Oura recently updated its smart ring line with the fourth iteration of the Oura Ring.
You might be wondering what is new with the Oura Ring 4 compared to 2021’s Oura Ring 3 and whether it’s worth upgrading to the newer ring. After all, the two wearables share many of the same health-tracking features and appear near-identical from afar.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the Oura Ring 4 and how it compares to its predecessor, the Oura Ring 3 when it comes to design, features and battery life.
Price
The Oura Ring 4 launched on October 15 2024. Prices start at £349 and go up to £499 depending on your chosen finish.
The Oura Ring 3 hit the market in November 2021, with prices starting at £299 and going up to £449, again depending on the finish. This means the smart ring has seen a £50 price bump across the board with the launch of its 4th generation.
The Oura Ring 4 is fully titanium
The Oura Ring 4 has been given a subtle redesign, which involves upgrading to a fully titanium build, more subtle sensors – and dropping one of its iconic styles.
Where the Oura Ring 3 featured an epoxy interior coated in a titanium exterior, the Ring 4 has both a titanium interior and a titanium exterior. Titanium is known for being both strong and very lightweight, which might contribute to the Ring 4’s lighter feel despite coming in both smaller and larger sizes.
The Ring 4 also features recessed interior sensors as opposed to raised, dome-shaped ones, removing 1mm of bulk from the inner edge of the ring.
One downside to the redesign is that Oura has consolidated its previous two designs – Heritage and Horizon – into one singular style. This style is smooth and round, resembling the simpler Horizon style over the Heritage style with its flat top.
Both the Ring 4 is available in a similar array of colours to the Ring 3, including Black, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold and Brushed Silver, with the latter replacing the Brushed Titanium finish on the Ring 3.
The Oura Ring 4 comes in more sizes
The Oura Ring 4 comes in a wider range of sizes, making the Oura Ring accessible to more people than ever.
While the Ring 3 was limited to sizes 6 to 13, the Ring 4 expands this offering with sizes 4 to 15.
It is worth noting that Oura’s current sizing scale is different to UK and US standard sizing as well as Oura’s previous sizing, meaning you’ll want to pick up a free Oura Ring 4 sizing kit to figure out your size – even if you already wear an older Oura Ring.
The Oura Ring 4 offers more accurate sensing
By far, the biggest upgrade announced alongside the Oura Ring 4 is Oura’s new Smart Sensing technology.
Smart Sensing is a new sensing platform designed to offer a more complete picture of your health compared to the platform used in previous Oura Rings. The new sensors adapt to the unique structure and skin tone of your finger as well as your current activity to dynamically pick the best signal path and achieve higher accuracy.
This is a different method to that of the Oura Ring 3, which utilised a fixed configuration of optical paths.
The Oura Ring 4 has a longer battery life
Another key improvement here is battery life.
The Oura Ring 4 offers up to eight days of battery life on one charge, though it’s worth mentioning that the exact battery life with vary depending on the size of the Ring as well as your usage.
The Oura Ring 3 was capable of delivering up to seven days of battery on a single charge, putting it one day behind the Ring 4.
Both smart rings offer the same charging time, meaning it should take around 80 minutes to charge your ring fully.
Early verdict
The Oura Ring 4 looks almost identical to the Oura Ring 3 in the latter’s Horizon style, however, Oura has taken strides in its sensor technology in the last three years.
The battery life and design have received smaller upgrades and the sizing has expanded to fit more fingers, but this is otherwise a minor but welcome update on the popular smart ring line.
