I remember the day I first got glasses—I was convinced I was fine until I put on a prescription pair and realized I could barely see without them. Similar is the tale of my life before I became a health tech person (a biometric baddie, if you will)—turns out, it’s hard to know how well you’re sleeping off the top of your head when you’re asleep the entire time.
Been meaning to get into the wearables game? Amid tons of health-tracking devices like the Fitbit, the WHOOP, and the Garmin, there are two gadgets that seem to always dominate the convo: the OuraRing and the Apple Watch. So if you clicked on this article because you’re trying to choose one to splurge on, good news—I spent months testing both and I have the final verdict below. You’re welcome!
For this article, I compared the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch by wearing both of them daily and comparing their various capabilities.
And yes, before you ask, there are a bunch of overlapping features—but each device also has their specific strengths. Like, do you want to track your fitness or would you prefer temperature tracking that’s so good, it can predict periods? Do you prefer a sporty accessory or do you gravitate more toward low-key jewelry? Do you want forgot-you’re-wearing-it comfort, or would you choose a bigger device if it allows you to not have your iPhone glued to your hand at all times? (*screams in decision-making paralysis!!!*)
But you’re busy doing stuff! Accomplishing things! Seeing people! You don’t have time to spend hours researching the specific deets! So I took it upon myself to deep-dive into alllll the strengths, weaknesses, fun features, and potential downsides of the Apple Watch and the Oura Ring for your easy perusing. Ready? Let’s go!
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The Oura Ring has little sensors on the inside of the ring (they feel like small, barely there bumps) that measure temperature, heart rate, and other biometrics from your finger throughout the day, while the Apple Watch uses similar sensors on the inside of the watch that sit against the inside of your wrist.
I personally found the Oura Ring to be more comfortable (it’s so light!), but if you’re not used to wearing a ring, you might prefer wearing Apple Watch with one of their comfy fabric bands.
As I mentioned above, I wore my Apple Watch and my Oura Ring for the entirety of the testing period—and as you can imagine, I looked, as my 16-year-old little brother would say, absolutely dripped out. As a shopping editor who loves wearing jewelry, I found the Oura Ring to be waaaay easier to style, whereas I was constantly removing my Apple Watch when snapping OOTD pics.
But I ended up switching from the default band to this gold Casetify bracelet band that I saw Cosmo’s deputy shopping director Kim Duong using, and that small fix immediately upgraded the styling potential of my Apple Watch. Cute, right? I have pretty small wrists but was able to easily snap off the extra links to make sure the watch was snug against my skin for optimal data collecting.
When it comes to colorways, both devices are available in multiple shades—so whether you’re a Deep Winter or a Warm Autumn, there’s a metal shade you’ll love. The Series 11 watch comes in four aluminum finishes (Jet Black, Rose Gold, Silver, and Space Gray) and three premium titanium options (Natural, Gold, and Slate). The Oura Ring 4 has six titanium hues (Silver, Black, Brushed Silver, Stealth, Gold, and Rose Gold) and four ceramic colors (Midnight, Petal, Tide, and Cloud).
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So, this was a big thing for me as a certified Lazy Person With No Outlet Near Her Bed. What I love most about the Oura Ring is that a full charge lasts me multiple days before I have to top it off—it’s the type of low-maintenance I aspire to be, lol. On the other hand, I typically need to fully charge my Apple Watch at least once a day. I get it—it’s a full screen that pumps out notifications all day, so it needs more juice, but if I forgot to top off the charge, it would die overnight. As someone who wants to track daytime activity and sleep, this wasn’t ideal.
P.S. I found that I could extend the battery life by turning on Do Not Disturb or Theater Mode (which basically turns off your screen), but then you can’t get notifications. I also snagged this Satechi 3-in-1 Charging Station for my desk that allowed me to simultaneously charge my Apple Watch, my phone, and my Airpods while I worked, which helped too!
Ever since I realized my dumpster fire sleep was actually affecting my ability to Do Life Normally, I’ve developed a habit of religiously tracking and checking my sleep stats first thing in the morning. The Oura Ring and the Apple Watch both tell you exactly how much REM, deep, and light sleep you get each night as well as how your time in bed compares to the time you actually spent sleeping.
The Oura app
The Apple Health app
Oh, and Oura takes things a step further and gives you an easy-to-understand sleep score from 0 to 100 based on your restfulness, your sleep efficiency, how fast you fell asleep, and your overall timing. Plus, it detects any naps you take (even if it’s a 10-minute power nap on your lunch break) and readjusts your sleep score accordingly!
And FYI, if you wear the Apple Watch at night, the Sleep/Wake Up alarm is designed to automatically vibrate from your watch rather than ringing out from your iPhone. If you prefer that your alarm still sounds off on your phone, there’s an easy workaround—just set a regular alarm instead of using the Sleep/Wake Up feature on the Clock app!
Alright, this is where the Apple Watch truly shines, like, Simone-Biles-at-the-Olympics style. You can select an activity on your watch like hiking, HIIT, or kickboxing, and it’ll give you tons of stats on your workout as well as showing you how close you are to closing those infamous rings (aka your daily move goals).
For research purposes, I wore both devices while surfing in Bali (they’re both waterproof—you can wear the Apple watch up to 50 meters deep and the Oura Ring up to 100 meters deep!) and discovered within the hour that the Apple Watch was the clear winner, absolutely no contest. There’s a surfing setting on the watch—the water lock automatically turns on as soon as you select it—and it’ll track your caloric burn, heart rate, time, and location for the duration of your workout. On the other hand, the Oura Ring didn’t pick up on the fact that I was surfing at all, so I had to manually enter the activity.
The Oura app
The Apple Fitness app
The Oura is good at detecting walking and running (and it always gives me the most accurate step count because it’s on my hand almost 24 hours/day!!), but at the end of the day, it’s not the best fitness device out there. For example, it’s inconvenient to wear when lifting weights, so I find myself taking it off at the gym...which is fine, because it doesn’t pick up much valuable data from strength training anyway.
Yep, menstrual cycle tracking is a lesser-known Oura and Apple Watch feature that can help you be more like “Saw that coming!!” and less like “Ugh, you again?” when your period arrives. Both devices have super-sensitive detectors that take your temperature throughout the night to detect subtle increases and decreases that indicate a shift in your cycle as well as app features that help you note confirmed period dates, log PMS symptoms, and track pregnancy.
Oh, and both apps can be paired with the Natural Cycles app. But note that the Apple Watch cycle tracking app itself isn’t intended for any medical purpose—it only has retrospective cycle tracking, meaning it’ll tell you when you might’ve ovulated after the date has passed.
The Oura app
The Apple Health app
Because the Apple Watch is a smart device with a screen, it boasts a handful of fun features and capabilities that the Oura Ring doesn’t have. For example, it can tell you if you didn’t wash your hands for long enough, it can send you push notifications for when to take your medicine, and you can even give yourself a freaking electrocardiogram to test your heartbeat. The Apple Watch also works as a Bluetooth remote for taking iPhone pics!
Oh, and one of my favorite Apple Watch features as a city dweller? The noise notifications! I’m someone who is constantly worrying she’ll go prematurely deaf because of the noise levels in NYC (ever stood on a subway platform while two express trains roared past?), so it’s great to be tracking my noise exposure throughout the day.
The pricing for both gadgets varies wildly (!!) depending on the material and color that you choose, which is good news for anyone on a budget and anyone who’s interested in splurging on a fun colorway.
The Apple Watch Series 11 typically starts at $399 (although it’s on-sale right now for even less) and the Oura Ring is slightly more affordable, ranging from $349 to $499 for the newest 4th generation depending on the color.
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Looking for a TL;DR? Keep scrolling for a look at the Apple Watch’s most standout features (and some of the not-so-standout downsides).
Below, everything that the Oura Ring excels at—and some of the less ideal features—in a nutshell.
Neither device is inherently better. It really just comes down to your wants and needs. The Apple Watch offers a more robust range of fun, techy features that pair seamlessly with the iPhone but it also requires a little more hands-on maintenance (namely, frequent charging). The Oura Ring is smaller, delightfully low-maintenance, and runs on a single charge for multiple days while still delivering useful health and wellness stats.
After testing both, I found I preferred the Oura Ring for my current lifestyle. I love that it has detailed cycle tracking and gives me daily sleep, readiness, activity, and resilience scores. It’s also easy to wear every day with every outfit—which is absolutely important.
That said, if fitness is your number one priority—of if you just want a wearable that doubles as an iPhone so you can slyly check notifications—the Apple Watch is a better fit. It’s ideal for anyone active who wants real-time workout stats and full notification integration.
Oh, and if you have the funds to buy both (okay, money bags!!), by all means, go for it. I wore both for weeks, and I can confirm you’ll benefit from having both because they offer different features!
As Cosmo’s unofficial tech expert, shopping editor Hannah Oh has spent months testing various health trackers and wearable devices like the Oura Ring, the Apple Watch, the Fitbit, and the WHOOP. She takes her sleep and wellness very seriously (eight hours each night or bust!) and spends her free time explaining to her friends and family why they should hop on the biometrics train.
Hannah is the Shopping Editor at Cosmopolitan, covering all things from chic home decor to trendy fashion finds, TikTok products that are actually worth your $$$, and the perfect gift to buy for your boyfriend's mom. She previously wrote for Seventeen and CR Fashion Book. Follow her on Instagram for hot takes on red carpet fashion and pictures of her office outfits that nobody asked for.
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