Smart rings are already having a strange year. In January, I saw smart rings taking on all kinds of tasks at CES , looking like some kind of wave of the future. Then I came home and discovered that the brand-new Luna smart ring I was reviewing had already been pulled off the U.S. market. I think it’s time to take a look at why the smart ring market is so weird, where I see its potential, and what I miss about the earlier days of this technology.  The lawsuit that’s keeping some smart rings off the U.S. market To understand why some rings have disappeared (or aren’t launching here), you need to know about a U.S. International Trade Commission verdict from 2025 . Oura sued two of its competitors, Ultrahuman and RingConn, claiming they infringed on a patent it had for the design of a smart ring. The ITC agreed, and those companies had to pull their rings from the U.S. market by October of 2025. Ultrahuman did so; RingConn instead made a deal to license Oura’s patent and pay them royalties.  The patent at issue is this one . It describes a smart ring in such general terms that Oura is able to claim that pretty much all smart rings violate it. I’m no patent lawyer, but it seems strange to me that a company should be able to use a 2024 patent to force competitors off the market in a product category that’s been around longer than that.  You May Also Like Oura called the ITC ruling a “decisive legal victory,” and published this blog post explaining why they won. Ultrahuman published its own blog post detailing why it thinks the decision was a mistake, giving some background on the patent at issue. I’d recommend reading both of those if you want to get up to speed on who is claiming what.  Oura then brought legal action against yet more smart ring makers, including Noise (which makes the Luna ring), Amazfit, Reebok, and Samsung. Ironically, Samsung had tried to get a judgment before all this saying that its patents don’t infringe on Oura’s, but that suit was thrown out because Oura had not yet tried to sue Samsung.  I’ve asked several of these companies about where the legal action stands from their point of view, but understandably they’re all guarded and don't want to say much. Here’s my best understanding of the current state of the market for the major brands I’ve reviewed or that I personally find interesting:  Oura : The Oura ring is still going strong, of course. Here’s my review of the Oura Ring 4 . Ultrahuman : Not available in the U.S., but there’s a chance that could change. Here’s my review of the Ring Air , and my announcement about the new Ring Pro . The Pro uses a different design than the Air, and Ultrahuman has hinted that it hopes to be able to bring it to the U.S. market legally.  RingConn : Reached an agreement to keep selling its rings in the U.S. by making royalty payments to Oura. I’m working on a review of RingConn 2 , and there is a RingConn 3 coming later this year. Luna : The ring is not available in the U.S.; here is my review of it anyway . The company seems to be bringing the same software features to a smart band due to launch this year.  Samsung : The Galaxy Ring is still available in the U.S. as far as I can tell. I’ll be reviewing it soon.  Amazfit : The Helio Ring still seems to be available as well. Oura Ring 4 - Silver - Size 8 - Size Before You Buy $349.00 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $349.00 at Amazon Why rings are exciting right now I’ve been following the smart ring market since 2018, when I found the Motiv ring (now defunct) to be the “perfect minimalist fitness tracker” except for the teensy problem that it didn’t capture heart rate very well during workouts. (Motiv was bought in 2020 by Proxy, and Proxy was bought in 2023 by Oura.) Oura first got around the heart rate accuracy problem by marketing the ring for sleep; it’s a lot easier to get good measurements when a person is lying completely still. But the technology has improved, and now all of the products I listed above can get mostly-plausible heart rate readings in a variety of contexts, although none of them let you look very closely at the graphs. Smart rings now also have blood oxygen sensing, better battery life, and more options for colors and finishes. They don’t all have sensor bumps on the interior anymore. In short, smart rings have been working better and looking nicer over time.  So now we have sleek, decently accurate wearables that you can slip on your finger and pretty much ignore. That ability to ignore the ring while you go about your day is why I’ve managed to use my Oura ring for so long . It becomes a part of you like a wedding ring does—you wear it all the time, whether you’re thinking about it or not, and it feels weird not to have it on.  It’s impressive how many m

Here’s What’s Happening (and Not Happening) With Smart Rings in 2026