When you want insight into your health, fitness, and wellness but want to avoid a wristband tracker or a smartwatch, a smart ring might be an ideal choice. This product category has seen a meteoric rise in recent years and might be the future of wearable technology.
People love smart rings because they offer a low-profile way to track sleep, exercise, health, and recovery.
However, one question that brings everything into perspective is:
How do smart rings work?
Let’s start from the beginning.
Smart rings are wearable electronic bands won on fingers. They resemble typical rings but have sensors and Bluetooth with NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology.
They are used mostly to track daily activities and as peripheral devices to support mobile devices. Other smart rings go beyond fitness monitoring or the extension of smartphones to offer multifactor authentication and contactless payment. This makes them an ideal replacement for smartwatches and fitness bands.
How Do Smart Rings Work?
Smart rings have sensors that read the body and collect information about health and activities such as walking steps, blood oxygen concentration, and pulse. Depending on the model, your smart ring might use one or a combination of the following sensors to help in its operation mechanism.
1. Accelerometer to Measure Acceleration
The accelerometer is a sensor that measures acceleration in three dimensions. It can detect static gravity and dynamic acceleration. Its function on a smart ring is to detect changes in body movement such as walking, running, cycling, inactivity, sleep, and navigation.
2. Gyroscope Tracks Angular Movement
Like an accelerometer, a gyroscope tracks body movement. However, gyroscopes exclusively measure angular acceleration. While some smart rings will only use accelerometers to determine rotational acceleration, most combine gyroscopes and accelerometers to improve the accuracy of the data the ring monitors.
A combination of the two enables finer control gestures, such as tilting or rotating the hand to interact with the smart ring. Besides, a gyroscope collects critical sports movement data, allowing the ring to recommend how to improve your performance and technique.
3. Photoplethysmography (PPG) Sensor Measure Heart Rate and Blood Volume Variations
Smart rings also have photoplethysmography (PPG). This sensor emits LED lights on the skin and has photodetectors that analyze the reflected light to determine changes in heart rate and blood volume variations.
The sensor measures the intensity of light transmitted or reflected from the skin. Changes in light intensity show fluctuation in blood volume caused by pulsatile flow of the blood. This enables your smart ring to measure heart rate and blood oxygen saturation. You can rely on the ring to provide continuous, non-invasive heart rate monitoring and SpO2 tracking throughout the day.
4. NTC Thermistor Sensor Monitors Body Temperature
The NTC thermistor is a sensor that monitors body temperature. It detects changes in body and environmental temperatures.
Tracking body temperature can help detect health issues that increase body temperature, such as fevers.Â
How To Read The Data Collected by Your Smart Ring
Unlike smartwatches and fitness bands, smart rings have no screens because of their compact size. You’ll need to pair them with your smartphone or tablet to view the data the ring collected and receive feedback.
Typically, they have specific Android and iOS apps that interpret the information the ring collects, allow you to add customized data, and manage notifications. Some apps include a digital wallet to link the ring to a payment method or bank account.
You must connect your smart ring to your device via Bluetooth to synchronize data. Some rings connect with Apple Health and Google Fit so that you can transfer existing health and fitness information. The NFC chips in the smart rings allow them to communicate with your mobile device over small distances.
What Can Smart Rings Do?
Depending on the brand, you can use a smart ring for several uses, including:
Fitness Monitoring
Most people get smart rings to track their fitness. The device can track calories burned, daily activities like steps you take, distance you travel, calories burned, your pace, workout, stress levels, and lots of fitness metrics.Â
All these will give an insight into your overall activity levels, cardiovascular health, and how to optimize your workouts for maximum efficacy.
Sleep Tracking
Smart rings can help you monitor your sleeping habits by tracking how much sleep you get, the time spent on different sleep cycles, and sleep disturbances. These data allow the ring to develop recommendations on how you can regulate your body based on your circadian rhythm.
Besides, most people prefer smart rings for sleep monitoring because they are less cumbersome and restrictive than wearable sleep trackers like wristbands and smartwatches.
Health & Wellness Management
You can use a smart ring to monitor your health and wellness as it can track health metrics like blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and glucose levels. These data can help you understand your body better and make necessary adjustments to improve health and wellness.
The information the ring collects can also help you improve your sleep quality, physical fitness, and heart health.
Online Security
2FA (two-factor authentication) has gained popularity and is becoming a major application of smart rings. Some rings, like the Motiv Ring, can serve as a physical token for 2FA. That way, you can authenticate your online accounts by wearing the smart ring and tapping it on compatible devices.
Others have biometric sensors, such as fingerprint scanners, for secure authentication. The biometric data can be used to unlock devices or authenticate transactions, adding an extra security layer.
Contactless Payment
The contactless payment system is an emerging trend in the smart ring market, with players like K Ring and McLEAR paving the way. For contactless payment, you’ll link your ring with a credit or debit card, allowing access to your funds for transactions.
When you’re ready to pay, you’ll hold your smart ring near the contactless payment terminal. Depending on the security setting you’ve configured, you’ll authenticate the payment using a PIN, biometric data, or your smartphone.
Smart Rings Pros and Cons
Besides tracking capabilities, smart rings have several advantages and disadvantages. Here is a highlight of the most common ones:
Pros
- Tend to have longer battery lives than smartwatches
- Portability (the rings can collect data without your mobile device)
- Discreet (smart rings are tiny, more compact, and lightweight to be noticed)
- Easy access to notifications, calls, and other information right on your finger
- Tracks everything a smartwatch does with the convenience of being small and non-bulky
Cons
- Smart rings lack screens and rely on mobile devices to be usable
- Finding a ring that’s not too tight or loose is difficult, especially when you’re ordering online
- The small size means limited battery capacity — prolonged use and continuous charge cycles degrade them, and you’ll need to replace them quicker than the biggest wearable
How Smart Rings Work: In a Nutshell
Smart Rings have sensors that collect data, microprocessors to process the collected information, and communication modules such as Bluetooth and NFC. That way, they connect wirelessly to your mobile device to allow data exchange and accept commands from the paired device.
All this technology allows your smart ring to track health and fitness metrics like steps, distance traveled, calories burned, sleep patterns, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and other vital signs. Most rings will have a mobile app that lets you interact with the data it collects on your mobile device.
