Oura Ring 5 is 40% smaller than Ring 4 with longer battery life

A key change is the sensing architecture. The Ring 5 uses 12 signal pathways, down from 16 on the Ring 4. A pathway pairs an LED, which shines light into the finger, with a photodiode, which measures how much returns and so reveals blood flow. Oura made the LEDs four times as powerful, repositioned them around the finger and changed how close they sit to the skin, which the company says improves accuracy and tolerance to motion.

New features: live activity and Health Radar

Two headline additions arrive with the ring. Live activity tracking gives a dashboard with pace and distance during exercise, and can show heart rate alongside if a third-party heart rate monitor is connected. Oura already detects activity automatically in the background.

Health Radar aims to link daily wellbeing with long-term health. It includes blood pressure signals, which analyse 30 days of data to flag shifts worth discussing with a doctor, and nighttime blood pressure, which shows the overnight dip. Russell notes that blood pressure typically falls about 20% overnight in healthy people, and a 5% dip could be a reason to talk to a doctor. A nighttime breathing feature tracks overnight disturbances across the previous 30 nights.

Russell says Oura tracks more than 50 biometrics and shipped 40 new features last year. The company says it does not lock features to new hardware when older rings can run them, so Ring 4 owners get many updates, though the Ring 5's accuracy and battery improve the experience.