Club Benefits
Early Verdict
The Oura Ring 5 is the smallest smart ring in the world, and probably the best for most people. It no longer looks like a fitness tracker, and it proves good things really do come in small packages, with more powerful LED’s for more accurate tracking, and a longer battery life than its predecessor, the Oura Ring 4. The monthly subscription might still put some people off, but this ring is the screenless tracker to beat.
Pros
- +
40% smaller than Oura Ring 4
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Available in many sizes and finishes
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Longer battery life than Oura Ring 4 (up to 9 days)
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Upgraded sensors for more accurate readings
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Upgraded scratch-resistance
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Completely waterproof
Cons
- -
You’ll still need to pay a monthly subscription
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The Oura Ring 5 just changed the smart ring game. Oura’s flagship ring has undergone a physical transformation, with the brand completely reengineering its smart ring to make it 40% smaller and even lighter than before. Forget the chunky rings of the past, the Oura Ring 5 looks like jewelry, for discreet, comfortable fitness tracking.
Proving that good things really do come in small packages, the new ring has about a day longer battery life than its predecessor, and four times more powerful LEDs, repositioned for better accuracy.
But should you be tempted to upgrade your ring if you already own an Oura Ring 4? And how does it compare to some of the best smart rings on the market? Read my full Oura Ring 5 review to find out more.
Oura Ring 5: Cheat sheet
- What is the Oura Ring 5? The Oura Ring 5 is a smart ring that has health tracking sensors within. As well as doing the basics, like counting your steps and reading your heart rate, the Oura Ring 5 can track your sleep, tell you when you ovulate, look at your overall stress levels throughout the day, and give you actionable insights based on your body’s resilience.
- When is the Oura Ring 5 release date? The Oura Ring 5 was released on May 28, 2026 and is available to buy now.
- Who is the Oura Ring 5 for? The Oura Ring 5 is for anyone who wants to be more informed about their health and wellness, without wearing a smartwatch or activity band on their wrist.
- What is the difference between the Oura Ring 4 and the Oura Ring 5? The main differences between the two smart rings are in the design. The Oura Ring 5 is 40% smaller than the Oura Ring 4, as well as being lighter. The Ring 5 has more powerful sensors for more accurate measurements and longer battery life. The Oura Ring 5 is also fully waterproof up to 100m, whereas the Oura Ring 4 is water resistant.
- How much does the Oura Ring 5 cost? The Oura Ring 5 starts at $399/£399 for the ‘base finishes’, which are Silver and Black. The premium finishes are — Gold, Stealth, Brushed Silver, and Deep Rose, and cost $499/£499.
- Is there a subscription fee for the Oura app? Yes, the Oura membership costs $5.99 / £5.99 per month or $72 / £72 per year.
- Is there a size difference between the Oura Ring 4 and the Oura Ring 5? Yes, slightly. Oura recommends using the Oura Ring 5 sizing kit to re-test your size with the smaller ring.
- Does Oura offer any trade-in deals? At the time of writing, no. You can send your old Oura ring back to Oura to recycle, but you do not get any money or credit for trading your old ring in.
Oura Ring 5: Specs
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Oura Ring 5 | Oura Ring 4 |
|---|---|---|
Starting price | $399 | $349 |
Sizes | 6-13 | 4-15 |
Colors | Gold, Deep Rose, Brushed Silver, Stealth, Black, Silver | Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, Brushed Titanium, Black, Stealth |
Sensors | PPG (heart rate + SpO2), skin temperature, accelerometer | PPG (heart rate + SpO2), skin temperature, accelerometer |
Weight | From 2 grams (depending on ring size) | 3.3-5.2 grams |
Thickness | 2.28mm | ~ 2.88mm |
Battery life | Up to 9 days | Up to 8 days |
Subscription | $5.99/month | $5.99/month |
Oura Ring 5 review: Design
The Oura Ring 5 is noticeably smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the Oura Ring 4. Oura says they completely redesigned the ring to achieve the dramatic shrinkage, re-engineering the internal architecture to ensure it was smaller but just as powerful.
Oura hasn't followed the tech trend of making slight tweaks to launch a new product — it has completely rewritten the blueprint for what invisible tech can do.
The width of the ring has dropped to 6.09mm from 7.9mm, and the thickness is now 2.28mm, with the ring weighing 2 grams. The exact weight and size of the Oura Ring 5 will depend on the size you’re wearing. The Oura Ring 5 comes in sizes 6-13.
Speaking of which, Oura recommends you use a new sizing kit for the Oura Ring 5, even if you’ve got an Oura Ring 4 on your finger. I found my size hadn’t changed — I’m wearing an Oura Ring size 7 in both rings, and the fit is similar, if not a tiny bit smaller on the newer ring. My colleague Sam, on the other hand, had to go up a size in the Oura Ring 5, so it’s worth checking.
The Oura Ring 5 comes in six different colors, and they’ve changed slightly from the Oura Ring 4. The cheapest options, Silver and Black, cost $399/£399. The more premium options include Gold, Stealth, Brushed Silver, and Deep Rose, and cost $499/£499. Compared to the Oura Ring 4, the Gold color is a brighter gold to better match jewelry. Deep Gold replaces the Rose Gold colorway on the Oura Ring 4. In person, it’s a more coppery gold.
All of the Oura Ring 5 colors are made from a thicker, more scratch-resistant coating, aiming to minimize the damage from daily wear and holding weights in the gym.
The Oura Ring 4 will still be available in Gold, Stealth, and Silver, and ceramic in Cloud and Midnight in sizes 4-15 for $349. At the time of writing, Oura doesn’t have a trade-in program, so if you have recently bought an Oura Ring 4, you won’t get any money back for upgrading to an Oura Ring 5.
Oura Ring 5 review: Oura app
A screenless tracker is only as good as its app, and Oura’s app makes understanding your health data a dream. When you open the app, there are three tabs: Today, Vitals, and My Health. Today shows you a breakdown of changing information based on what might be relevant to you at a given point in the day. At the top of the page, there are shortcut tiles that allow you to see key information at a glance.
The Vitals tab has expanding and collapsing cards covering all your daily metrics, including your readiness score, sleep score, activity progress, menstrual cycle status, and daytime stress chart.
The Oura app tells me my sleep health has declined over the past 90 days, which is feedback I’ll pass on to my two-year-old, who has decided it’s his nightly mission to escape from his crib.
My Health is a zoomed-out picture of your overall wellness, looking at long-term insights like stress resilience, heart health, sleep chronotype, and cardiovascular age. My app tells me my sleep health has declined over the past 90 days, which is feedback I’ll pass on to my two-year-old, who has decided it’s his nightly mission to escape from his crib.
There are a few new features in the Oura Ring app added via a software update. Firstly, you’ll now be able to use your ring for live activity tracking. When starting a live activity from your Oura app, you’ll be able to see your live data from a lock screen widget on your phone. This can track your pace and distance live during workouts like runs, cycles, and strength training sessions.
Oura has also added two new Women’s Health features: Menopause Insights and Hormonal Birth Control. Menopause Insights asks you structured questions about how well you’re sleeping, your mood, cognition, and daily functioning, helping Oura ring wearers to really understand how strongly they feel perimenopause is affecting their daily lives.
The Hormonal Birth Control Feature is an update to the ring’s current Cycle Insights tool, and will support pills, patches, IUDs, implants, and other hormonal methods. It will be able to help women see at a glance how their biometrics shift across hormone and hormone-free days.
There’s also a new Locate feature on the app. This allows you to connect multiple devices to the app, as well as an Oura Charging Case, allowing you to keep track of your devices in one place. Locate is available for Oura Ring Gen3 and all future generations.
Oura Ring 5 review: Battery life
Oura says they’ve been working on the new device for over two years, and they didn’t want the smaller size to affect battery life. They’ve done the opposite, improving the battery life on the newer ring, giving you 6-9 days per charge, compared to the 5-8 with the Oura Ring 4. During my week of testing, I’ve found this to be accurate — I’ve only had to charge my ring once.
From what I've experienced, the batteries in these rings do seem to deteriorate over time, so I’ll be paying close attention. But for now, I’m very content to not have to worry about charging the Oura Ring 4 for several days at a time.
You still charge the ring on the same charging dock, but if you have an Oura Ring 4, the charger won’t work with the Oura Ring 5.
Launching alongside the Oura Ring 5 is the new Oura Ring 5 charging case, which costs $99/£99. It holds up to five ring charges and supports wireless charging. There’s an action button that makes it easier to see the charging status, and you can now add the charging case to Oura’s new Locate feature.
Oura Ring 5 vs Oura Ring 4: Should you upgrade?
If you’re already one of the millions of people with an Oura Ring on your finger, does it make sense to upgrade to the Oura Ring 5?
Firstly, it’s worth noting that from a software perspective, everything mentioned above is available to you, as Oura has rolled the updates out to previous rings.
After a week of testing, however, I do really love how small the ring looks on my finger. It completely disappears, and compared to the chunky ring I’ve worn for years, I don’t think anyone would even notice the smart ring on my finger. If I’d just bought an Oura Ring 4, I’m not sure it would be enough to make me splurge for the new ring, but if I were wearing an Oura Ring 3 or earlier, I’d definitely consider the upgrade.
Oura says the Oura Ring 5 is more accurate than the Oura Ring 4, thanks to more powerful LEDs, but I haven’t noticed any differences in the tracking, and it would be impossible to say which is more accurate for some metrics without lab tests. I do find the ring more comfortable to wear, and while I’m never diving down to 100m, as a swimmer, I do appreciate the fact that the Oura Ring 5 is fully waterproof, rather than just water resistant.
Oura Ring 5 review: Should you buy?
I’ll be updating this review once I’ve had a chance to test the new features that recently rolled out, but after a week of testing, I’m confident that this is the best Oura Ring to date. The Oura Ring 5 has set new standards for the world of smart rings, and I think it’ll be a race between Samsung, Ultrahuman, and Luna to create smaller, thinner rings to compete.
The Oura experience is second to none, and if you’re looking for a fitness tracker that allows you to gain deeper insights into your overall health, without looking like you’re wearing a tracker, the Oura Ring 5 is the way to go.
After a week of continuous testing, I’m genuinely struggling to find a flaw or a missing feature in the Oura Ring 5. By chopping 40% of the bulk while actually extending the battery life, Oura hasn't followed the tech trend of making slight tweaks to launch a new product — it has completely rewritten the blueprint for what invisible tech can do.
