Skip to main content

Your Oura Ring will soon make it easier to track your heart health

Oura announces new heart health features.
Oura

Oura will soon release two new heart-monitoring tools that will benefit all Oura Ring users. The tools will be available through a firmware update before the end of May, and they both focus on your heart health.

The first new tool will measure a user’s cardiovascular age and compare it to their chronological age. The goal is to help users identify behaviors that can positively impact their health plan.

Recommended Videos

The cardiovascular age is calculated by analyzing age-related observations within a photoplethysmography (PPG) signal. This signal carries information about estimated arterial stiffness and pulse wave velocity (PWV).

Please enable Javascript to view this content

According to Oura, this calculation provides an easily understandable glimpse into how someone’s vascular system might be aging and what that could mean for long-term health. The Oura app uses 14 days of data to calculate the user’s cardiovascular age.

Screenshot showing the new heart health features for the Oura Ring.
Oura

Oura is also introducing cardio capacity, which reflects a body’s efficiency in supplying oxygen to muscles during exercise. It serves as a benchmark for cardiovascular and respiratory system health. Typically, the higher someone’s cardio capacity, the better their long-term heart and organ health.

To calculate cardio capacity, the Oura app will ask the user to take a walking test to establish a baseline VO2 Max, the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use during intense exercise. With the update, Oura hopes to reposition VO2 Max from a sports metric to a benchmark of health and longevity.

The Oura Ring has received several updates this year, while the industry eagerly anticipates the release of the Samsung Galaxy Ring, which is expected to challenge Oura’s dominance in the smart ring market. In March, a new feature called Pregnancy Insights, which provides useful information to expectant mothers, was added to the Oura platform. In January, Oura also added a stress management tool called Resilience. This is all on top of Oura’s new partnership with Amazon and ones with Target and Best Buy, which makes it easier to purchase the product. In other words, it’s been a pretty busy year for Oura.

Bryan M. Wolfe
Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.
We may get our first look at the Samsung Galaxy Ring 2 very soon
Someone wearing the Samsung Galaxy Ring.

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event is expected to give us a lot of details about the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, but a new report suggests there could be a few additional surprises announced at the January 22 show — including the Samsung Galaxy Ring 2.

The existence of the Galaxy Ring 2 hasn't been much of a secret, with prior leaks giving us looks at what kind of specs to expect. Now, a new report from Taiwanese outlet DigiTimes suggests Samsung might announce it at Galaxy Unpacked, just as it did with the first Galaxy Ring this year.

Read more
I tracked my sleep with a smart display, ring, and watch. This is my favorite
The Oura Ring app on an iPhone 16 Pro Max, showing the Sleep screen.

Since I had a heart attack four years ago, I’ve been on a journey to understand my health. A crucial part of my recovery and focus has been my sleep, and it'smade even more important by the fact that my heart attack took place in the middle of the night while I was fast asleep. Thankfully, I woke up, but our sleep can tell us a lot about our underlying health.

Virtually every wearable now offers some form of sleep tracking, but like most things in technology, not all devices are created equal. Beyond just data, there’s also the question of which is most comfortable to track your sleep, which device gives you the most reliable data, and ultimately, how you can ensure you track your sleep wherever you are.

Read more
I wore an Oura Ring for all of 2024. Here’s why I love it and why I’m concerned
The side of the Oura Ring 4.

I’ve worn one wearable more than any other this year, and it speaks to not only its convenience but also its brilliance. It’s the Oura Ring, and I started off 2024 with the third-generation version on my finger, but I will close it with the Oura Ring 4.

While I’m going to generally sing its praises, I’m also going to share why I’m a little concerned about it, too.
How much have I worn the Oura Ring?

Read more