oura Ring 5 will be less useful than a Garmin or an Apple Watch, mostly due to its lack of a screen and risk of it getting damaged.

That said, Oura has added a host of activities it can track, from cardiovascular exercise to mountain biking and yoga. The data it records exists in the app, so if you want live data to check your condition, you’ll have to pick up your phone to see it.

Starting an activity happens in the app too, and, oddly, the button to open the tracking menu is only available on the main pages, not when you’re looking at your daily score pages, where it only shows the Oura AI Advisor.

Your daily scores help inform you about how active you can be during the day, and whether something interrupted your sleep. I find Readiness most interesting, as it’s helpful to confirm how I feel, and lessens any temptations to push through not feeling right.

The app also shows stress levels, and under the My Health tab, there’s a wider overview of your heart health, sleep health, and stress. The Pregnancy Insights feature and GLP-1 Insights, along with medication tracking, further confirm its lifestyle tracking focus.

Everything is beautifully presented, and Oura has managed to keep the app logical and lightweight, despite the many features it hides. Placing all your ‘vital’ stats on its own dedicated page makes them easy to find, the large fonts make information easy to spot, and the simple color scheme and avoidance of distracting boxes ensures the app doesn’t get confusing.

Outside of these features, the Oura app includes meal tracking, stress management through guided meditations and breathing exercises, and the chance to connect to a friend or partner’s Oura Ring app to share data. The company also has partnerships with other brands, from Strava to Natural Cycles.

Oura Ring 5 AI Advisor

Helpful, but not every day

Behind all the data is Oura’s AI Advisor. It’s accessed through a dedicated button which appears on each page, and is similar to Google’s AI Health Coach found in the Google Health app.

Open the Oura Advisor, and it shows some general canned questions you can ask, which helps newcomers become familiar with what it can do.

It leans into AI’s expertise in examining and summarizing data. The more data the Oura Advisor has to examine, the more helpful its answers are.

For example, I asked if changes to key metrics I’ve seen over the past year are to do with aging. It gave a detailed answer, pulling on a year of data and online science research, and rather than providing actual advice (it can’t do that), it helps put data into context, and removes concern rather than making you feel like it's deliberately avoiding a strong answer.

I’ve also asked it specific questions about my data, and how I can change my exercise routine without pushing myself too hard. The answers are considered, helpful, and not too verbose, which makes them easier to digest.

Oura Advisor probably won’t be a feature you use every day, but it does prove useful when you want to better understand your body and performance.

The AI is also likely to be somewhat responsible for the occasional notifications the app sends when it notices a change in trend, whether positive or negative. These can be turned off, and there’s a useful Rest Mode to turn off tracking entirely when you’re not feeling well.

Oura Ring 5 battery life and charging

Longer battery life than a smartwatch

Oura claims the Oura Ring 5’s battery will last between six and nine days on a single charge. This is relatively accurate based on my use, with seven days' use being more achievable than it was with the Oura Ring 4.

It’s charged using an included plinth and will take around 90 minutes to fully charge. However, there’s an easy way to avoid ever worrying about battery life.

I place the Oura Ring 5 on its charging plinth when I shower, giving it a boost when I wouldn’t normally be wearing the smart ring. This avoids the battery running too low and removing a need to plan a full charge.

If you travel for long periods, Oura sells a travel case with a battery inside. It will recharge the Oura Ring 5 five times, and needs to be ordered for your specific ring size. It costs $100.

Should you buy the Oura Ring 5?

Yes, you should buy the Oura Ring 5. It’s the best smart ring I’ve worn. The design, materials used, and the accompanying app are all excellent.

However, if you own an Oura Ring 4 there isn’t much reason to upgrade unless you’re genuinely frustrated by the shape and size.

Buyers should also be prepared to pay the subscription for as long as they wear the Oura Ring 5. It’s essentially useless without it. The subscription is the main reason some may be put off.

However, the relatively modest price and the app’s design, the various unique features, and partnerships with brands like Natural Cycles do increase the value.

Of all the wearables I’ve reviewed over the years, the Oura Ring is the only one that has proven genuinely sticky. I haven’t got bored with it, the data and features are still useful and valuable, and it now looks even better than ever on my finger. I think this alone is a strong recommendation.

Oura Ring 5

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                **Battery life**
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six-to-nine days
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                **Built material**
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Titanium
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                **IP Rating**
```
IP68
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                **Heart rate monitor**
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Y

The Oura Ring 5 is superb. It blends useful technology with a true, jewelry-like design to make tracking sleep and everyday activity simple and seamless. The unobtrusive design makes it suitable for everyone, and with a week of use on a single battery charge, it's easy to live with too. The subscription grates, and there are few reasons for existing Oura Ring 3 and Ring 4 owners to upgrade.