Verdict
Reviewers at the Guardian, PCMag and TechRadar rate the Oura Ring 5 among the best sleep trackers sold, though it costs £399 and most data sits behind a £5.99 monthly membership. The Advisor chatbot is the weak part, with 2026 user threads reporting it making up trends and giving wrong instructions about the app itself. A US class action filed in August 2026 disputes how accurate its sleep-stage figures are.
Best for
People who want sleep and recovery tracking without wearing a watch
Skip if
Anyone unwilling to pay a monthly fee on top of the ring, or wanting medical-grade readings
Key facts
- Category
- Health, fitness & wellbeing
- Made by
- Oura Health Oy
- Based in
- Finland
- Launched
- 2015
- Works on
- iPhone, Android, hardware
- In the UK
- Yes
- Price from
- £5.99 a month
- Free plan
- no useful free tier (without membership the app shows only the three daily scores; ring must be bought first; first month of membership free)
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Billed |
|---|---|---|
| Oura Membership (monthly) | £5.99 | month |
| Oura Membership (annual) | £69.99 | year |
What it does
- tracks over 50 health metrics from a smart ring
- gives daily sleep, readiness and activity scores
- measures resting heart rate, steps, calories and daytime stress
- tracks periods and ovulation with cycle insights
- includes Oura Advisor, an AI health chatbot, with membership
Ratings
What people say
Owners in user reviews mostly trust the sleep data and several say it lines up with their watches or a sleep study, but the Advisor chatbot draws strong complaints in 2026, including a 'Oura Advisor is dangerous' thread where it admitted inventing a breathing trend. Users also ask for a way to hide Advisor, which Oura says is not possible. App store ratings of 4.7 to 4.8 reflect the ring, not the AI.
“Oura Advisor spontaneously told me my breathing trend has decreased from 15 breaths per minute to 15 breaths per minute. When I questioned this, it admitted it made it up.”
Individual user review, 8 March 2026 · source
“My oura AI has alerted me to trends and I’ve looked at the data and it’s literally just lying. I ignore it but I think it’s irresponsible.”
Individual user review, 8 March 2026 · source
“Apple is by FAR the least accurate for sleep. Oura is leaps and bounds above it. I use both and wore both during a sleep study and Oura was really damn close to the professional data”
Individual user review, 22 August 2026 · source
“It should be opt in. I don't want to see it in the app either. I pay a yearly subscription … let me turn off AI bullshit advisor, when all it can do is "have some greek yogurt instead".”
Individual user review, 8 October 2026 · source
“could the 6 month decrease in HRV have anything at all to do with being 6 months pregnant? please past the exciting news along to oura advisor that I am with child tyvm”
Post on X, 19 November 2025 · source
Press reviews
- The Guardian 2026-06-30
'One of the very best health-tracking wearables available in any form', but costly once the essential £5.99 a month subscription is added.
- PCMag UK 2026-07-19
Editors' Choice for smart rings; the most expensive ring tested once membership is added, and the cheaper Fitbit Air tracks exercise better.
- Trusted Reviews 2026-06-08
Easiest smart ring to recommend for design, battery and sleep tracking, but new features are locked to the US and UAE, so UK buyers mostly pay for the new design.
- TechRadar 2026-06-24
Not perfect, but 'Oura still wears the crown'; a year of ownership can approach £600 with subscription and case.
Privacy
- Trains on your data
- Yes for Oura's own AI: the privacy policy says Oura 'may collect and use personal data to develop, test, improve, and support Oura’s own AI, machine learning, and large language model-powered features'; Oura says it does not sell data or use it to train third-party models
- Opt-out
- No stated opt-out from training on Oura's own models. Advisor is optional and collects nothing until set up; its memories can be viewed and deleted and Advisor reset in settings, but the button cannot be hidden (Oura reply in user reviews, Oct 2026). Account deletion via the app or dataprotection@ouraring.com
- Retention
- Sleep, readiness and activity data kept only while the account is active, per the privacy policy (updated 15 Jun 2026). Data is encrypted in transit but not end-to-end, per TechCrunch
- Incidents
- Aug-Sep 2025 backlash over a US Department of Defense deal and Palantir FedStart link; Oura and Snopes say consumer data is not shared with Palantir or the government. Oura confirms it receives government data requests but publishes no transparency report (this week in security, May 2026). US class action filed 20 Aug 2026 alleging misleading sleep-stage accuracy claims; Oura disputes it. No UK ICO action found in news searches.
- Age limit
- 18+ under the terms and conditions; UK App Store rated 4+, Google Play PEGI 3
Official videos
FAQ
Does the Oura Ring need a subscription?
Mostly yes. Without membership the app shows only the daily sleep, readiness and activity scores. Membership is £5.99 a month or £69.99 a year in the UK, with the first month free.
Is Oura Advisor accurate?
Not reliably. Oura says Advisor can make mistakes, and 2026 user threads report it inventing trends and giving wrong instructions about the app. The underlying ring data gets better reviews than the chatbot.
Does Oura share data with the government or Palantir?
Oura says consumer data is never shared with Palantir or the US government, and Snopes rated the 2025 rumour an exaggeration. Oura does receive government data requests and does not publish how many.
Do all Oura Ring 5 features work in the UK?
No. Trusted Reviews found the new 2026 features were limited to the US, UAE and partly India at launch, pending certification elsewhere, so UK owners get the same app as the Ring 4.
How accurate is Oura's sleep tracking?
It estimates sleep stages from heart rate, movement and temperature rather than measuring brain activity. A US class action filed in August 2026 cites a study finding about 53% stage agreement, which Oura disputes, and Oura says the ring is not a medical device.
Scores are based on published evidence, not lab tests. How we score.
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