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.
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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.
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."
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
surferfb
macrumors 68030
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.
TracerAnalog
macrumors 65816
How about a discreet Pr1nce Alb3rt? With a 'Find My' vibration function of course.
Ahum.
Sorry 'bout that. Move along, nothing to see here.
Roadster Lewis
macrumors 6502
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.
I had hoped that a cellular Watch would allow me to leave the iPhone at home, but it misses slightly on a few points.
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
Really. Activity trackers and sleep trackers are what you call a "niche" market? Which decade are you living in?
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.
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.
Madonepro
macrumors 68000
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’.
Madonepro
macrumors 68000
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.
CmdrLaForge
macrumors 601
No ear, nose, lip or belly button editions
No 24 karat gold option,
No MagSafe charging
No speakers,
No camera,
No buy.
😊
_apple_apple_
macrumors regular
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.
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.
There's apparently been a backlash over "digital everything". The upcoming Gen Alpha in particular has been pushing against digital life with increasing fury. At my friend's electronics boutique he says that VCRs have been hot sellers, along with the usual turntables and silver-face stereo receivers. The new generation is also very heavy into physical media, first with LPs but now cassettes as well. There is even a small but persistent cadre of people collecting 8track tapes.
Analog watches - particularly ones with multiple complications, tourbillon mechanisms, and skeleton movements - have always been held in high respect as both luxury items and examples of craftsmanship. In the current era of flat screen, cloud-connected everything, where digital services may provide superior performance, analog devices serve as an anchor to human accomplishment.
allpar
macrumors 6502
I find the idea of a watch as a luxury item kinda absurd, honestly. I had traditional battery watches up to the Apple Watch 3, when I switched over, and a $12 Waltham (made and designed in China) kept perfect time and was quite durable over the years... but yes, I can see that an expensive mechanical watch is every bit like a Mercedes or BMW.
I can sortakinda see the generation moving to physical items but it's bizarre sometimes. Records? Sure, they have a wider frequency range than CDs, moving below 20 Hz, and some people can actually hear that, if they're played on equipment that can do non-CD frequencies. I can see the argument for the "nicer distortion" and the physical experience. But videotapes, really? You can own digital copies of things - my digital music was purchased and does not have copy protection. It will be playable forever. I have video that will be playable forever. Why on Earth would I want to waste plastic on inferior physical copies of it all?
Cassette tapes, seriously?!? Well... I guess if you're sight impaired, they make sense. But otherwise, ouch, I was glad to leave the world of things that you can't easily back up, die if left in a hot car, and eventually lose quality of their own accord.
Sometimes people do irrational things just to be "individuals," but as in every generation, doing something irrational like other people doing irrational things doesn't make one an individual, it just puts one into a slightly different social group — like hippies getting a (Nazi-engineered, high polluting) VW Bus. It's not individual if it's a stereotype.
I can sortakinda see the generation moving to physical items but it's bizarre sometimes. Records? Sure, they have a wider frequency range than CDs, moving below 20 Hz, and some people can actually hear that, if they're played on equipment that can do non-CD frequencies. I can see the argument for the "nicer distortion" and the physical experience. But videotapes, really? You can own digital copies of things - my digital music was purchased and does not have copy protection. It will be playable forever. I have video that will be playable forever. Why on Earth would I want to waste plastic on inferior physical copies of it all?
Cassette tapes, seriously?!? Well... I guess if you're sight impaired, they make sense. But otherwise, ouch, I was glad to leave the world of things that you can't easily back up, die if left in a hot car, and eventually lose quality of their own accord.
Sometimes people do irrational things just to be "individuals," but as in every generation, doing something irrational like other people doing irrational things doesn't make one an individual, it just puts one into a slightly different social group — like hippies getting a (Nazi-engineered, high polluting) VW Bus. It's not individual if it's a stereotype.
Fully-mechanical watches are the point here, though a simply battery watch has its fans too. I personally view everything on a case-by-case basis, as I no longer make it a "religious" argument and haven't for quite a few years.
Since you mentioned autos... When EFI was on the rise in the 1980s, along with turbocharging, I pushed back hard on both. I refused to accept any induction method beyond a carb, and no power add besides a Roots-type blower. Much later on, after quite a bit of work in the speed business I got a couple of certifications in EFI and learned that there's really nothing better for performance and value than EFI, and no better boost than a turbo. But electronics are always at risk and not everyone has the kind of training needed to repair or replace the stuff. Taking it to an extreme, in an off-grid scenario (insert your own reason here) there's nothing I'd rather have than a carb'd motor, no DME/ECU/etc.
Thats the first time that I've heard of LPs exceeding CD frequency response. On a side note... I would say its more appropriate to say people don't hear 20Hz, they feel it.
I couldn't say why you would want to do it 😀, but for the kids it's all about tangibility, and the connection with the past.
When I was a teen me and my friends used to go nuts at the local Olsen's Electronics in the mall because they had a surplus aisle where one could find military cast-off stuff from WWII through Vietnam. Bomb sights, range finders, field radios. There were better and newer devices available at the consumer level in most categories (bomb sights not included) but we wanted to hold and operate things that had a history.
The kids are watching Stranger Things and seeing VHS cassettes, corded phones, and realizing there isn't a cell phone to be seen, anywhere, and it's fascinating to them. Popular culture will end up restoring the past just as it's used to destroy it elsewhere.
I think it started with folks like me who still have a box of cassettes hidden away, and would like the experience of listening to old mixes again. These are things that I put together myself, along with whatever miscues or errors that may have brought. And again, there's a certain satisfaction to pushing a cassette into a deck and feeling a satisfying mechanical capture to the mechanism. Or in my case, watching the mechanics of a Nakamichi UDAR deck stick its "hand" out and capture a cassette, and then physical flip it at the end of the first side.
So again, back to the "kids"... Gen Alpha watches old movies and TV shows, or sees their uncles and grandparents playing with the old gear and they want to be part of that. It's no different than people who collected cylinder records or megaphone Victrolas when I got started in audio in the 1980s. CDs were far better but original acetate records allowed listeners to actually hear the room during the recording, whereas CDs are merely digital time slice representations of the music. The Transporter Dilemma, if you're familiar with that discussion.
I get what you're saying. The people who "want to be different just like everyone else". Thats a decades-long trope and its pretty obvious in the hipster neckbeards that pride themselves in walking into the dark corners of culture before those become popular and then move on to the next small thing before it becomes big. I don't think thats whats happening here. With Gen Alpha I'm seeing a hobbyist take, something I haven't really seen in decades, though they now use the unfortunate and aggravating sobriquet of "maker". But whatever - as long as people don't forget where things came from and they bring something new to the table.
Right now, along with LPs the other big "new" thing is tube audio. LPs were never in danger of extinction, but valves went away. Not a single American manufacturer of new vacuum tubes remained by 1995. Solid state was "it". But as the world started moving towards IC and SMD, the hobbyists brought back valves. Some notable names like Nelson Pass and Jim Fosgate are at the forefront, and those guys are not neckbeard Millennials sipping matcha latte in a rundown cafe - they're two of the most respected names at the top of the audio world.
allpar
macrumors 6502
Hmm... in any scenario I'd rather have the reliability of EFI, but I'm with you. I remember option for "easy to fix" over "efficient." In a doomsday scenario, though, 30 mpg is better than 12 mpg.
Mechanical watches strike me as an odd thing to actually *want.* I can marvel at the craftsmanship without wanting the fragility and cost and (unless you pay serious cash) inaccuracy. Again, if a $12 watch from CVS can do the same thing but with a battery every few years, why on Earth would I want mechanical? I don't get it.
“Thats the first time that I've heard of LPs exceeding CD frequency response. On a side note... I would say its more appropriate to say people don't hear 20Hz, they feel it.”
“for the kids it's all about tangibility, and the connection with the past.”
Okay, I can see that. Sorta.
“And again, there's a certain satisfaction to pushing a cassette into a deck and feeling a satisfying mechanical capture to the mechanism. Or in my case, watching the mechanics of a Nakamichi UDAR deck stick its "hand" out and capture a cassette, and then physical flip it at the end of the first side.”
I can see that too. I never had one of those, but my Onkyo had a tactile feel missing from an iPod. On the other hand, there's a definite sacrifice of sound quality and convenience. In the cassette days, the throwback people used open reels, often with low quality magnetic tape that wasn't quite as good as a very good cassette player.
“I get what you're saying. The people who "want to be different just like everyone else". Thats a decades-long trope and its pretty obvious in the hipster neckbeards that pride themselves in walking into the dark corners of culture before those become popular and then move on to the next small thing before it becomes big. I don't think thats whats happening here.”
When people buy VCRs, I'm pretty sure that's what's going on. It's not so much a trope as a fact of life. A trope, as I understand it, is a sorta stereotype that isn't in any way real. I might have that definition wrong.
“Right now, along with LPs the other big "new" thing is tube audio.”
Tubes have been a new thing since solid state took over! I myself grew serious respect for the tube sound when I had some antique equipment in an old job, and hooked up two monophonic tube amps to a Walkman to create a rather good sounding, very powerful for the time stereo. Tubes definitely have a different sound, warmer - like records. I can sortakinda see using tubes now and then. They do suck down power and generate heat like mad.
“It's no different than people who collected cylinder records or megaphone Victrolas when I got started in audio in the 1980s. CDs were far better but original acetate records allowed listeners to actually hear the room during the recording, whereas CDs are merely digital time slice representations of the music. The Transporter Dilemma, if you're familiar with that discussion.”
Hmmm. Not quite sure what you mean by actually hearing the room. I'll have to look it up. I know CDs are samples but so are movies. I'm not convinced we can hear the difference. All due respect to Neil Young, too, but nobody's managed to pass a blind test of high-res AAC vs CD lossless audio, as far as I know. Yet he's sure there's missing music. I think if one can't pass a blind test, the difference is like the old times with people insisting bigger turntable RCA cables were definitely something you could hear. Or weights on the record.
“Some notable names like Nelson Pass and Jim Fosgate are at the forefront, and those guys are not neckbeard Millennials sipping matcha latte in a rundown cafe - they're two of the most respected names at the top of the audio world.”
Oh, I don't doubt that tubes have a great sound. What I'd like to see is a blind test of "tube treated" digital audio against actual tube audio.
Mechanical watches strike me as an odd thing to actually *want.* I can marvel at the craftsmanship without wanting the fragility and cost and (unless you pay serious cash) inaccuracy. Again, if a $12 watch from CVS can do the same thing but with a battery every few years, why on Earth would I want mechanical? I don't get it.
“Thats the first time that I've heard of LPs exceeding CD frequency response. On a side note... I would say its more appropriate to say people don't hear 20Hz, they feel it.”
I used to be able to hear 16-24. Yes, LPs could beat CDs. CDs are deliberately restricted in bandwidth to keep the media smaller.
“for the kids it's all about tangibility, and the connection with the past.”
Okay, I can see that. Sorta.
“And again, there's a certain satisfaction to pushing a cassette into a deck and feeling a satisfying mechanical capture to the mechanism. Or in my case, watching the mechanics of a Nakamichi UDAR deck stick its "hand" out and capture a cassette, and then physical flip it at the end of the first side.”
I can see that too. I never had one of those, but my Onkyo had a tactile feel missing from an iPod. On the other hand, there's a definite sacrifice of sound quality and convenience. In the cassette days, the throwback people used open reels, often with low quality magnetic tape that wasn't quite as good as a very good cassette player.
“I get what you're saying. The people who "want to be different just like everyone else". Thats a decades-long trope and its pretty obvious in the hipster neckbeards that pride themselves in walking into the dark corners of culture before those become popular and then move on to the next small thing before it becomes big. I don't think thats whats happening here.”
When people buy VCRs, I'm pretty sure that's what's going on. It's not so much a trope as a fact of life. A trope, as I understand it, is a sorta stereotype that isn't in any way real. I might have that definition wrong.
“Right now, along with LPs the other big "new" thing is tube audio.”
Tubes have been a new thing since solid state took over! I myself grew serious respect for the tube sound when I had some antique equipment in an old job, and hooked up two monophonic tube amps to a Walkman to create a rather good sounding, very powerful for the time stereo. Tubes definitely have a different sound, warmer - like records. I can sortakinda see using tubes now and then. They do suck down power and generate heat like mad.
“It's no different than people who collected cylinder records or megaphone Victrolas when I got started in audio in the 1980s. CDs were far better but original acetate records allowed listeners to actually hear the room during the recording, whereas CDs are merely digital time slice representations of the music. The Transporter Dilemma, if you're familiar with that discussion.”
Hmmm. Not quite sure what you mean by actually hearing the room. I'll have to look it up. I know CDs are samples but so are movies. I'm not convinced we can hear the difference. All due respect to Neil Young, too, but nobody's managed to pass a blind test of high-res AAC vs CD lossless audio, as far as I know. Yet he's sure there's missing music. I think if one can't pass a blind test, the difference is like the old times with people insisting bigger turntable RCA cables were definitely something you could hear. Or weights on the record.
“Some notable names like Nelson Pass and Jim Fosgate are at the forefront, and those guys are not neckbeard Millennials sipping matcha latte in a rundown cafe - they're two of the most respected names at the top of the audio world.”
Oh, I don't doubt that tubes have a great sound. What I'd like to see is a blind test of "tube treated" digital audio against actual tube audio.