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Apple 'iRing' Rumor Re-Emerges Amid Oura Ring Popularity

Seanm87 said:
I would be interested. My fiance recently ditched her Apple Watch in favour of her mechanical watch, but she still wanted to track her health metrics. She got an Oura 5 and it looks much less bulky than the last ones.

I’m considering it now as I love mechanical watches and want to move away from having my phone strapped to my wrist.
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Same boat. I love having the stats (particularly sleep stats) but I don’t love sleeping with the AW and there are definitely days when I’d prefer to just not have it on. Oura is compelling, but less interested in another subscription fee.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple is developing a smart ring that could potentially rival products like the Oura Ring and Samsung Galaxy Ring, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami."

oura-ring-5-scaled.jpg

The latest Oura Ring 5 starts at $399​

Apple has toyed with the idea of a smart ring for several years, as indicated by several patents, and there have been previous rumors that Apple has investigated a wearable for the finger to track a user's biometrics.

Reports dating back to 2024 said Apple was weighing up the idea as a viable expansion of its wearables lineup – something that may appeal to people who would prefer a biometric accessory that's more inconspicuous than an Apple Watch.

Rumors have petered out over the last couple of years, but now it seems that the popularity of the latest Oura Ring has caught Apple's attention, if the latest rumor is anything to go by. However, no other details were provided by the leaker.

The original Oura Ring was released by Finnish health technology company Oura back in 2015. The device collects activity, heart rate, respiratory rate, and sleep data, and transmits it via Bluetooth to the Oura app.

iRing thing under development. What a surprise.— Kosutami (@Kosutami_Ito) June 24, 2026​

Now in it's fifth iteration, the latest Oura Ring is a lot smaller than previous versions and boasts new health-monitoring capabilities including blood pressure trend detection, nighttime breathing analysis, and tools for GLP-1 medication tracking.

Would you be interested in an "iRing" as an alternative to Apple Watch? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: Apple 'iRing' Rumor Re-Emerges Amid Oura Ring Popularity
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Yes because I don't wear my watch in bed and would like to take advantage of the sleep tracking ability.
 
bushman4 said:
Why would Apple compete against its Apple Watch ?????
Apple Watch does so much more than the Oura Ring why would I want an oura ring???
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I’m not convinced Apple is doing this, but in theory it would be for people like me who aren't ever going to wear an Apple Watch but want to track health stuff.
 
I could be tempted - I like my Apple Watch, but I also like my other mechanical watches, so if I could get the fitness data elsewhere that would work for me.

I had hoped that a cellular Watch would allow me to leave the iPhone at home, but it misses slightly on a few points.
 
DemoDays! said:
Apple should have brought out 2 rings some time ago. A Pro version that would compete with Aura feature for feature and a cheaper version whose sole purpose is to track sleep functions while your Apple Watch is recharging at night. It could sacrifice battery life, GPS functions, possibly other features but do a decent job at tracking sleep. When combined with an Apple watch this would give you 24 X 7 health tracking
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Or just use your Apple Watch for both and charge it briefly during the day - it takes less than an hour to charge. Having two devices is wasteful
 
Apple's biggest challenge is catching up. I've had Oura Rings since Oura 4. The new Oura 5 blows away prior generation - smaller, looks great, more health parameters and a 10 day battery life.

I rather doubt they will try something new. More likely, they will simply buy out Oura and adapt into the iOS ecosystem. It will be expensive, but AAPL has the cash.
 
epox999 said:
Remember when Apple used to create new market segments rather than enter a niche market 10 years after the competition?
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No! Apple entered the PC Market after many others, it entered the portable music device market after Zune and the Walkman. The tablet market was well established before the iPad, and there were many smart phones before the iPhone, BlackBerry for one, and before the Apple Watch there was Samsung and Google smartwatches.

Apple often, and proudly markets their entry with the slogan that the ‘product category reinvented’.
 
MacRumors said:
Apple has toyed with the idea of a smart ring for several years, as indicated by several patents
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Of course they have, surprised that you feel the need to point this out!
Apple are a consumer device company (amongst other things) and would be looking at many product categories out of due diligence, and assessing market trends.
When you have the cash Apple has, you can invest in R&D heavily, to assess new technologies that you might add to your devices, or to create new devices.
 
Yeah Apple should go all in and invite President to make ad for them where he says “kiss the ring”
 
_apple_apple_ said:
IIRC, in the patents, Apple was mostly positioning the ring as an other-device controller with roll/tap/point, where you could just point the ring's head/jewel at a device to make it the selected device, then control it via roll/tap commands. There was also some gaming/vr stuff too, where you could wear multiple rings to make your hands the controllers. There may have been NFC (wallet/key) stuff too, can't remember. These patents made the ring seem like a $99-category device; where people could feasibly have multiples. There were some patents about health-tracking as well of course.

I got the impression that once the health rings came out, the category was defined (high-end) and it did not align at all with Apple's vision. So rather than release something 'against the grain', they just did nothing. Personally, I am very interested in the other-device-controller vision, but they are likely pivoting to talk-to-AI for this instead now.
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Silly to quote myself I know, but I really don't think Apple should/would make a $300-800 health-centric smart ring — that's the same price range as their watches, which do way more, and the functionality overlaps too much.

A ~$99 smart ring with a different focus (control) would probably do much better. I doubt teens are buying $500 health rings, but a $99 control ring? Much more likely.
 
Yes, but in addition to my watch. I have Oura ring 3 and now a 4 and there is data my watch cannot give me. Additionally, I cannot sleep with my watch on, so the ring makes that a no-brainer. Having both just makes everything better. Would LOVE it if Apple came out with a ring!
 
I hate rings. So this probably isn’t for me.

The only thing I really want is smart glasses with on lens display. I wouldn’t take so called smart glasses without a display for free.
 
I started wearing an Oura ring a couple of years ago, and now I rarely wear my Apple Watch. The Oura ring is way more comfortable for sleep tracking, and I don’t miss the constant alerts that come with an Apple Watch. I’d love it if Apple made an iRing, since the one downside of the Oura ring is that it isn’t fully integrated with Apple Fitness.
 
You gotta be crazy to wear one of these. No one should be strapping lithium battery around their fingers. What next, ingestable smart tech ? sounds like a good idea.
 
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