I still prefer Apple Watch over Oura Ring for 3 key reasons - but there is one big drawback

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I've been wearing an Apple Watch each time for the past decennary and I've been utilizing it to way my slumber each nighttime since 2019. Over the past fewer years, I've known much and much friends, family, and colleagues opting for astute rings alternatively of astute watches to way their health. I've besides personally tested the Oura Ring, the Samsung Galaxy Ring, and the Ultrahuman Ring Air.

But eventually, I support taking disconnected the rings and coming backmost to the Apple Watch arsenic my sole wellness tracker.

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The comic happening is that I had discontinue wearing a ticker for years earlier the Apple Watch arrived successful 2015, preferring to conscionable usage my telephone to support way of the time. But during the past 2 years, I've been wearing the Apple Watch Ultra -- the largest and astir bulky ticker successful the lineup.

So wherefore bash I similar the Apple Watch to overmuch smaller and much discreet astute rings? It comes down to 3 reasons.

1. Comfort

Despite wearing the dense Apple Watch Ultra portion I sleep, I've gotten truthful accustomed to wearing an Apple Watch that I'm not precise conscious of it erstwhile it's connected my wrist -- either during the time oregon erstwhile I sleep.

I can't accidental the aforesaid for astute rings. The Oura Ring 4 and the Ultrahuman Ring Air are peculiarly bulky for rings and not precise comfy to deterioration erstwhile I'm sleeping. The Samsung Galaxy Ring is simply a small spot amended due to the fact that it's thinner and lighter. It's astonishing however overmuch exertion is packed into these tiny rings, but I inactive find them a batch much noticeable and uncomfortable to deterioration compared to my wedding ring, for instance.

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I'll admit that it's imaginable I'd get utilized to these rings implicit clip the mode I person with the Apple Watch, but I've worn astute rings for weeks and months astatine a clip for investigating and inactive recovered them distracting to deterioration to slumber and I ever felt relieved to halt wearing them erstwhile I was done investigating the ring.

2. Glanceable info and speedy actions

The radical I cognize who emotion astute rings often accidental that 1 of the things they admit is that the rings don't person screens and truthful they are little distracting. However, I really travel astatine it from the different direction. There are aggregate things the Apple Watch does to prevention maine from pulling retired my telephone passim each day.

To beryllium clear, I person acceptable up the Apple Watch Ultra to bash a lot. I usage the Modular Ultra watchface and it has 8 antithetic complications you tin acceptable -- positive I besides usage a Shortcut to customize the Action Button. So that gives maine a full of 9 things the Apple Watch Ultra tin amusement and do: time, date, weather, artillery life, activity, workout, mindfulness, hydration, and my customized Shortcut to brace bosom tracking with the Supernatural workout app connected Meta Quest.

I besides regularly drawback important notifications connected the Apple Watch that I apt would person missed connected my phone. To beryllium clear, I don't get each of my notifications connected the watch, but I person tuned the ticker notification settings truthful that the astir important ones ping my wrist. In different words, the Apple Watch does acold much for maine than conscionable telling the clip and tracking my activity.

Modular Ultra ticker look connected the Apple Watch Ultra

3. Fewer wellness stressors

Smart rings tin arguably connection amended slumber and accent tracking than the Apple Watch and different astute watches, since the rings typically connection much details astir some slumber and stress. And you tin reason that a idiosyncratic could usage that information to alteration immoderate of their habits truthful that they tin get much and amended sleep, oregon motorboat a guided breathing league to assistance relieve their stress, for example.

However, successful signifier determination are immoderate realities that are hard to shift, and having an app connected your telephone repeatedly punctual you that you're not getting capable slumber and/or not managing your accent precise good tin really beryllium much detrimental than helpful. That's what I found.

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I besides discovered that immoderate of the measurements and insights that the astute ringing made were shallow, oregon astatine slightest not precise nuanced. For instance, I would get much slumber than mean 1 nighttime and past little the adjacent nighttime and truthful I would consciousness beauteous mean overall. Meanwhile, the ringing app would beryllium lighting up with reddish notifications that I needed to set my slumber schedule. And truthful I wondered, "Maybe I'm much bushed than I thought?" But I wasn't. And erstwhile I stopped wearing the ringing I felt similar my accent level really went down.

Drawback: Fewer actionable insights

I'll besides admit that there's 1 happening I privation Apple Watch could bash much similar the champion astute rings and that's supply much actionable notifications and coaching tips. For example, successful my reappraisal of the Samsung Galaxy Ring I noted that it did an fantabulous occupation of correlating betwixt 2 information points and providing a adjuvant recommendation.

In that case, the Galaxy Ring noted that 1 of the factors that had lowered my "Energy" people was erstwhile my "Previous time activity" showed "moderate-to-vigorous workout time" that was importantly beneath my mean of 33 to 87 minutes. That was a bully reminder that not getting successful capable cardio the time earlier could beryllium a origin successful reducing my vigor level -- and that tracked with my lived experience. It was besides thing that was much manageable for maine to change.

The Apple Watch tin nutrient a ton of insights successful the Apple Health app and it does a bully occupation of showing changes successful "Trends" specified arsenic resting bosom rate, miles walked oregon run, steps, workout minutes, and a batch more. But what it doesn't bash is supply a slumber score, vigor score, oregon different kinds of ratings, and it doesn't correlate its trends with imaginable outcomes.

If the Apple Watch took a leafage from astute rings connected that, it could surely supply a batch much actionable insights that could assistance america get adjacent much usefulness retired of the ticker -- particularly for those of america who person been wearing it implicit a play of not conscionable months but years.

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