Update: Check out our full Oura 3 review after our extensive testing.
There’s a new smart ring in town, and the third generation of the Oura Ring is now official.
Oura brings many of the advanced health sensors and metrics of leading smartwatches onto the finger. And that’s led the Oura smart ring to become something of a cult hit, thanks to its rather unique focus on restedness, sleep and recovery.
Clearly a relatively chunky smart ring isn’t for everyone, but Oura has outlived rivals from Motiv and Amazon. And the Oura Gen 3 brings even more in the way of heart rate features.
It will now track heart rate 24/7 and offer live feedback on your bpm, which is a step up from previous devices. The second generation Oura Ring only logged heart rate during sleep and ‘restful’ periods in the day – and was focused on resting HR.
The Oura Gen 3 can now keep tabs on your performance during exercise, how a training session or workout taxed your body, and factor that into its various readiness scores.
Oura retains its temperature sensor, and this is now done minute-by-minute. Because the Oura takes a couple of weeks to establish personal baselines, the data can be used to monitor when you might be getting sick – and this is clearly an outcome from the company's COVID-19 trials in 2020.
And the skin temperature sensor also means the Oura Gen 3 can help women predict when they might come on their period.
It can predict the cycle 30 days in advance, and will alert users six days before a period is due to start, and Oura says it will change and adapt as your body does, making it more useful for planning than a standard calendar.
Improved sleep tracking
The main focus of Oura has always been sleep, and its impact on readiness. And that’s also taken a step up in this latest version.
There’s now an SpO2 sensor onboard, which joins the infra-red heart rate HRM, and will add to the array of data from your sleep tracking. However, that hasn't launched with the device.
And the sleep staging algorithm has also been overhauled, according to Oura, which should offer even more accurate tracking of deep, light and REM progression.
However, both these new sleep additions will be put live in 2022, according to Oura.
Oura has also added a metric called Restorative Time, which checks you’re getting enough downtime in the day.
New subscription
Like Fitbit, Apple and most modern platforms, Oura has also added #content to the app – so users will now be able to access ‘science-backed’ meditation, sleep and breathwork sessions.
Obviously the value added here is based on the quality of the content – but given Oura is so focused on specific elements of data, it’s good to see some education on offer.
However, that stuff does come at a cost and there’s a new model for the Oura app.
It will move to a subscription model and cost $5.99 a month. However, any existing Oura user who upgrades to the new third generation Ring will get the app free for life, plus a discount on the device itself.
The Oura Ring itself will cost $299, and starts shipping on 15 November.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.