Wearables in Review: Ōura Ring

Ōura is a relatively new company that largely focuses on athletes and athletic performance. They are one of the only wearable rings on the market and are a smaller player in the research world — with a few studies published to PubMed. However, they have grown their brand rapidly through large, high-credibility partnerships with the NBA and NASCAR. Their wearable, starting at $299, is comparable in pricing to other wearables.

We think Ōura Ring represents a shift forward for the wearables industry and we expect their clinical presence to grow in the coming years, but the lack of raw data transparency could be a considerable limitation for researchers. We anticipate that the Ōura Ring will prove itself in specific clinical applications where a wrist-worn sensor is undesirable and likely to result in decreased adherence.

Our Favorite Features

The Ōura Ring is one of the only rings on the market, and as such, is a great option for individuals who find it more comfortable than more traditional wrist wearables. Through our own customer work at Litmus, we know there’s a clear correlation between wearable comfort and duration of wear, meaning the Ōura Ring’s ease-of-wear could have a significant impact on patient compliance within a trial or study. Additionally, Ōura Ring checks the boxes for most sensors and capabilities, including heart and breathing rate, HRV, and more.

What’s more, the Ōura Ring is one of the only wearables that has no visible interface, making it less likely that patients will change their habits based on device feedback. Ōura also has a well-documented public API that they use to validate the accuracy of their technology, and provide detailed explanations as to how different metrics are calculated.

What’s Missing

While Ōura shares data and explanations for how their metrics are calculated, they do not provide raw data access to clinicians, and fail to provide documentation for some data transformations. For the right partner, we imagine that Ōura would be glad to demystify these black boxes. However, the fact that not all transformations and algorithms are immediately available may serve as an initial hurdle for researchers who want to ensure data providence is clear in the clinical trials process.

Clinical Trial Presence

Ōura Ring is one of the newer wearables on the market. As such, it has been used less often in clinical research than many other devices on the market. The ring style and lack of interface make it ergonomic for clinical research, but the lack of clarity around some data transformations and failure to provide raw data upfront with researchers is a key limitation.

What This Means for the Future

As we continue to see innovation in the wearable technology space, we anticipate the ring approach will gain traction within trials that recruit patients for whom bracelets are not comfortable. Additionally, while Ōura doesn’t have a large clinical trial presence, they’ve established high-profile partnerships with the NBA and NASCAR, signaling that we can expect more from them in the future as they refine the device for different partnerships and use cases. Though we anticipate that it will be a few years before we see Ōura gain a greater presence in clinical trials, it’s certainly a company to watch.

Sensors: Accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate, PPG, temperature sensor

Activity/Measurement: Data Calories burned, heart rate, HRV, breathing rate, sleep, steps, respiratory rate, body temperature

Metrics: Activity, sleep quality

Connectivity: Bluetooth, cellular, WiFi

MSRP: $299

Battery Life: Up to a week

Waterproof Rating: Water resistant up to 100 meters