Oura launches new health features with new ring release

It's been a busy couple of weeks for smart ring developer, Oura. After announcing on May 21 that it plans to go public, Oura has released an expanded suite of health features this week alongside a new version of its smart ring.

The company is marketing its Oura Ring 5 as "the smallest smart ring in the world." The ring, which features low-profile sensor domes for better skin contact and more powerful LEDs for clearer readings, aims to provide deeper insights into metabolic health and live activity.

The ring will also include Oura's new Health Radar feature. According to a company blog post, the feature was developed in collaboration with more than 40 in-house physicians and researchers and builds upon Symptom Radar, launched in 2024. Health Radar and Symptom Radar are available not only on Oura Ring 5 but also on Oura Ring Gen3 and Oura Ring 4.

While Symptom Radar helps identify early signs of strain in a user's biometric data, including an elevated heart rate or temperature, Health Radar includes capabilities to monitor blood pressure and breathing during the night.

Oura's new Blood Pressure Signals in Health Radar capability tracks cardiovascular-related trends using nighttime photoplethysmography data from the smart ring during 30-day assessment periods. Photoplethysmography is an optical technology that uses shining light through the skin to measure blood flow and cardiovascular signals. The ring will alert the user to changes that may be associated with blood pressure variation, the press release noted. Supporting this capability are features that show your overnight BP-related dips and how they change over time, as well as the ability to log manual cuff measurements in the Oura App.

The Nighttime Breathing in Health Radar capability will track disruptions in breathing rhythm during the night, which can result in fragmented sleep and cardiovascular strain. The capability provides a 30-day rolling view of sleep-related breathing patterns and disturbances, providing explanations and guidance to help users understand the changes. Users can also access sleep health resources, including sleep assessments and educational materials, in the Oura App through a recent partnership between Oura and ResMed.

"As a physician, I know that personal health can feel overwhelming -- not only because information can be hard to access, but because it's often unclear which changes really matter," said Ricky Bloomfield, M.D., chief medical officer at Oura, in the blog post.

In addition to Health Radar, Oura is collaborating with Counsel, an AI-enabled primary care platform, to launch asynchronous virtual visits within the Oura app. Called Oura Labs: Counsel Health, the new capability will allow users to connect with Counsel's medical AI app and physicians. If Health Radar alerts users to trends or changes worth exploring, Oura Advisor, an AI-powered tool that translates data from the smart ring into guidance, will offer to connect users with Counsel. The user will then have the option of connecting with AI to interpret lab results, identify symptoms and receive initial guidance or connecting with a Counsel physician, who will assess concerns, provide tailored treatment plans and fill prescriptions. Oura Ring users in the U.S. will be able to test the new capability "soon," according to the press release.

The new features come a few months after the wearables developer acquired a Finnish company that provides gesture recognition technology and announced that it is testing its first proprietary AI model focused on women's health.

Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers healthcare IT and innovation, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, EHRs and interoperability.