Tag: smart ring

I Tested the World’s Cheapest Smart Ring—Is It Worth Even $5?

When you hear “smart ring,” what do you think? For most people, it’s a mystery. A smartwatch? Sure. But a smart ring? Today I tested what claims to be the world’s cheapest smart ring, priced at just $5, to see if it’s even remotely useful.

What Can a Smart Ring Do?

Before we get into it, here’s a quick overview of what smart rings generally promise:

  • Heart rate monitoring
  • Step tracking
  • Sleep tracking (duration, quality, sleep phases)
  • Distance traveled & calories burned
  • Body temperature tracking
  • Some advanced models even offer contactless payments, phone call notifications, and even remote control features for smart devices.

But this budget ring focuses only on the basics:

  • Heart rate monitoring
  • Activity tracking
  • Sleep tracking
  • Blood oxygen and blood sugar readings
  • Menstrual cycle tracking (yes, even at $5)

The Unboxing Experience

Inside the box:

  • The smart ring itself
  • A magnetic USB charger
  • A small manual that explains how to wear it (which is actually crucial for this device)

The ring needs to be worn on your index finger with the heart rate sensor facing inward. Oddly, it fit perfectly out of the box—despite there being no size option when ordering.

The App Integration

The ring syncs with an app called LeaAn Health, which tracks:

  • Heart rate and heart health trends
  • Sleep patterns (deep and light sleep)
  • Blood oxygen levels
  • Blood sugar levels
  • Step count, calories, and standing goals

Does It Actually Work?

What worked well:

  • Sleep tracking: Surprisingly accurate. It gave me detailed sleep data that matched my experience, even noting I had too much light sleep.
  • Heart rate monitoring: Consistent readings across the day.
  • Blood oxygen and blood sugar monitoring: These readings seemed reliable based on casual comparisons to other devices.

What didn’t work:

  • Step tracking: Wildly inaccurate. It underreported my activity by about 70% compared to a smartwatch.
  • Exercise tracking: Incorrect durations for running and walking.
  • Standing goal: Completely off. It recorded just 3 instances of standing up when I was on my feet frequently that day.

Build Quality & Comfort

The positives:

  • It’s lightweight and surprisingly comfortable.
  • Charges fast via a magnetic cable.
  • Fits well despite no sizing option.

The Verdict

While it handled sleep and heart rate tracking reasonably well, the step and exercise data were too inaccurate to make this a useful fitness tool. Roughly half of the advertised features either didn’t work or weren’t reliable.

For $5, it’s hard to be upset—but the reality is, you could spend just a little more on a smartwatch with far more functionality and accuracy.

This smartwatch in particular I would recommend WAY more than this: Cheapest Good SmartWatch (affiliate)

If you’re serious about tracking your health or fitness, skip this ring and check out the smartwatch I reviewed previously (linked above). It delivers significantly better value.

The Rise and Reckoning of Smart Rings: Where They’re Headed—and Why Most People Still Aren’t Wearing One

Smart rings were supposed to be the next wearable revolution. Smaller than smartwatches, sleeker than fitness trackers, and powerful enough to track your health 24/7 without ever lighting up or buzzing. For a moment, it felt like everyone from athletes to executives would be wearing a tiny computer on their finger.

But here in 2025, that revolution hasn’t quite arrived.

Yes, smart rings are getting better—more accurate, more stylish, and even smarter with AI. But they’ve remained a niche: embraced by early adopters, influencers, and health tech fans, but still largely unknown (or misunderstood) by the general public.

So what happened? Where are smart rings going next? And what will it take to make them matter beyond the biohacker crowd?

The Spark: Oura Leads the Charge

Though smart rings existed in various forms before 2020, it was the Oura Ring—particularly the Oura Ring Gen 3 launched in 2021—that lit the fire.

Its sleek titanium design, sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and readiness score caught the attention of wellness-focused users. It wasn’t flashy—it didn’t vibrate, show notifications, or talk to your phone every five minutes.

Instead, it promised something deeper: a health tracker that faded into the background.

Celebrities like Prince Harry and tech executives started wearing them. During COVID, Oura gained attention for its early illness detection features. Suddenly, smart rings weren’t a joke—they were ahead of the curve.

But then… progress slowed.

2023–2024: The Plateau

As more brands entered the smart ring space—Ultrahuman, Circular, Evie, and even rumors of Samsung and Apple working on prototypes—the market began to crowd, but not expand.

What held them back?

  • Limited functionality: Most smart rings could track sleep, heart rate, and activity—but not much else. No screen. No haptics. No on-demand data unless you opened an app.
  • Subscription fatigue: Oura introduced a monthly subscription in 2022, which sparked backlash. Paying $300 for a ring—and then $6/month just to access your own data? Many users balked.
  • Inaccurate expectations: Some users expected the same functionality as a smartwatch in a ring—voice assistants, messaging, notifications—which the ring simply couldn’t deliver.
  • Sizing & style issues: Unlike watches, rings must fit perfectly. That meant pre-ordering sizing kits, limited style options, and returns that were harder to manage.

In short: the tech was cool. The experience wasn’t quite there yet.

2025: Where Smart Rings Are Now

As of this year, smart rings are at a crossroads. The hype has cooled—but the tech has matured.

What’s working:

  • Oura Ring Gen 3 remains the gold standard for sleep tracking and readiness scores.
  • Ultrahuman Ring Air offers real-time metabolic tracking, and a lighter, athlete-focused experience.
  • Evie Ring is the first smart ring built specifically for women, with menstrual tracking and FDA-cleared vitals.
  • Circular Ring offers real-time alerts, blood oxygen, and even haptics for alarms and notifications.

Health professionals now respect the tech. Athletes use it. Some companies even provide them to employees for wellness initiatives. But it still hasn’t crossed over.

Most people still don’t wear one.

What’s Coming Next: The Smart Ring’s Second Chance

To move from niche to norm, smart rings will need to evolve—not just in what they track, but how they fit into people’s lives. Here’s what’s on the horizon:

1. AI-Powered Insights

It’s not just about data anymore—it’s about what it means. Expect smarter apps that tell you why your recovery score dropped, or how to improve sleep beyond “go to bed earlier.”

2. Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring

Non-invasive glucose tracking is the holy grail of wearables—and some ring makers are quietly working on it. If successful, it could change the game for diabetics and fitness obsessives alike.

3. Gesture Controls

Imagine tapping your thumb and index finger to skip a song, answer a call, or dim the lights. Smart rings with haptic feedback and motion detection are already exploring this.

4. Authentication and Payments

NFC rings that unlock your phone, log you into your laptop, or pay at the grocery store—without needing to raise your wrist. This is already possible in some prototype rings (like RingPay), and could go mainstream with the right partnerships.

5. Battery Life that Lasts Weeks

Unlike watches, smart rings don’t have displays sucking power. Most already last 4–7 days. Expect some to push beyond two weeks soon.

6. Fashion-First Design

More brands are teaming up with fashion designers and luxury labels to make rings that don’t look like tech. Think ceramic finishes, gold accents, interchangeable shells—rings that blend into your outfit, not scream “wearable.”

7. Integration with Smart Homes and AI Assistants

Your ring could soon be your default identity token: walk into a room and your lighting, music, and schedule adjust based on your presence and vitals.

The Takeaway: Smart Rings Are Still Figuring Out Who They’re For

In 2025, smart rings have not replaced smartwatches—and they probably never will. But that’s not a failure.

They’re carving out their own role:
A tool for deep health monitoring, invisible biometric tracking, and eventually, seamless interaction with your digital life.

The question isn’t “Why haven’t smart rings taken over?”
It’s “What if they’re not supposed to?”

Maybe the point of a smart ring isn’t to be noticed.
Maybe it’s to notice you—quietly, constantly, and in ways that help you live better.

And if that promise is fulfilled, the next time a wearable wave comes… smart rings might just lead it.