Oura has quickly made its way into the minds, hearts, and hands of celebrities and wellness advocates alike. With its sleek and comfortable form, the Oura Gen 3 is a discreet yet powerful tool in the wearable space.
The Apple Watch SE 2, blinding people with its shiny price tag, emphasizes versatility with its features and focuses on the safety of its users. From impeccable fitness tracking to emergency alerts, all with a one-time payment, make the Apple Watch SE 2 a notable device in the wearable arena.
But how does one stack up against the other? Can a smartwatch and a smart ring really be that similar? In this ultimate battle of the form factors, I discuss my experience with both in terms of design, functionality, and if they helped me lean towards a healthier lifestyle.
Specifications
| Specifications | Apple Watch SE 2 | Oura Gen3 Ring |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 27.8g-33g | 4-6g |
| Sizes | 40mm and 44mm | 8 sizes (6-13) |
| Sizing kit | No | Yes, free |
| Colors | 3 colors – Midnight, Starlight, and Silver | 6 colors – Silver, Black, Stealth, Brushed Titanium, Gold, and Rose Gold |
| Dimensions | 40mm height, 34mm width, 10.7mm depth; 44mm height, 38mm width, 10.7mm depth | 7.9mm wide, 2.55mm thickness |
| Memory | 32 GB | Up to 7 days of data |
| Battery sizes | N/A | 15mAh – 22mAh |
| Battery life | Up to 18 hours | Up to 7 days |
| Charge time | 2.5 hours | Up to 80 mins |
| Charger | Apple Watch Magnetic Charger to USB-C Cable (1m) | Size-specific charger with USB-C cable |
| Vibration | Yes | No |
| Material | Aluminum case | Titanium with PVD coating |
| Water resistance | 50m (swimproof) | 100 m |
| Operating temperature | 32° to 95°F (0° to 35°C) | 14° to 125° F (-10° to 52° C) |
| Compatible OS | iPhone Xs or later with iOS 18 or later | iOS 15 and higher or Android 9.0 and higher |
| Warranty | 2 years | 1 – 2 years |
| Price | Starting $249 | Starting $299 |
| Subscription | Free | $5.99 USD/month |
Design
With a major difference in the intent of being worn, the Apple Watch SE 2 goes on the wrist, and the Oura Ring slips onto the finger (pointer and index finger, preferably).
With an option of choosing from 3 colors, the Apple Watch SE 2 supports various straps to choose from in order to make it more customizable with what I’m wearing.
The Oura ring, with 6 colors to choose from, is much more versatile in the sense that it doesn’t require additional accessories to make it look presentable with various outfits.
Even though the Apple Watch SE is less bulky than the other models, in comparison to Oura, it’s obviously more “out there.”
In terms of comfort, the Oura ring is more seamless, and I often forget I’m wearing it as opposed to my Apple Watch, which is always making its presence known at the back of my mind. It’s also so much more comfortable to sleep in than the Apple Watch (or any other watch, for that matter).
Battery Life
There’s no doubt that the Apple Watch SE comes from a more established and superior brand, but the sheer form factor makes it take a backseat when it comes to battery life. With a screen, although lacking the ‘always-on’ display, the battery life is much less than the Oura Ring.
Apple claims a battery life of 18 hours, but I stretch it to almost 2 days with the low power mode. That being said, on the days I tested out the difference between the sleep tracking of the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch SE, the battery was barely hanging by the time I woke up. Still a good 24-hour battery life.
The battery on the SE series is also really slow to charge as compared to the other, more pricier models. The Oura Ring charges from zero to a hundred in about an hour for me and lasts me a good 6 days. This is obviously because the Oura Ring has no display, notifications on the device, etc.
Price and Availability
Apple has scraped some key features in their SE models to make it more “accessible.” Removing features like SpO2, ECG, and skin temperature, the Apple Watch SE 2 model becomes the cheapest of the series, starting at $249, while providing a similar user experience and brand name.
The Oura Ring, starting at $299 and going all the way up to $549, is way more expensive than the SE since it also requires a subscription of $5.99 USD/month or $69.99 USD/year to access its features on the app.
The Apple Watch SE is available globally on Apple’s official website and via authorized retailers. Oura ships to 46 countries directly through their website and globally via authorized retailers.
Features
| Features | Apple Watch SE 2 | Oura Ring |
|---|---|---|
| Heart rate | ✅ | ✅ |
| Heart Rate Variability | ✅ | ✅ |
| Respiratory Rate | ✅ | ✅ |
| Sleep Latency | N/A | ✅ |
| Movement During Sleep | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sleep Pattern | ✅ | ✅ |
| Daytime Stress and Resilience | ❌ | ✅ |
| Skin Temperature | ❌ | ✅ |
| Find My | ✅ | ✅(iOS) |
| Sleep Score | ✅ | ✅ |
| Activity and Workout Tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Calorie Tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Steps | ✅ | ✅ |
| Readiness Score | ❌ | ✅ |
| Low and High Heart Rate Alerts | ✅ | ❌ |
| Cycle tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| SpO2 | ❌ | ✅ |
| VO2 Max | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cardiovascular Age | ❌ | ✅ |
| ECG | ❌ | ❌ |
| Crash Detection | ✅ | ❌ |
| Guided Meditation and Breathing | ✅ | ✅ |
Sensors Supported by Apple Watch Se and Oura Ring
| Apple Watch SE 2 | Oura Ring |
|---|---|
| Second-generation optical heart sensor | Blood oxygen sensor |
| Compass | Infrared Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors |
| Always-on altimeter | Skin temperature sensors |
| High-g accelerometer | 3D Accelerometer |
| High dynamic range gyroscope | |
| Ambient light sensor |
Activity and Fitness
Right off the bat, the Apple Watch SE is much easier for heavy weightlifting than the Oura Ring. It is sweat-proof, swim proof, boasts a great deal of automatic workout detection, measures heart rate and cardio fitness levels, and sends out irregular heartbeat notifications.
Lacking blood oxygen sensing and ECG from its more expensive siblings, the SE doesn’t miss the mark much in terms of activity tracking.
The Oura Ring, too, is pretty decent in tracking overall activity. Where it takes a higher place is steps. Yes, it tracks my steps more than the Apple Watch, but it is also not constantly reminding me of its presence. I like the fact that I don’t have an added task to put on the Oura Ring before stepping out for a walk or to the gym. It records every move without being an added chore.
Another area where the two devices deviate is how the fitness data is collected. The Oura Ring can now track over 40 workouts automatically and gives me the ability to manually put in over 50 workouts in case it doesn’t get logged. However, this requires me to pull out the Oura app on my phone.
While doing a decent job in workout tracking, it often misidentifies my workouts. This is why I prefer my Apple Watch for workouts and training and the Oura Ring as an overall activity and steps tracker.
With the Apple Watch, it’s easier because I can just pull up my wrist and start and end a workout. Another feature that the Oura’s ring form is unable to provide. To start and end a workout in real time.
Health, Safety, and Additional Features
Apple sure wants its watches to be placed at the center when it comes to overall ‘health and safety.’ This is proven by the newest feature in the SE series, ‘Crash Detection.’
When a crash is detected, if the person is unresponsive for 10 seconds, Apple sends an alert to your emergency contacts, and the emergency services are also alerted with your location. This feature, along with an emergency SOS and fall detection, makes Apple Watches pivotal in personal safety.
Oura Ring, having limitations with its form, has no such features.
Apple’s Compass app gets an upgrade with the SE 2 with Backtrack. For tracking your steps in order to navigate an open space, such as on a hike in an unknown area, this is a great feature to have, adding to Apple’s safety aspect.
The Oura Ring uses the GPS on the phone to track your path for walks and runs, but it’s not quite the same as the upgraded Compass on the Apple Watch SE.
Sleep Tracking
The Oura Ring goes beyond the gym and records my daily activities, while the Apple Watch SE, capable of the same and maybe even better at it, is not my go-to for sleep tracking.
For starters, Apple took out the blood oxygen monitoring to make the “cheaper” version of the Apple Watch, which, for a little additional cost, is available in the Oura Ring. The SE version also lacks a body temperature sensor, available in the Oura Ring, enabling it to notify me about my cycle phases (more on that later) and, most importantly- tells me well before I can comprehend my getting sick.
Now, I don’t know how blood oxygen and body temperature are particularly related to sleep tracking, but the fact that these are mentioned in the ‘sleep’ tab of the Oura Ring makes me believe the fact that it must be of some importance if not all.
The Oura Ring tracks total sleep, sleep stages, time in bed, the time it took for me to fall asleep (latency), sleep efficiency, timing, movement during sleep, RHR, and HRV; boils it down to a ‘sleep score’ which, at a super quick glance, tells me how well I slept.
The Apple Watch SE uses an in-built accelerometer to track my sleep and even gives me an insight into my sleep quality. Additionally, it gives me sleep stages, time in bed, sleep time, HRV, HR, and respiratory rate. While Apple is more “number-forward,” Oura packs more data in an easy-to-read format.
The Apple Watch SE’s sleep data is displayed on the ‘Sleep’ app on the watch itself, as well as in the Apple Health app, but I find the data to be easier and generally better to read and comprehend in the Oura App instead.
The Oura Ring also has nap detection, which the Apple Watch SE currently lacks.
Stress Tracking
Oura Ring has a feature called ‘Daytime Stress,’ which is displayed via a graph on the Home tab. It was initially very interesting to look at, but over time, I have realized that it’s not accurate.
The way Oura “estimates” stress is via HR, HRV, motion, and body temperature. Focus on the word “estimates.” It is a machine at the end of the day, a machine without a dedicated sensor for stress, might I add. Therefore, often times I notice it taking various factors and misinterpreting them.
Fast movements of my fingers also make the stress graph go bonkers at times. If I keep stressing about how the Oura ring is displaying my stress, I might actually get more stressed.
Sure, I would love for a device to tell me about my stress levels to keep my cortisol in check. But blindly relying on any health tracker is going out of the frying pan and into the fire.
The Apple Watches, in general, do not have any in-built stress tracking sensors or apps; however, there are third-party apps that can measure the same based on metrics taken from the Apple Watch, such as the Welltory app.
Again, if you want my two cents, the best way to keep your cortisol levels in check is the brain and an “I don’t care” attitude, not an app on the phone.
Cycle Tracking
Spoiler alert: I have a bone to pick with Apple. For the status you have collected over the years, a decent estimate of cycle phases and ovulation in all your devices should be the basic.
By taking out the body temperature sensors in the SE 2 variant, the estimated ovulation date it sends out has also gone down the drain.
Yes, I have to log my period manually in the Oura app, too, but Oura goes the extra mile in taking my baseline temperature for 60 nights, and the predictions based on my body temperature deviations, are immaculate.
Everything from the dates to the cycle phase I am in, validating certain behaviors, puts Apple to shame.
My Data Comparison
- While the sensors for both devices have completely different placements, I found the on-demand heart rate readings to barely miss a beat.
- The Apple Watch SE has an in-built GPS for tracking my distance and speed while out for a walk, run, or hike, without the need to carry my phone.
- Oura uses its own algorithm to count distance via the steps, which is not always accurate.
- Oura Ring often measures more steps than my Apple Watch SE, probably because it interprets hand movements as steps. This doesn’t bother me much because of the sheer fact that it’s so comfortable to wear to record my day-to-day activity. I often take a conservative view of my step count because of this reason.
- The Oura Ring is much more comfortable to sleep in and gives a better view of my sleep data with graphs about HRV, which is imperative for determining physical and mental stress.
Final Verdict
Apple Watches, being a part of the Apple ecosystem, are only compatible with iPhones. So, if you’re someone who uses an Android phone, well, your only option out of the two is the Oura Ring. Barring that limitation, both devices are pretty great in their own right.
Apple has made their technology accessible with the Apple Watch SE series being priced so well but the features they have taken out could be the deal breaker. The way I see it, smartwatches for fitness and activity, smart rings for sleep and wellness.
But if you’re looking for one, depending on your goals, Oura is the all-rounder. Yes, the additional subscription stings a bit, but you get the features lacking in the SE and an easier path of data interpretation for an overall healthier lifestyle.
