Oura Ring 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 2
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: 2024
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: 2023
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 is a discreet, ring-based health and fitness tracker designed for continuous wear, focusing on holistic wellness and providing nuanced insights into activity levels. It accurately tracks steps, calories burned, and overall daily activity, contributing to its comprehensive assessment of your physiological state.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the pinnacle of Apple's rugged smartwatch line, designed for extreme sports and exploration with advanced activity tracking capabilities. It precisely tracks steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes, offering specialized metrics and workout views optimized for endurance and adventure sports. The customizable Action button provides instant access to key functions, enhancing usability during demanding physical efforts.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: This device is an advanced physiological monitor worn on the finger, capturing highly accurate data on heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature. It includes SpO2 monitoring for blood oxygen levels. These metrics are used to generate detailed insights into recovery, sleep quality, and overall readiness, offering a deeper understanding of your body's signals.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: This device provides comprehensive health monitoring, including continuous heart rate tracking, ECG functionality for detecting signs of irregular heart rhythms, and SpO2 monitoring for blood oxygen levels. The body temperature sensor offers deeper insights into overall wellness and cycle tracking. Enhanced health algorithms leverage the powerful S9 SiP for more accurate and insightful health data analysis, crucial for understanding physiological responses during intense activities.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 offers a practical battery life of up to 7 days on a single charge, designed for uninterrupted, continuous wear. The included charging dock allows for simple and convenient recharging, minimizing downtime.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 delivers exceptional battery life, providing up to 36 hours on a single charge under normal usage and an impressive 72 hours in Low Power Mode. This extended duration is essential for multi-day expeditions and ultra-endurance events, offering reliable power when access to charging is limited.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: Advanced sleep tracking is a central function of the Oura Ring 4. It precisely tracks sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep) and provides in-depth analysis of sleep duration, quality, and efficiency. The Sleep Score provides a quick summary, complemented by detailed insights and personalized guidance within the app for optimizing rest.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: Advanced sleep tracking on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 meticulously monitors sleep stages (light, deep, and REM), sleep duration, and provides detailed sleep analysis within the Health app. It also tracks blood oxygen levels and wrist temperature during sleep, offering valuable insights into sleep quality and recovery, vital for optimizing performance and readiness for the next challenge.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 does not have built-in GPS. It relies on connected GPS via a paired smartphone to track outdoor activities and distance, allowing for mapping and pace data when your phone is with you.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: Equipped with precision dual-frequency GPS (L1 + L5 bands), the Apple Watch Ultra 2 provides exceptionally accurate location tracking for outdoor activities, even in the most challenging environments like dense canyons or urban jungles. It provides precise route mapping, pace, and distance data, vital for navigation, training analysis, and exploring remote areas.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: While not offering extensive discrete workout modes like a sports watch, the Oura Ring tracks general activity and can classify various exercises based on movement and heart rate data logged through the app. Its primary focus is on understanding the physiological impact of activities on overall readiness and recovery.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 supports an extensive range of workout modes, including specialized profiles and views for trail running, hiking, triathlon, and diving, in addition to standard activities like running, cycling, and swimming. The customizable Action button allows for quick access to workout controls, enhancing functionality and ease of use during activities.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The device automatically detects common activities like walking, running, and cycling based on movement and heart rate data, logging them within the Oura app. More complex workouts can be manually tagged or imported from other fitness apps for a complete activity overview.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The smartwatch features automatic exercise recognition for common activities such as walking, running, and cycling, ensuring that workouts are logged even if the user forgets to manually start tracking, providing a more complete record of physical activity during varied training or adventure.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 works with both iOS and Android devices, connecting via Bluetooth to the Oura app for seamless data syncing and detailed analytics.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: Seamlessly integrating with the Apple ecosystem, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 requires an iPhone XS or later running the latest iOS version for full functionality. It connects via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, offering tight integration with Apple Health and other Apple services, optimized for reliable performance in challenging conditions.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura app is the central interface for the Oura Ring 4 experience, providing in-depth analysis of sleep, readiness, and activity data. It offers personalized insights, trends, and educational content to help users understand their health metrics, optimize their daily routines, and track their progress over time.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: Leveraging the App Store, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 provides access to a vast ecosystem of third-party apps, with many specifically optimized for outdoor activities, navigation, sports performance, and diving. The Apple Health app serves as a central repository for all comprehensive health and fitness data collected by the device.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 is designed for unobtrusive health monitoring and does not include traditional smartwatch features such as on-ring notifications for calls, texts, or apps. Its functionality is focused on collecting and presenting comprehensive health and performance data through the companion app.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: As a full-featured smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 provides comprehensive smart capabilities, including on-wrist notifications, enhanced Siri with on-device processing, Apple Pay for contactless payments, and cellular connectivity for calls and messages without an iPhone. Advanced safety features like Fall Detection, Crash Detection, an 86-decibel Siren for emergencies, and a built-in compass with backtracking are also included.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: With a water resistance rating of up to 100 meters, the Oura Ring 4 is suitable for swimming, showering, and daily wear, making it a durable companion for various activities and environments without requiring removal.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: With a WR100 water resistance rating, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is designed for serious water sports and is suitable for recreational diving up to 40 meters (with a compatible third-party app). It is built to withstand harsh marine environments and track various aquatic activities with confidence.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 has no display on the device itself. All health and performance data, insights, and analytics are viewed exclusively through the comprehensive Oura app on a paired smartphone or tablet, maintaining its discreet form factor.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 features the brightest Always-On Retina display Apple has ever produced, offering a peak brightness of 3000 nits for unparalleled clarity and readability even in the most direct sunlight. The large display and robust sapphire crystal front enhance durability and visual experience for mapping and data.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The device is designed for effortless, continuous wear on the finger with no on-device interaction needed. The user experience is centered around the intuitive and data-rich Oura app, making tracking and understanding complex health metrics simple and seamless.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The device offers an intuitive user interface with a responsive touchscreen, larger Digital Crown designed for use with gloves, a prominent side button, and a highly customizable Action button. watchOS is optimized for easy navigation and quick access to features during activities, even in challenging conditions, enhanced by the new Double Tap gesture.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 features a sleek, lightweight, and minimalist design, worn comfortably on the finger. Made from durable materials, it is designed for continuous wear throughout the day and night, blending discreetly with personal style while providing advanced physiological monitoring.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 features a rugged and exceptionally durable design with a titanium case, built to withstand challenging and extreme conditions. It offers a comfortable fit for all-day wear and comes with specialized bands (Trail Loop, Alpine Loop, Ocean Band) designed for different outdoor activities, balancing robust construction with wearability during prolonged efforts.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: The Oura Ring 4 includes an SpO2 sensor for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep. This feature provides valuable data that contributes to the overall sleep analysis and offers insights into respiratory function during rest.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: Equipped with an SpO2 sensor, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 allows for on-demand spot checks and background monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels. This feature provides valuable data for assessing respiratory health and overall well-being, particularly relevant during altitude and strenuous activities, contributing to acclimatization and performance monitoring.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: It is important to note that the Oura Ring 4 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 supports ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality through the ECG app, allowing users to record a 30-second ECG to detect signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib). This feature provides valuable heart health data for monitoring during training and daily life.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: While not explicitly labeled as "stress tracking," the Oura Ring 4 provides insights related to stress through its continuous monitoring of heart rate variability (HRV) and its impact on the daily Readiness score. Analyzing trends in HRV helps users understand their body's response to various stressors and improve resilience.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: While not a single dedicated stress metric, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 contributes to stress insights through features like Mindfulness and Breathe apps, heart rate variability (HRV) data, and detailed sleep analysis, leveraging the S9 SiP for enhanced data processing to help users understand their body's response to stress and find moments of calm during demanding periods.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: Recovery tracking is a core function of the Oura Ring 4. It provides a personalized daily Readiness Score based on key metrics including sleep quality, heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate, and body temperature. This score offers actionable guidance on how prepared your body is for physical and mental demands each day, helping optimize training and rest.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: Recovery is primarily tracked through detailed sleep analysis, heart rate variability (HRV), and insights provided within the Apple Health and Fitness apps based on workout data. While not a single "recovery score" like some dedicated sports watches, the collected data, processed by the S9 SiP, helps users understand their body's state and inform rest and training decisions for optimal performance during prolonged efforts and challenging activities.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: ✅ A mandatory paid Oura membership (subscription) is typically required to access the full range of data, insights, and advanced features within the Oura app. While some basic functionality may be available without a subscription, the comprehensive value is realized through the membership.
2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: No subscription is required to access the core features and data tracked by the Apple Watch Ultra 2 through the Apple Health and Fitness apps. Optional services like Apple Fitness+ require a separate subscription.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Oura Ring 4: $399.00
Check Oura Ring 4 Price *2️⃣ Apple Watch Ultra 2: $799.00
Check Apple Watch Ultra 2 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you