I thought I would never find a smart ring as accurate as the Oura Ring but cheaper. When I first discovered RingConn at CES 2024, I found it impressive. I chose to try it because I thought RingConn was going to give Oura a tough competition.
So, I compared RingConn data with my Oura Gen3 and other health wearables. Guess what? RingConn is not as good as I thought. But that’s not all. Let me share my honest review of RingConn’s accuracy in this article.
Stay Tuned!
Is RingConn Data Accurate?
RingConn costs only $279, which is worth almost half of Oura Ring (Oura costs as high as $549!). Moreover, I found the RingConn app covers important biometrics for free (no subscription fee), but there is more.
No matter how much RingConn tracks, it only matters if it is accurate. I have explored the app and the ring as much as I could. From sleeping to steps, I did it all!
Sleep Tracking
The first thing that caught my attention was sleep tracking. RingConn offers an overall sleep score (from 0–100) for each night. I found all the details, including sleeping HR, sleeping skin temperature, time asleep, and awake time, by tapping on “Sleep Score Factors” right below the sleep score.
RingConn is not spot-on when it comes to detecting when I’m falling asleep and waking up. Even if I’m sleeping for only 3 to 4 hours at night, RingConn shows my Sleep Score 80 (more or less same every day). Either this is a glitch, or RingConn is more optimistic about Sleep Score than I expected!
Similar to my case, I found other RingConn users on Reddit complaining that RingConn detected nighttime from 8:15 pm to 7:20 am, where this person was watching a movie from 8:15 pm to 11 pm. In another case, I found where the user experienced a sleepless night tending to his ill wife, but his RingConn showed a 93 sleep score!
Considering the repetitive cases (not just me, but other users reported it, too!), it seems that the algorithm used by RingConn to estimate sleep by tracking HR is not accurate.
Also, I found RingConn is missing to record nap times. Maybe it is because my nap times are usually shorter than expected, or maybe this is a genuine error that RingConn needs to check. However, the good thing is I can change the nap time manually.
Note: RingConn has applied for FDA approval for a pulse oximeter and Sleep Apnea monitoring feature. The company is expecting to get the FDA clearance by 2024.
Stress Tracking
The stress tab of the RingConn app offers a load of data in multiple graphs. To me, the summary tab is a bit disappointing, as it looks like a data dump.
RingConn uses HR and HRV data to measure stress levels 24/7. Since my Oura Ring measures only Daytime stress, I compared my RingConn’s daytime stress spikes often with the Oura data. RingConn’s data are way more different from Oura’s stress data, not to mention that the HR/HRV data are different, too.
I noticed occasional spikes in RingConn’s stress graph that are unexplainable since I can’t recall if I was stressed at that time for any reason. Also, there were several instances when RingConn showed stress spikes, I was either resting or watching movies. At this rate, I no longer find RingConn’s stress data reliable.
HR and HRV Monitoring
In the beginning, my RingConn tracked HR and HRV pretty decently. When I compared its HR data with that of my Apple Watch, it was almost identical throughout the day. But after a while, I noticed that RingConn’s HR data, especially during the daytime, fluctuated from that of my Apple Watch.
The HR data collected by the RingConn ring during my intense workouts was far less accurate than that of the Apple Watch. I thought it was happening only to me. However, I found that several RingConn users are complaining that RingConn’s HR tracking is trash since it does not go higher than ~120 bpm even when they are clearly doing heavy exercises for a long time.
This is maybe because it is a ring. So far, I have found no smart ring is as accurate as Apple Watch or Whoop in terms of tracking HR during Workouts.
SpO2 Tracking
RingConn tracks blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels 24/7 at 5-minute intervals. When I checked RingConn’s SpO2 data during sleep time, it almost matched my Oura Gen3 data (usually differs by max +- 1%).
However, RingConn’s SpO2 data during the day does not show all O2 drops. Even one of my friends told me that his RingConn doesn’t catch O2 drops at nighttime. This is maybe because RingConn tracks SpO2 in every 5 minutes window. So, if there is a drop in between, RingConn may miss to track the drop.
For me, RingConn sometimes shows a SpO2 level of 95% during the daytime when I’m resting. After COVID-19, I have been tracking my blood oxygen with oximeters, and I know for a reason my percentage is never under 96%. This makes me question whether RingConn’s SpO2 data is actually reliable.
But RingConn is not my first smart ring. I have used Oura, Ultrahuman, and Evie Ring, too. My experience with other smart rings says that, generally, no smart rings are 100% accurate in tracking SpO2 data. So, here I can cut a slack for RingConn.
Workout Tracking
When I checked the activity screen of the RingConn app, it was a complete mess. There was no data for individual activities. RingConn can track activity intensity and identify when I’m working out using heart rate and oxygen saturation data. However, RingConn is unable to track whether I’m running or swimming.
Moreover, during heavy workouts, RingConn fails to track HR accurately. However, I found other smart rings, including Oura, also struggling to measure HR accurately during intense activity. This may be because a ring tracks data from a finger’s blood circulation. But, during heavy workouts, there may not be enough blood to track data accurately (fingers often look pale for lesser blood flow).
Also, the calorie burn score provided by RingConn never matched my Apple Watch data. Most of the time, I found it lower than Apple data (the difference is ~200 calories). To me, it is simply unreliable.
Steps Tracking
Using RingConn, I can set my goals for daily step count. Weirdly, the step count by RingConn never matched with my Apple Watch and Oura data.
I found Oura ring showed 5,847 steps for a certain route, which is 7,197 steps in RingConn. Also, Ringconn always counts 500 -1000 steps more than my Apple Watch. It deviates too much! Sometimes, RingConn counts steps even when I’m not walking but driving! Gosh!
Distance Traveled
RingConn tracks distance traveled only when I am in workout mode. It tracks distance in miles whenever I go for outdoor running. However, when I compared RingConn’s distance tracking with my Apple Watch, it was significantly different.
RingConn measures distance traveled using the steps count data and tracks the route using mobile GPS. However, RingConn often fails to track routes accurately, even with GPS tracking. Moreover, when I compare my RingConn’s step count with my Apple Watch data, Ringconn’s step counts are usually ~700-1000 steps more than my Apple Watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wrap Up
When it comes to data accuracy, I may trust RingConn for some health vitals, but not all features match my expectations. So far I noticed only sleep stages tracked by RingConn matched with my Oura data. But not consistently. There were discrepancies, too. Other metrics like HR/HRV and SpO2 are a complete waste to me. Moreover, workout tracking by RingConn is trash (it’s nothing compared to Oura or Apple Watch).
As for the final verdict, I can say that, yes, RingConn is cheaper, but it is nowhere near Oura or Apple Watch in terms of accuracy. RingConn really needs to work on its software accuracy to survive in the competition.
