All posts tagged: Oura

Oura and other wearables offer blood tests. Results may confuse patients : NPR

Oura and other wearables offer blood tests. Results may confuse patients : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

ismagilov/iStockphoto/Getty Images Lana McDonald, a 34-year-old teacher from Massachusetts, got an Oura Ring two years ago to track her sleep. When she got an email from Oura selling a set of blood tests for $99, she was intrigued. Her primary care physician had never ordered blood testing before. The app took her to the website for Quest Diagnostics, where she got an appointment within the week. The results started coming in that same day. Direct-to-consumer blood testing is a growing industry targeting health-conscious patients who want to order their own blood work for the price of a dinner out. The space is becoming increasingly crowded: both by direct offerings from commercial laboratories such as Quest and Labcorp OnDemand, and by companies that partner with them to offer the testing. Recent blood-testing rollouts came from Oura, which has sold some 5.5 million of its smart rings and is aiming at that customer base, and from the wearable company Whoop. The telehealth platform Hims & Hers, with 2.5 million members, also released a product in late 2025. …

I walked 3,000 steps with my Apple Watch, Google Pixel, and Oura Ring – this tracker was most accurate

I walked 3,000 steps with my Apple Watch, Google Pixel, and Oura Ring – this tracker was most accurate

Published by skeptic

Nina Raemont/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways  I tracked my steps with three health trackers.  This included the Apple Watch, Google Pixel Watch, and Oura Ring.  Of the three trials, the Pixel Watch was the most accurate.  It’s been over a decade since the original Fitbit, with its step-tracking functionality, stepped onto the scene. Still, people are as obsessed with getting their steps in as ever.  Tracking your steps with a health tracker is one way to monitor your activity levels and make sure you’re moving enough throughout the day. By wrapping around the wrist or finger, these devices can also serve as helpful reminders to keep activity up, thanks to pings that encourage movement or screens that display daily activity progress.  Also: The best smartwatches of 2026: Expert tested and reviewed The greater question, though, is: do these step counters actually work? The companies behind your favorite smartwatch have spent millions of dollars on research and development, honing their step counters and calorie trackers to monitor every footstep …

I’ve worn the Oura Ring and Apple Watch for years: Here’s which of two is more essential

I’ve worn the Oura Ring and Apple Watch for years: Here’s which of two is more essential

Published by skeptic

Nina Raemont/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. In theory, health trackers should all do the same thing: monitor your activity and deliver easy-to-understand insights. In practice, however, these devices perform very differently.  Take the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch, for example. You can exercise with them both, wear them to bed, and keep them on in the shower as they monitor your heart rate, body temperature, activity, stress, and sleep.  Also: The best Apple Watches you can buy: Expert tested and reviewed But they couldn’t be more different. The smart ring promises a discreet build and a few days’ battery life (Oura says seven days max, but it’s closer to four or five from my testing). The smartwatch, on the other hand, is a chunkier device that brings all your smartphone’s features to your wrist with a health- and activity-minded twist.  So which should you buy? I just so happen to wear both devices regularly, because I enjoy each device’s functions for different reasons. Let’s break down the differences.  You should buy …

Ultrahuman Is Back: Can the Ring Pro Beat Oura in the U.S. Market?

Ultrahuman Is Back: Can the Ring Pro Beat Oura in the U.S. Market?

Published by skeptic

Ultrahuman is back in the United States. The noted Oura Ring competitor has been absent from the American market since last October because of a patent dispute, but is now cleared by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As WIRED reported in August, the U.S. International Trade Commission had previously ruled in favor of Oura in a patent infringement case against competitors Ringconn and Ultrahuman. This decision was a big setback for Bengaluru, India-based Ultrahuman, which had established a manufacturing facility in Plano, Texas, to bypass tariffs. Ringconn reached a royalties agreement with Oura, while Ultrahuman pulled its Ring Air from the U.S. market and countersued. Now, the smart ring company is betting its comeback on its new Ring Pro. Ultrahuman 2.0 Courtesy of Ultrahuman New hardware includes a redesigned heart rate sensor, a dual-core processor for machine learning, and up to 250 days of on-device data storage. Perhaps its strongest appeal is that, unlike Oura, Ultrahuman doesn’t charge a subscription fee to access core health metrics. Rather, Ultrahuman offers the basics for free, even …

Best sleep trackers 2026: From Garmin to Oura

Best sleep trackers 2026: From Garmin to Oura

Published by Sam Flores

If you’re struggling with your sleep and you can’t work out why, a sleep tracker might help. On its own, it won’t solve your problems, but it can show patterns and provide useful information for doctors as part of a diagnosis. Basic sleep trackers collect data like sleep duration and time spent in each stage (light, deep and REM). More advanced models may track heart rate, stress levels and body temperature. Often, these stats are combined to calculate a sleep score and accompanying apps may suggest adjustments to your routine. We’ve reviewed dozens of fitness trackers and accessories for their sleep tracking capabilities, but only eight made the cut here. Prices range from £100 for Amazon own-brands to over £2,500 for an Eight Sleep pod system. Remember to factor in running costs and rolling subscription fees. The best sleep trackers of 2026: At a glance How we test sleep trackers Our experts test the trackers for at least two weeks. Some are purely for sleep, while others incorporate the technology as part of their broader …

Apple’s Head of Home Hardware Leaves for Smart Ring Maker Oura

Apple’s Head of Home Hardware Leaves for Smart Ring Maker Oura

Published by skeptic

Brian Lynch, the senior director on Apple’s home hardware engineering team, is leaving Apple for smart ring company Oura, reports Bloomberg. Lynch accepted a role as Oura’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. Oura has poached several employees from Apple over the last few years. Lynch’s departure is apparently causing “fresh upheaval” on Apple’s home products team as it is aiming to debut new home devices. Apple is rumored to be working on a smart home hub, but its launch has been pushed back due o Siri development delays. The hub launch is now planned for September 2026, with other devices like a home security and automation sensor and a more advanced tabletop robot in development for 2027. Apple also has plans for smart glasses, a wearable AI pendant or pin, and AirPods with cameras. Lynch worked at Apple for over 20 years, and prior to overseeing smart home devices, he was on Apple’s now-shuttered car development team. Lynch worked under Matt Costello, who also oversees audio engineering and Beats devices. Costello reports to John …

Ultrahuman takes aim at Oura with new ring’s 15-day battery – but not everyone can buy it

Ultrahuman takes aim at Oura with new ring’s 15-day battery – but not everyone can buy it

Published by skeptic

Ultrahuman/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways  Ultrahuman unveiled its Ultrahuman Ring Pro.  The smart ring offers 15 days of battery life.  Due to patent disputes, it isn’t available to buy in the US.  Ultrahuman’s next-generation smart ring could stay on your finger for over two weeks with a recharge. The smart ring maker unveiled the Ultrahuman Ring Pro on Friday, and the newest smart ring offers significant upgrades over the Ultrahuman Ring Air, which debuted in 2023.  These improvements include a new Qi-enabled Pro Charging Case that stores up to one year of ring data and delivers 45 days of battery life. It comes with Find My capabilities for easily locating the lost ring and viewable feedback with LED indicators and haptics.  Also: Why your Oura Ring battery is dying quicker (and what Oura is doing about it) On the ring itself, Ultrahuman upgraded its smart ring to store up to 250 days of data. It also improved the ring’s memory and data processing, alongside redesigned heart-rate …

Ultrahuman bets on redesigned smart ring to win back U.S. market after Oura dispute

Ultrahuman bets on redesigned smart ring to win back U.S. market after Oura dispute

Published by skeptic

Ultrahuman on Friday unveiled a new smart ring with longer battery life and a redesigned form factor, as the Bengaluru-based wearable maker seeks to revive its U.S. business that was disrupted last year by a patent dispute with rival Oura. The Ring Pro, Ultrahuman’s third-generation smart ring, offers up to 15 days of battery life — compared with four to six days on the Ring Air — and is priced at $479. It will be available for pre-orders globally, excluding the U.S., with shipments beginning in March. Ultrahuman’s U.S. business was disrupted in October 2025 after the U.S. International Trade Commission — a federal agency that handles trade disputes — ruled in Oura’s favor in a patent dispute. The ruling prevented the startup from importing new ring inventory into the country, although existing retail stock continued to be sold. The blow was significant. The U.S. accounted for about 45% of Ultrahuman’s roughly 700,000 daily active users worldwide, according to co-founder and CEO Mohit Kumar. In August 2025, Ultrahuman also filed a separate patent infringement case …

Oura built a women’s health AI using clinical research – how to try it

Oura built a women’s health AI using clinical research – how to try it

Published by skeptic

Oura/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Oura is launching a custom LLM designed for women’s health.  Users can test it out in the app through Oura Labs.  The model will answer questions sourced from clinician-vetted research. Oura is rolling out a custom women’s health model within its personal health chatbot, Oura Advisor, the smart ring company announced on Tuesday. It’s an experimental feature through Oura Labs, Oura’s testing ground for new features, that will not only take a woman’s biometric data into account when answering her query, but will also source its information from research vetted by the company’s board of clinicians. The custom women’s health model is Oura’s first proprietary LLM, trained on clinical sources and research guidelines approved by the company’s board of certified clinicians and women’s health experts. The custom chatbot’s experimental launch comes nearly a year after Oura Advisor was given a permanent spot on the Oura app, following a trial run through Oura Labs.  Also: I should’ve listened to my Oura Ring when it warned …

Exclusive: Oura Ring and Hormone Tracker Mira Collaborate to Bring Hormonal Health to Wellness Tracking

Exclusive: Oura Ring and Hormone Tracker Mira Collaborate to Bring Hormonal Health to Wellness Tracking

Published by skeptic

Hormonal health company Mira has partnered with Oura, makers of the Oura Ring, to merge hormone data collected by its egg-shaped monitor with Oura’s sleep, readiness and temperature health metrics. This marks the first-ever integration of lab-grade hormone data into daily wellness tracking. “Hormones have traditionally been treated as something you measure in isolation — maybe once, in a clinical setting, and then you’re sent on your way. But that’s never how women actually experience their bodies,” Mira CEO Sylvia Kang tells CNET. “At Mira, we’ve been really focused on bringing hormones into everyday life, because they shape how you sleep, how much energy you have, how you feel emotionally, even how happy or resilient you feel.” Mira is the first and only hormone monitor powered by fluorescence-based detection (FluoMapping technology). This is the same technology used in clinical laboratories to deliver exact, numeric hormone concentrations.  With the free Mira app, you can see your hormone data alongside Oura’s sleep, readiness and temperature metrics. Mira x Oura To collect your hormone data, you dip one …