The Oura Ring and the Whoop are two useful accessories to wear for health tracking, albeit for different reasons. Both devices have additional pros and cons, particularly surrounding design, features, and battery life – but which is better the Oura Ring or Whoop?
I have owned and have worn the Oura Ring for over two years and use it as a sleep tracker, but it also works well as an activity tracker for fitness purposes too. The Whoop is designed as an exercise performance accessory but also functions well as a sleep tracker
This comparative article will examine both of these popular health tracking accessories to help you decide which one best matches your requirements.
What is an Oura Ring?
The Oura Ring is a product of the Finnish health tech company of the same name and has experienced enduring popularity since it first entered the health and fitness market back in 2015. So insuring has its popularity been that the company released the third generation of the product in November of 2021.
The accessory is effectively a heart rate monitor that collects data, including your blood pressure and temperature, throughout the day. It can be used as you sleep, exercise, and complete day-to-day tasks.
One of the most interesting facts about the Oura Ring is that the temperature data supplied by the ring was used to spot early signs of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. The Ring proved highly beneficial in curbing the rate of the spread of the disease, as wearers were informed of their temperature change as soon as it happened.
Photo by Lifehacker Guy: I own two Oura rings both version 3's
Oura Ring specs
The latest edition of the Oura Ring boasts 7 temperature settings, ensuring that the data collected is accurate. It can be useful for determining a wide number of health-related things, including your respiratory rate, heart rate variability, and illness detection. The additional sensors make the device work as a fitness tracker, an aspect that prior models didn't have.
The newest version also has 16 MB of memory, which is a huge step up from the earlier editions, which only featured 0.5 MB.
This accessory is worn on your finger and is made of titanium, ensuring durability. The third generation of the product comes in various colors, including gold, stealth, black, and silver. It is available in a variety of sizes and, depending on the size selected, can weigh between 4 and 6 grams.
Its size is 0.31 inches and fits true-to-size at the base of the user's finger, fitting on either your ring, middle, or index finger.
How does an Oura Ring work?
The Oura Ring detects changes in your heart and respiratory rate by shining infrared beams of light through your skin. Sensors capture these changes, and the Ring displays a report of the data gathered in the accompanying app. The Ring also uses an accelerometer and sensors to record both your movements as well as when you fall asleep and wake up.
The sensors built into the Oura Ring detect your pulse 250 times per second, both as you sleep and as you exercise, to determine your heart rate at different stages throughout your activity.
The sensors can also map the different sleep stages, including light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. The data gathered by the Oura Ring throughout the day is divided into sections on the app – Sleep, Readiness, and Activity. The Sleep tracking score relates to your sleep health, the Activity relates to your movement, and the Readiness score is a combination of the two.
The app will also display how many calories you burned throughout the day and how close you are to reaching your daily calories burned target.
Features and benefits
The main features of the Oura Ring Generation 3 are as follows:
24/7 Heart Rate Monitoring
With 4-7 days' worth of battery life per charge, the Oura Ring can provide you with 24/7 heart rate monitoring for nearly the whole week. When charged and worn, the Oura Ring can be used to determine the rhythm of your heart rate throughout the day.
7 Temperature Sensors
The latest model of the Oura Ring features 7 separate temperature sensors, which ensures highly advanced temperature detection. Working together, these 7 sensors can detect a temperature change as minuscule as 0.1° celsius. This is why this product is so good at detecting illness before symptoms can be felt, particularly for COVID-19 detection.
3 Daily Scores
The Oura app will constantly change throughout the day, depending on your sleep and performance level. Data gathered is split into 3 different scores: Sleep, Activity, and Readiness.
Sleep
Similar to other sleep trackers, your sleep score is determined by several factors: how long you spend in a deep sleep, how much REM sleep you get, how long it takes you to get to sleep, and what time throughout the day you sleep, i.e., from early evening till early morning.
Activity
The Activity score depends on how much movement you do throughout the day, in addition to how much recovery time you allow yourself.
For this reason, the Oura Ring is a handy device for health tracking, as it reflects your workout routine accurately, and encourages you to take sufficient breaks between exercising instead of over-exercising to get your score up.
Readiness
The main score that the app displays for you is your Readiness score. This score is a holistic reflection of your health, taking into account both elements of your sleeping pattern as well as the amount of exercise you do for that day. This score also reflects your temperature, heart rate variability, and resting heart rate.
Completely Adaptable
The Oura Ring is adaptable with other exercise devices, including the Apple Watch. Not only can you upload data to the Oura app from your Apple Watch, but you can also send data gathered from the Oura Ring to your Apple Watch. Thanks to Apple Health, both of these commands can be completed seamlessly on your phone.
The Oura Ring is also compatible with several other apps and platforms, including Google Fit.
Unguided Sessions
The Oura Ring comes with several mindfulness features. For example, whenever you start to meditate or take part in a mindfulness activity, you can switch on the Unguided Sessions feature on the Oura app to guide valuable data to show you how much you're getting out of your session.
The data displayed in Unguided Sessions includes your resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and the trends in your skin temperature. These can effectively indicate how well you're carrying out meditation.
Instant Feedback
The Oura Ring can provide you with instant feedback on your current heart rate or temperature whenever you need it. All you need to do to activate the device's Live Heart Rate is tap the heart icon on the app and stand still for 10 seconds as the ring determines your current heart rate.
You can check your latest heart rate check at any time, which is stated below your Activity Goal Progress in the app.
Oura Ring App
The Oura Ring app is organized well and easy to use. In addition to the individual scores, the easy-to-control display shows several useful bits of data. This includes your recovery index, sleep balance, and activity balance.
Oura Ring App showing data for one day
The Pros and Cons of an Oura Ring
Pros:
- The Oura Ring comes with a long battery life of 4-7 days, according to the Oura company. This is particularly handy given that the product needs to retain charge long-term to give you an accurate health reading.
- Even when the battery runs out, it only takes between 20 and 80 minutes to reach full charge again.
- The Ring's highly durable titanium build ensures that you can wear it while performing any activity, whether it be rock climbing or weight lifting.
- The Oura Ring is available in several sizes, meaning you can easily find a size comfortable to your finger size. Its lightweight build ensures that you can put the ring on your finger and forget about it – it is not of an uncomfortable weight or builds, meaning you don't notice it when wearing it 24/7. The Oura needs to be snug to be accurate.
- The ring is waterproof up to 330 feet, meaning it can still be worn through a range of water-based activities. It can be left on while you swim, wash dishes, and shower. This is beneficial if you want to take a full-day reading of your heart rate and temperature, as you can go days without taking it off.
Cons:
- The Oura Ring is not fully automatic, as you have to manually add stationary activities, such as yoga.
- The device also struggles to record high-intensity workouts that involve a lot of breaks, such as weight lifting. For such exercises, you'll need to manually fill out the intensity and duration of each workout. Again, this means that the Oura cannot be classed as a fully automatic device, and it can be inconvenient to have to remember to do this.
- The Oura may be accurate in terms of sleep tracking, but it cannot provide 100% accuracy for workouts. Given that you need to manually fill in the intensity and duration of your workout, and that the device doesn't do any fitness tracking itself, the results the device gives you are only an estimate.
- You need to stand still so that your device can detect your current heart rate. This makes it difficult to get an accurate reading when performing high-intensity workouts, such as cycling or running.
Pricing
The Oura Ring 3rd Generation is currently priced at $299 (there is even a gold version priced at $999), which is pretty high relative to other sleep tracking devices. However, the Ring does offer outstanding sleep tracking data, more than a lot of the cheaper alternatives on the market.
However, this is an exceptionally high price for a device in terms of overall health tracking, given that the Oura 3 can't accurately provide you with readings for high-intensity workouts or activities that involve a lot of movement, such as cycling.
Although I have never worn a ring prior to Oura, I prefer a ring wearable over a watch or strap. There is also the argument that a perfectly fitting ring will be closer to the skin and so provide better accuracy of data.
Photo by Lifehacker Guy
Who it's made for?
The Oura is for anyone who wants to accurately track their sleep cycles, not for those who want to accurately track their fitness workouts.
What is a Whoop Strap?
The Whoop Strap is a fitness tracker that doesn't just stop tracking when you stop exercising; it monitors your movements throughout the day and even tracks your sleep.
Currently, on version 4.0, the Whoop Strap has been a fan favorite in the sporting world since its first release in 2015. Over time, the strap has grown sleeker, lighter, and more comfortable for the wearer.
It provides a highly accurate report of your daily movements by tracking your skin temperature and blood oxygen. It is a reliable piece of kit if you want to understand your exercise performance and recovery habits more accurately.
Not only does the Whoop Strap show you how well you do, but it also warns you when it detects that you've worked out too much. Like the Oura Ring, the Whoop Strap can also be used for illness detection and has been used as a body temperature tester throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
How does a Whoop Strap work?
The Whoop Strap uses biometric tracking – specifically skin temperature and blood oxygen – to provide you with valuable insights into your daily workouts and movements.
The strap contains photodiodes that can detect and analyze physiological markers, which are then used to measure your respiratory rate, heart variability, and heart rate reserve. By determining your heart rate, the Whoop can estimate the number of calories you've burned throughout the day.
This data is then displayed on the app. To use the Whoop Strap for workout tracking, you'll need to first log in to the exercises you plan on doing via the app. Once you've recorded and completed the chosen exercise, the strap will start to record your gym sessions automatically.
A big focus of the device is recovery. After recording your workout, the Strap will determine how much sleep and recovery time you need before you can exercise again.
Features and Benefits
The main features of the Whoop Strap version 4.0 are as follows:
Track Your Health
As soon as the Whoop Strap detects a spike in your heart rate, it will start recording your workout routine. By using the adjoining app, you can monitor your fitness progress and overall health throughout your Whoop subscription.
At the end of the day, the app will give you an overall fitness score, which is based on your training frequency, recovery time, calories burned, and movement throughout the day.
Data Capturing
Worn on top of your wrist bone, the Whoop can attain accurate capturing of your health data. The more you wear the strap, the more accurate the strap's data readings become.
Track Metrics 24/7
This device comes with its battery pack, which can be attached to the strap as required, meaning you never have to take the strap off! This means you can track your body temperature, sleep data, and exercise performance 24/7.
This battery pack only needs to be connected to the strap for 1 hour.
Comfortable
The stretchy SuperKnit band makes the Whoop easy to slip on and off and ensures optimum comfort for each user. The lightweight and thin design – measuring just 0.375 inches maximum – also make the band comfortable to leave on your wrist over long periods.
Wake Up At The Optimal Time
One of the best features of Whoop is that it can accurately detect how much sleep you require for recovery with the Sleep Coach feature.
This feature will wake you up using haptic signals once you've attained a sufficient level of deep sleep. You can rely on the strap to not only detect your sleep but also control your sleep time. Through this smart sleep control, you can attain optimum rest to ensure that your workouts become easier.
The Whoop App
There is a multitude of features on the Whoop app, each of which is designed to improve your athletic performance. In addition to Sleep Coach, you'll also find Daily Strain Coach, key performance metrics, and sleep cycles insights.
The Pros and Cons of a Whoop Strap
Pros:
- The Whoop uses advanced biometric tracking to give you accurate fitness and wellbeing data.
- The device has a long-lasting battery. Although not as long as the Oura Ring, the Whoop Strap has 4-5 days' worth of charge when fully charged. Plus, you don't need to remove the strap to charge it – all you've got to do is attach the battery pack.
- Helps you to work out responsibly. With useful and accurate recovery recommendations, you can worry less about straining yourself and reduce the risk of injury.
- The strap uses haptic signals to wake you up once you've attained sufficient recovery sleep.
- Both the Whoop 4.0 and the battery pack are 1 meter water-resistant, meaning that the strap can be kept on as you shower and swim.
- The strap is comfortable and lightweight. The stretch knit strap makes putting on and removing the strap comfortable and hassle-free.
cons:
- The Whoop Strap doesn't work as well at recording weight lifting activities as it does at cardio. Unfortunately, this has a knock-on effect on the device's other features, such as recovery, as it cannot accurately determine how much time you require to recuperate.
- Amazingly, this fitness tracker doesn't feature a GPS itself – you need to connect it to your phone to track distance. If you don't like going out running or cycling with your phone on you, then the Whoop Strap is useless.
- The strap can't provide you with data straight away. It takes roughly 4 days of wearing the device before it can start providing you with meaningful insights.
- The sleep tracking isn't reliable. Most users have complained about getting an inaccurate report on their sleep patterns from the Whoop, particularly regarding the device's deep sleep analysis. Specifically, it doesn't feel like the device's deep sleep tracking reflects the reality of your sleep.
Pricing
Interestingly, the Whoop Strap is only available on a subscription-based service. The strap itself is free and requires no upfront cost, but users need to commit to a $30 per month subscription.
It's possible to pay for a 1-year or 2-year subscription upfront if you don't want to pay monthly. Whoop charge $300 for an upfront 1-year subscription and $480 for 2 years – both excluding tax.
Who it's made for?
It's made for athletes who are looking to improve their overall fitness level. If you'd like to track your workout routine and ensure that you're getting enough recovery time in between workouts, then the Whoop is a worthwhile investment.
Oura Ring or Whoop: Which Is Best For You?
If you regularly use such apps as Google Fit and Apple Health and would like to continue using them to work out, then the Oura Ring is the best option for you. The Ring has major limitations as a fitness tracker; however, if paired with a supporting app, it can become a useful piece of kit.
The Oura does shine in terms of body temperature and sleep detection, but not as a standalone fitness tracker.
The Whoop, on the other hand, is a good option if you would like to invest in a regular subscription for a whole new fitness tracking system. The Whoop can help you analyze your fitness routine holistically, taking into account both your training sessions as well as your required recovery time to make you a more responsible and better exerciser.
Both Whoop and Oura have different uses – which is best ultimately decides what you are looking for in your health tracker.
FAQs
Do you need a monthly subscription for Whoop?
Yes, a monthly subscription is necessary to get a Whoop. You can either pay for this annually upfront or in monthly installments.
What happens when my Whoop membership ends?
If you stop paying for your Whoop subscription, you won't be able to upload data to your Whoop app, and you'll effectively be shut out from the service.
Should I wear my Oura Ring all day?
Wearing the Oura Ring all day will give you the most accurate daily routine data. Both Oura and Whoop devices can be worn all day (and all night, to monitor sleep performance).
Can I shower with my Oura Ring?
You can shower – and even swim! – with your Oura Ring on.
The Bottom Line
Both the Oura Ring and the Whoop Strap are handy fitness tracking devices that can be used for a range of functions, from determining body temperate to measuring REM sleep.
However, in terms of which one is better, I'd say the Oura Ring is more valuable for tracking overall health.
Although the Oura may offer more sleep data insights, the Whoop can offer more meaningful sleep, waking, and exercising data, making it a more useful piece of kit overall.
Great article thank you so much.