Sleep Trackers: Oura Ring vs Apple Watch
Our CEO, Erik Pavia, sat down to compare how the Apple Watch’s new sleep tracking features compare to the Oura Ring.
Update: We produced a review comparing the Apple Watch, the Oura Ring, and the Whoop as exercise and recovery trackers. This review gives more detail around sleep tracking between the Apple Watch and Oura Ring.
Sleep Tracking With the Apple Watch
If you don’t have an activity tracker, the Apple Watch is a great multi-functional device that now includes sleep-tracking in WatchOS 7. Sleep tracking provides minimal but valuable insights. The Apple Watch will tell you how much you slept, and when, which can be helpful if you don’t have a baseline on these metrics already.
However, the Apple Watch doesn’t do a great job at integrating other metrics like heart rate or HRV. It also doesn’t attempt to give insights about sleep phases. Third-party apps might integrate the data the Apple Watch collects, but the first-party Health app is a little clunky and doesn’t offer any deep insights.
If you want more information on the Apple Watch to help you decide whether you should get one, check out our Apple Watch review.
Sleep Tracking with the Oura Ring
If you want more detailed information and more valuable data on recovery and sleep, the Oura Ring is highly informative. The Oura Ring measures one key vital that the Apple Watch doesn't: body temperature. Getting body temperature measurements is huge, especially in the era of COVID. If you closely watch your body temperature, you can notice a cold coming on before any symptoms appear.
The Oura Ring also includes some basic meditation and mindfulness features. Unfortunately, the Oura Ring is not functional as an exercise tracker or activity tracker (you specifically cannot use it while lifting weights). It is also lacking the countless of the smart features found in the Apple Watch.
Which should you get?
At $300, the Oura Ring is a great device for people who are willing to spend money to get maximum information to improve their sleep and recovery. For anyone on the market for an exercise and activity tracker first, the Apple Watch is the best place to start, especially since it now does sleep. Entry models are available at less than $300.
Check out the video review and let us know if you want more stuff like this in the future.