If you’re reading an Oura Ring 5 review at The Verge, you likely fall into one of two camps: newcomers looking for a smartwatch alternative, or Oura users pondering an upgrade. In the case of the former, this is a great casual health tracker and the best smart ring on the market – but not your best choice if you really sweat the fitness details. If you fall into the latter, you don’t need to upgrade.
Less is more with the Oura Ring 5. This is a smart ring for new users. Everyone else should wait until their current ring dies. Because the Oura Ring 4 came out less than two years ago, and the ceramic version only about a year ago, these were major updates over the Oura Ring Gen 3. Meanwhile, the Ring 5 is mostly an aesthetic update—thinner, lighter and with some software improvements, but not enough to make it worth shelling out extra cash.
The Good: Thinner, lightweight design; metal finish more durable; lots of software updates; case now supports wireless charging; solid battery life. The Bad: We’re approaching data overload; the smallest and biggest sizes aren’t available; really wish this came in ceramic; the charging case is sold separately. Not convinced? Unless your fingers find the bigger ring uncomfortable, or you’re a fan of ceramic, there’s no rush.
My main hardware gripe with the Oura Ring 5 is sizing. At my initial hands-on, Oura told me that the Ring 5 will have a narrower size range than its predecessor, but this is disappointing for accessibility reasons. Likewise, I’m disappointed to see no ceramic option for the 5, given how durable and sleek it would be.
Hardware aside, software updates are plentiful, including GLP-1 Insights, Health Radar, medical lab imports, ability to delete health data from a specific time period, improved live activity tracking, and an AI chatbot. But while these features aren’t exclusive to the Ring 5, they have made the app feel a bit cluttered. The app experience has evolved significantly since my first test in 2019; it used to be simple, but now feels like too much data.
