Casio’s watch face ring may have distracted us for a while, but Oura is back to show us what truly makes a ring “smart.” The new Oura Ring Symptom Radar system allows the ring to check the wearer for early signs of illness by measuring shifts in their biological functions.
The Symptom Radar health tracker has been tested since 2020, but it first came to the public around April 2024, when the feature was released for beta testing. This gave early users a chance to test it out for themselves and participate in its review. The testing must have led to positive results because the company is now releasing the new Oura health tracking feature to all Oura Ring Gen 3 and Gen 4 users who have an active subscription right now.
Image: Oura Ring
Oura Ring Introduces the Symptom Radar for Predicting Illnesses
There are two primary areas where wearable smart technology truly shines—fitness activity tracking and health tracking. Smartwatches have grounded themselves into many of our daily routines, but smart rings are still in the process of gaining ground as they have not proved to be quite as useful as a watch.
Now, after spending some months as an experimental feature in Oura Labs, the Oura Ring’s Symptom Radar is all set to make a mark as a premium health tracker. The new feature collects and analyzes biometric data through the ring’s sensor in order to detect unexpected changes or early signs of illness. Whether it’s a change in the resting heart rate or body temperature, or fluctuations in the heart rate or breathing rate, the ring is well placed to track it. Factors like age and inactivity are also taken into consideration.
The ring also uses sleep data to calculate the results and requires at least 7 nights of sleep information from the previous 14 days in order to make an accurate assessment.
What Does the Symptom Radar Health Tracker Do?
The Oura Ring predicts illness by studying fluctuations in the user’s body, tracking over 40 different biometrics, and alerting them to the change. The ring analyses the changes and notifies the user of the change using three severity levels on the app—no signs, minor signs, and major signs. When any signs or fluctuations are detected, the device will recommend that the user relax and turn on Rest mode.
Oura’s work with partners like the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has allowed the team to analyze anonymized data in order to refine the Symptom Radar health tracker to detect early signs up to two days before the individual logs their illness into the system. Users who heed the warning and get some rest can prevent the sick spell from settling in, boosting their immunity to help in the recovery.
Image: The Oura Ring Symptom Radar
Who Can Use the New Oura Health Tracking Feature?
Oura Ring 3 and Oura Ring 4 users with an active subscription should be able to see the feature on their phones as the feature was launched in December. Once available, users can check the Symptom Radar assessment on the app every morning. Tapping on the Symptom Radar card or going to the Today screen will bring up the daily update.
Our already has an assortment of useful health-tracking features, like pregnancy insights and cardio capacity check, but the new tracker adds another layer of assessment for users.
Now, the Oura Ring’s Symptom Radar is not meant to replace a doctor or a regular health check-up. Early sign detection can help prevent common illnesses, but it isn’t ideal to wait until the ring sends an alert to seek treatment.
Oura even warns that the tool may not “work optimally with pre-existing medical conditions. Pregnancy also impacts biometric baselines and may reduce the accuracy of Symptom Radar.” Pregnant users can turn the feature off to avoid getting false alerts.
It is best to work with a doctor regularly to stay on top of your health, but the Oura Ring can serve as a very reliable assistant through it all.