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The smart ring may provide contactless payments, better health tracking, and proactive insights as soon as 2024 (but probably later)
By
Sam Costello
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/SamCostello-d7fcf106ec2048ccb06d1e2190b3396d.jpg "Oura Ring 4: News and Expected Price, Release Date, Specs; and More Rumors (1)")
Sam Costello
Writer
- Ithaca College
Sam Costello has been writing about tech since 2000. His writing has appeared in publications such as CNN.com, PC World, InfoWord, and many others.
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Published on May 29, 2024
The Oura Ring 4, the next generation of the most well-known smart ring, is expected to deliver improvements like contactless payment, prediction of health risks, and improved sensors. When it will arrive is still a bit unclear.
Oura Ring 4 Release Date
The Oura Ring 4 is widely expected to debut in 2024. This makes sense based on the company's history, but recent comments by its CEO cast doubt on that estimate.
So far, Oura has released new versions of its Ring roughly every three years:
- Oura Ring (1st Gen.):2015
- Oura Ring 2:2018
- Oura Ring 3:2021
If the company follows that pattern, it's a lock that the Oura Ring 4 will arrive in 2024. But the company's CEO, Tom Hale, gave an interview to TechRadar in May 2024 that suggests there may be other plans.
"It's not necessarily about the generations of hardware [. . . ] When we think about our next-generation ring, there are new things that might be enabled, but it's really about the software when it comes to experience," Hale said, while also mentioning that sales of the Oura Ring 3 continue to be strong.
So, the Oura Ring 4 may take longer to arrive than many expect.
Lifewire's Release Date Estimate
Based on the CEO's comments, we expect Oura Ring 4 to debut no earlier than 2025.
Oura Ring 4 Price Rumors
While there are no specific rumors about the price of the Oura Ring 4, it's reasonable to assume that its price will be similar to the Oura Ring 3, which costs US$299.
To get the most out of the Oura Ring, you also need an Oura Membership subscription, which costs $5.99/month or $69.99/year. We expect that the subscription will continue to be necessary and that its price will stay the same.
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Oura Ring 4 Features
There aren't a lot of rumors about the Oura Ring 4, but looking at the company's recent actions and making some educated guesses can help give a sense of what the smart ring might deliver. We'll update this article as more news and rumors arrive, but for now, some of the things the Oura Ring 4 could deliver include:
- Contactless Payments
- Symptom Radar proactive health monitoring
- Improved Health Sensors for sleep monitoring, heart rate, activity, and more.
Contactless Payment
The Oura Ring 4 may deliver Apple Pay-style contactless payment and virtual cards, according to many observers.
This rumor is based on Oura's 2023 purchase of a company called Proxy, which makes a "digital identity signal technology, stored on mobile devices, [that] replaces the multitude of keys, cards, badges, apps, and passwords and is designed to enhance data privacy in an increasingly decentralized world," according to Oura.
Based on that description, perhaps Oura Rings could also be used for access control to offices and other areas that otherwise need keycards.
Symptom Radar
The Oura Ring already delivers a lot of health monitoring, and the company's upcoming Symptom Radar feature may take that to the next level with the 4th gen. model.
Symptom Radar uses the health data collected by the Ring—such as "temperature trends, respiratory rate, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability"—to predict impending changes in health and to suggest rest or adjusting exercise goals to fight off sickness and stress. Many expect it to move out of testing and become a standard feature sooner rather than later.
Improved Health Sensors
The Oura Ring packs a lot of sensors into a small package, and it's likely that the 4th-generation Ring will improve them. We don't know which sensors will change, or how, but improvements to the accuracy or capability of sensors for heart rate, blood oxygen, exercise, sleep, and temperature.
The Latest News About the Oura Ring 4
Lifewire has you covered for the latest news about the Oura Ring and other smart devices and wearables. Here are some articles on the topic that may interest you:
