Scouted: I’ve Worn the Oura Ring 4 Daily for (Almost) a Year—Here’s My Honest Review

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Wearable wellness has come a long, long way. Just a few years ago, our only options were bulky fitness trackers with ill-fitted silicone bands or the decidedly hideous Apple Watch (sorry, not sorry) to track our daily step count, sleep, and heart health. Now, you can get all the wellness tracking features in a sleek smart ring.

Of course, aside from aesthetics, smart ring tech has never been more advanced. While there are a slew of new brands on the market, Oura Ring firmly remains the gold standard in the category. I’ve owned an Oura Ring for almost five years now and have tested a couple of other smart rings during the last couple of years, but I always find that Oura reigns supreme in accuracy, aesthetics, and offering the most comprehensive biomarkers.

Last year, I upgraded to Oura’s latest model (I previously owned the Gen 3 model), the Oura Ring 4, and have worn it daily ever since. Read ahead to find out how it compares to earlier models, the software and hardware functionalities, battery life, and how it’s helped me stay on track with my fitness goals.

How Does the Oura Ring 4 Work?

The Oura Ring 4 tracks over 30 wellness and health biomarkers, from the basics like step count and sleep quality to more advanced metrics like resting heart rate and body temperature (which can help with ovulation predictions and illness detection). Each device is equipped with a variety of sensors and a 3D activity accelerometer.

“Oura Ring 4 uses Smart Sensing Technology, which is powered by an algorithm that works alongside the research-grade sensors within the ring to respond to the individual variation of each member’s unique finger,” says Dr. Neta Gotlieb, Staff Product Manager for Women’s Health at Oura.

“The sensors, which more than double the number of available signal pathways from eight to 18 compared to Oura Ring Gen3, automatically adapt to find the best signal path, ensuring continuous, accurate data in any situation, all while optimizing the battery to achieve up to eight days of battery life.”

Oura Ring 4 Review — Mia Maguire. — Mia Maguire.

How Accurate Is the Oura Ring 4?

What first drew me to smart rings was the promise of more accurate readings—especially compared to wrist-based wearables like the Apple Watch. In fact, a recent peer-reviewed study found that the Oura Ring was the most accurate wearable on the market for HRV (heart rate variability) and RHR (resting heart rate). The Oura Ring’s design takes advantage of the fact that your finger offers a stronger heart rate signal than your wrist. Because the ring sits directly over the arteries in your finger, it can capture bio-measurements more precisely, while most wrist wearables rely on readings taken farther from those arteries.

While it’s not a medical device by any means, the Oura Ring 4 is engineered with sophisticated capabilities that are nearly perfect when compared to advanced medical technologies outlined below.

Oura Ring measures resting heart rate at 99.9 percent reliability compared to a medical-grade electrocardiogram (ECG) and validated against the sleep lab golden standard, PSG.
Oura Ring measures heart rate variability with 98.4 percent reliability compared to a medical-grade ECG.
Oura Ring temperature sensors match performance with research-grade sensors at >99 percent and can detect baseline deviations as small as 0.13 °C.
The Oura Ring infrared PPG sensor matched performance with clinical-grade ECG and consistently outperformed other PPG tools relying on green light LEDs or the iPhone camera.
The new sleep staging algorithm was found to achieve 79 percent agreement with PSG for four-stage sleep classification (wake, light, deep, and rapid eye movement sleep).

Oura Ring Gen 3 Vs. Oura Ring 4

The Oura Ring Gen3 and Oura Ring 4 provide the same core experience, with full access to all features across both devices—including sleep tracking, readiness, activity, heart rate monitoring, and more. If you’re looking to save an extra $50 to $100, the Oura Ring Gen 3 is still a solid smart ring. Frankly, I haven’t noticed a huge difference between the two devices, aside from enhanced accuracy and auto detection.

With my Oura Gen 3 Ring, I would often become frustrated that it didn’t detect that I was engaging in a very challenging fitness class, while other times it would assume I was napping while watching TV on the couch. This happens very rarely with the Oura Ring 4. The main hardware differences with the Oura Ring 4 include:

“Smart Sensing:” a hardware and algorithm upgrade that improves the accuracy and efficiency of key metrics.
New hardware design: the Oura Ring 4 is designed to be more comfortable for 24/7 wear. It features a full titanium exterior and interior, and barely perceptible recessed sensors (0.3mm height) compared to the Gen 3’s titanium exterior, epoxy interior, and raised sensors (1.3mm height).
Better battery life: Lasts up to eight days (I usually only make it to six or seven off a single charge).
Expanded size range: The Oura Ring 4 is offered in sizes four to 15, while the Gen 3 is available in sizes six to 13.

New Software Features

One of my favorite updates has been the ability to log my workouts with real-time, reliable heart rate data. Even better, the Oura Ring breaks down which fitness zones I’m in—a game-changer as I’ve been stepping up my training this year.

Paired with my daily readiness score (essentially a personalized report card on how well you’ve recovered based on sleep and heart rate data), it’s helped me fine-tune my workouts and actually honor my rest days when I need them. A few of the other standout features I’ve been loving include:

Symptom Radar: the Oura Ring 4 detects spikes in temperature, which can signal that you may be getting sick. I was sick with a nasty cough in early August, and Oura Ring detected it the same day my symptoms began, but they weren’t yet at their peak.

Logged Meals: To log a meal, you simply take a picture, and Oura Ring will provide a detailed nutritional breakdown, offering insights about the macros and potential health benefits associated with it.

Oura Advisor: Combines generative AI with Oura’s extensive biometric tracking to provide personalized guidance by remembering key details from previous conversations (stored as “Memories”).

In addition to cycle tracking and period prediction (already one of my favorite features), Oura recently expanded its women’s health toolkit with advanced updates like pregnancy insights and a perimenopause check-in. The latter is a clinically validated symptom tracker that lets members log how they’re feeling in the moment, monitor changes over time, and walk into doctor’s visits armed with objective, reliable data.

Oura also has an optional period and ovulation prediction functionality in partnership with Natural Cycles, the first FDA-approved “birth control app.”

Data and Security

Speaking of data, concerns about privacy—particularly in the cycle tracking—have become increasingly relevant in today’s post-Roe era. According to Dr. Gotlieb, the brand remains dedicated to ensuring that Oura users’ privacy and data remain secure.

“Oura is committed to protecting member privacy and complies with stringent data protection laws, including the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) laws, which regulate a person’s right to know what data a company has on an individual as well as their right to delete that data—or “be forgotten,” she tells The Daily Beast.

“The Oura App data is also encrypted end-to-end and processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy as well as some of the world’s most robust privacy standards. You have the right to access, delete, or rectify your personal information.”

Overall Thoughts

I’ve waxed poetic to friends, family, and readers ad nauseam about how much the Oura Ring has changed my life—and, no, I’m really not being dramatic. Regardless of where you are on your wellness journey (but especially if you’re just starting out—trust me), this smart ring has been the ultimate motivator in keeping my health front and center. Seeing how stress, sleep, and activity impact my recovery—and more importantly, my heart health—has been invaluable. It’s the number one reason I make movement a non-negotiable as much as I can. (Transparently, I’ve been slacking on this during the last two weeks, and, sadly, I have the Oura data to prove it).

Because I care about aesthetics (and have zero patience for bulky wrist candy unless it’s a vintage gold “dumb” watch), the sleek profile and chic brass finish of my Oura Ring 4 are just icing on the cake. Wellness wearables that are both stylish and functional are nearly impossible to come by—but Oura really has changed the game.

Oura Ring 4Available in six different finishes, starting at $349. See At Oura Ring