Oura Ring 5 shrinks size, boosts accuracy and starts at $399

Oura Ring 5 arrived on May 28 with a smaller body, a new sensor layout and a starting price of $399. The ring ships June 4, with premium finishes at $499 and a separate charging case priced at $99. Oura puts the new model at 40% smaller than Ring 4, measuring 6.09 mm wide and 2.28 mm thick, while still offering about a week of battery life.

Ring 5 is made from titanium, carries an IP68 rating good to 100 meters, and comes in six finishes: Gold, Deep Rose, Brushed Silver, Stealth, Black and Silver. The redesign uses low-profile sensor domes and 12 signal pathways, and Oura calls it its most accurate generation yet. Oura puts the pulse signal from a finger at up to 100 times stronger than at the wrist.

Ring 5 carries over or expands features for sleep, activity, readiness, stress, heart health and women’s health, while newer software functions focus on preventive health, metabolic insights and live activity tracking rather than constant alerts. It tracks 50-plus health metrics, Oura claims 99% heart-rate accuracy compared with ECG and 95% sleep-staging accuracy compared with a clinical sleep lab, and in Oura's new-member survey 90% of members feel healthier. Full features still require Oura membership, at $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year.

Trusted Reviews called Ring 5 easier to recommend because it looks and feels like a normal ring, has strong battery life and a polished app, though much of the new software is region-locked in places such as the United States and the UAE. Engadget called it the same Oura experience in a far smaller package, while DC Rainmaker found the main change was size, with only a slight battery-life gain and no features exclusive to Ring 5.

Founded in Finland and now headquartered in San Francisco, Oura's chief executive, Tom Hale, called the hardware rebuild a way so many more people could wear Oura every day, and called the shrink a “real technological miracle.”