As an Oura Ring user, I’m glad the Fitbit Air isn’t a smart ring

The Fitbit Air is one of the most interesting new wearable devices we’ve seen from Google/Fitbit in some time. The screen-less design is WHOOP worthy, the Pixel Watch tie-in is interesting, and the $100 price tag is great. For Fitbit enthusiasts, the Air looks pretty attractive right out of the gate.

Although Google is pitching the Fitbit Air as a lightweight, small fitness tracker that can be used either on its own or as a Pixel Watch companion, many people likely have one big question on their minds: why not make a smart ring instead?

Ora Ring is extremely popular. Samsung also has its own smart ring with the Galaxy Ring. Why not make the Fitbit Air a smart ring too? It seems like that’s the route Google should have taken, but as someone who’s worn a smart ring for the past few months, I think Google made the right decision.

I’ve worn the Ora Ring regularly for a while, and there’s a lot I like about it. The Oura app breaks down health data in an easily digestible way and really helps me understand my sleep and daily preparation better than most other trackers. I also love how many health sensors the Oura packs into such a small form factor, and it’s fantastic to last about a week without needing to charge.

But when it comes to the nature of the Ora Ring 4’s design, I quickly realized that a smart ring – no matter how small and convenient – ​​also comes with a number of quirks that you don’t have to worry about with a wrist-based tracker.

I’m the main cook in my household, and that means every evening after work, I have to take the Ora Ring off while preparing dinner (unless I want it to come in contact with raw beef, chicken, and other foods). It’s really uncomfortable to wear the Ora Ring whenever I’m using free weights or a weight machine at the gym, so I take it off. Since moving into my first house, I found that wearing the Ora Ring while painting, weeding, and gardening is a nuisance — due to its large, bulky design (compared to regular, non-smart rings).

This ultimately means I’m taking the Aura Ring off repeatedly on any given day, and the more often I do, the more likely I am to forget to put it back on. Initially, this meant going a few hours or a day without wearing the Aura Ring. Recently, I found it lying unused in my office for about a month.

The main attraction of the Ora Ring (and any smart ring) is that it’s supposed to be a set-it-and-forget-it wearable. You put it on your finger, go about your life, and it seamlessly tracks your health data in the background. On paper, it sounds great.

But at least for my life and daily activities, it hasn’t worked that way. Having to remove and put the ring back on multiple times per day completely ruins that feature and prevents me from using it. It’s a shame to think about how accurate the Ora Ring gets, but try as I might, I can’t get the smart ring to work.

The Fitbit Air aims to achieve the same fundamental goal as the Ora Ring. The idea is that you put on the Fitbit Air, go about your life, and a health/fitness tracker will monitor your steps, sleep, heart rate, and other data along with a week’s worth of battery life. However, instead of a smart ring, the Fitbit Air goes on your wrist.

It’s not a completely new form factor (WHOOP has been making screen-less wrist-wearable products for a while), but it’s something I’m really happy Google went with.

In theory, the Fitbit Air would achieve the same purpose as my Aura Ring. It would be a wearable I could wear and not have to think about, knowing it was working in the background to monitor my health. And because it’s on my wrist, I’ll be wearing it in all scenarios where a smart ring doesn’t make sense. For a tracker that’s designed for you to wear constantly without needing to take it off frequently, that’s a great deal.

I have no doubt that we’ll get a Fitbit smart ring at some point, and I’d like to see Google take on one. But I’m also glad we have a Fitbit Air for people like me who don’t like smart rings. Add a more practical form factor with customizable bands and a $100 price tag, and the Fitbit Air looks pretty cool.