Smart rings will remain niche until they add these missing features

Lina PortmanJune 2, 2024

0 6 minutes read

Sunday

(Image credit: Android Central)

In this weekly column, Android Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks about the world of wearables, apps and fitness technology related to running and health, in his quest to be faster and more in shape.

To move beyond niche technology and into the mainstream, smart rings might need a “killer app” to stand out and justify their high prices. It's unclear which features they need compared to those added to the pads' datasheets or make them look futuristic.

Smart rings will explode in 2024, for better or worse. You can barely go a week without a new brand launching a Kickstarter smart ring, each promising more features than the last. Before the Samsung Galaxy Ring arrives, they're all rushing over competing products with wild promises and (for the most part) interchangeable features.

In this oversaturated market, brand recognition gives Samsung and Oura an advantage. But the Oura Ring (Gen 3) has a few features missing, and Galaxy Ring leaks suggest its first-generation device won't have as much “smartness” as one might think.

After reviewing the Ultrahuman Ring Air and consulting with my fellow smart ring enthusiasts, I have a list of potential smart ring features that have not yet been implemented or are rare to find, but would make this gem smart much more likely to gain popularity. .

Any “Find my lost ring” option

(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)

People lose jewelry all the time, but losing a $10 gold bracelet from Target and a $300+ smart ring doesn't compare. And these days, losing a smart ring is almost irrevocable. A built-in GPS or speaker can make a ringtone too loud, and no smart ring uses a Find My Device network or any other method to find it.

A recent Galaxy Ring leak suggests that Samsung will add a “Lost Mode” feature that will trigger a flashing LED and turn off all data sharing if someone else finds it. I don't think this goes far enough though, as a light won't help if the ring falls into a sofa cushion or is left somewhere far away.

what do you Really It's necessary for a smart ring to use your phone's GPS to record its exact location the moment its wear detection catches you taking it off, so you generally know where to look. Once you're in the immediate area, something like Ultra Wideband (UWB) might be the best option for tracking down a hard-to-find ring – assuming it doesn't make the ring too heavy.

Subtle and versatile tactic

The circular ring (Image credit: Circular)

Many people like smart rings because they are not like smart watches. You get passive health data without constant notifications on your wrist. That being said, haptics is a common request we've seen on our forum regarding smart rings.

People who sleep with smartwatches mention that they use their watch's alarm feature to subtly wake themselves up. To replace smart watches for these people, a smart ring will need the same effect. He wouldn't need a strong the motor has to run at that size to wake you up either.

Circular is the only ring we know of with a vibrating motor. The smart ring uses buzzes not only for alarms, but also for notifications, reminders and breathing exercise signals. Not everyone will want their jewelry to ring on them all day, but haptics will help make smart rings feel essential for some people.

AFib and other health tips

(Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)

Some people prefer to wear luxury watches without intelligence for their style and simplicity; others, like my parents, simply don't like watches, especially bulky and complicated ones. But this tech-averse crowd could wear a smart ring if it gave them enough health data to matter.

Most smart rings have the essentials: resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) for stress and energy recovery, blood oxygen (SpO2), skin temperature, respiratory rate and calories burned. A few, like Oura, let you automatically detect your workout via the accelerometer.

Then you have some pretty intense promises. Several 2024 Kickstarter smart rings promise blood pressure monitoring, and electrocardiograms (ECGs) for irregular heart rhythm (AFib) warnings are on the horizon. The YogiFi Smart Ring Kickstarter lists smoking and diet detection as “coming soon,” while the Ringo Smart Ring offers body composition analysis for body fat.

Reading blood pressure on a Galaxy Watch (Image credit: Samsung)

The popularity of smart rings will depend on their accuracy and not an exhaustive list of data. Consumers are smart enough to notice the difference between accurate results and vague “feel good” diagnoses that you can't trust, and no one should trust blood pressure or atrial fibrillation data that isn't approved by the FDA.

That disclaimer aside, wearable blood pressure and passive atrial fibrillation monitoring would be a solution. change of industry feature that would immediately appeal to millions of people over 50 as an early warning system, making smart rings a real alternative to smart watches for people who want a simplified experience.

The question is which smart ring brand can offer either feature first. Early leaks of the Galaxy Ring suggested it would have blood pressure monitoring, but Samsung added blood pressure readings to the Galaxy Watch 4 and has yet to gain FDA approval for use in the states -United. This could also be true with his Galaxy Ring.

Tap-to-pay NFC (with authentication)

(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)

This should be easy. You can buy a cheap ring with NFC functionality on Amazon for much less than a typical smart ring. The problem is the inability to add a PIN or any other method to authenticate a payment, which is probably why most known smart rings don't support it.

I have a potential solution in mind for this: users must enable tap-to-pay in the companion app after putting on the ring, with a PIN. As soon as wear detection catches you removing your ring, the NFC function is automatically deactivated until you reactivate it. This way, no one will be able to snatch a ring off your hand or off your nightstand while shopping.

I don't know if this is possible, but it would allow smart rings to add contactless payments, so someone would have to physically swipe your hand over an NFC reader to commit fraud.

Touch or gesture controls

(Image credit: Samsung Electronics patent (via The Elec))

Samsung patents show the Galaxy Ring used as a controller for its XR headset. iMore describes an Apple Ring patent with gesture controls such as “pinch, shake, point and palm tap” followed by the Ring to control other Apple devices. Additionally, a few Kickstarter rings promise touchpads or gesture controls.

If a ring touchpad triggered shortcut actions on your phone by double-tapping or long-pressing, that could be very useful! The same goes for simple gestures like pinching or tapping the palm of your hand, which you are unlikely to use in real life. On the other hand, I can imagine a small touchpad being quite finicky and prone to false positives or accidentally triggered gestures.

That said, Circular also seems to cover this issue, to some extent, with a “button” that can be used for things like turning off vibration alarms on the ring.

Anyone who owns an Android smartwatch or Apple Watch with proper touch controls and screens wouldn't swap their watch for a ring for these substitution tricks. So I'm not sure if these would be considered flagship features or if companies are just trying to justify the “smart” nature of smart rings.

A new distinct style

(Image credit: Michael Hicks / Android Central)

I'll quickly complete my list with something that isn't a “feature” but is more vital than anything else. Most smart rings are thick, sparse, and indistinguishable from one another. However, aesthetics matter and smart rings need to find a particular look that people accept on a daily basis.

Apple Watches only succeeded because Apple convinced everyone that squirrels are stylish and distinct. Android watches imitate classic watch designs. Regardless, people accept them not only because they are about the same size as a regular watch, but also because they have learned to accept this brand style.

That's why companies need to pick their battles, adding enough smart ring features to make them indispensable, but not so stuffed with stupid tricks that it's ugly and unreliable. I can't wait to see which smart ring will be the first to offer a balanced style that appeals outside of tech circles. It might be Oura or Samsung, but time will tell.