At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Solid overall tracking performance
- Slick companion app with some useful modes
- Impressive battery life
- Subcription-free
Cons
- It’s expensive
- Chunky design
- Software features are largely the same as Air
Our Verdict
The Ultrahuman Ring Pro delivers a great hardware and software experience to make it one of the best smart rings. The problem is the steep upfront price, not to mention that the competition, of both the subscription and subscription-free variety, can offer more enticing qualities to some.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Prices Today: Ultrahuman Ring Pro
The Ultrahuman Ring Pro is the latest smart ring from a company that’s been at loggerheads with Oura. After sales of its previous ring were temporarily banned in the US, Ultrahuman has returned with a new ring featuring redesigned sensors, improved processor performance and longer battery life.
The Ring Air remains on sale as a more affordable alternative to the Pro, but if you want the best Ultrahuman has to offer, this is the one to go for. Unfortunately, like fellow subscription-free rival RingConn, the price of Ultrahuman’s rings have crept up, meaning that the Pro needs to really excel to be worthy of that bigger spend and make it a top smart ring pick.
Design & Build
- Available in four colour options
- Thicker than Ring Air
- Charging case included
The Ring Pro is a smart ring with a clean look that comes in four different colours: bionic gold, space silver, aster black and raw titanium. The core of the ring is made from titanium with a PVD coating to protect it from scratches. I’ve found that previous Ultrahuman rings have been some of the easiest to scratch so I’m happy to see that the Pro does a better job of fending them off.
Mike Sawh
Like the Air, the Pro comes in ring sizes 5-14 and remains waterproof in depths of up to 100 metres. I opted for the same size as the Air, and the sizing appears to be similar, if not a bit better fitting overall, with fewer instances of the ring rolling around my finger. It’s pretty comfortable and snug to wear. While you can feel the sensor array, it’s not as noticeable as previous rings.
You are getting a heavier and thicker ring compared to Ultrahuman’s Ring Air. Having worn the Oura Ring 5 at the same time, the Pro looks notably bigger than Oura’s latest ring.
The Pro ships with a charging case, and while you wouldn’t mistake it for Oura’s new case, it has a similar robust metal design protecting the ring when it’s not on your finger. The case packs additional smarts like wireless charging, a ‘find my case’ mode for when you misplace it, not to mention the ability to store ring data for up to a year.
One interesting thing to note about the design is that Ultrahuman has made it so that, in the event of swelling, the ring can be easily cut and removed. Although it’s something I hope no one ever has to endure, it is reassuring to know that the ring can be removed easily in an emergency situation.
Fitness & Tracking
- Re-designed temperature and heart rate sensors
- New dual-core processor
- Powerplugs add features for a price
The Ring Pro can monitor pretty much everything the Air can. That includes heart rate, sleep, stress, temperature and daily step counts. The biggest change is that the optical sensors used to generate these metrics have been redesigned, providing clearer signals to capture sleep and recovery data. This redesign also seems to be tied to the patent disputes with Oura.
Mike Sawh
The app that presents this data is one of the most polished you’ll find attached to a smart ring. It’s up there with Oura’s app for treating your data in a way that’s enticing, encouraging you to actually engage with it.
Mike Sawh
Looking at the core data tracking, you really need to get through the two-week calibration until you get something reliable. Data from average heart rate readings were way off during that period, but settled down after those two weeks. Resting heart rate data and heart rate variability measurements particularly chimed well with two other trackers I wore alongside the Pro.
Delving into step counts, I found step totals reported were noticeably lower than two other trackers I tested the Pro with. The sleep tracking performance is up there with some of the best I’ve tested, including Oura. Looking at sleep duration, sleep stage breakdowns and the time captured when I’d fallen asleep, the Pro dished out reliable stats.
Mike Sawh
Where Ultrahuman seeks to do things differently from the competition is in how it presents convoluted data in a digestible format, like assessing brain age or tracking sleep debt you’re carrying from cumulative bad nights of sleep. It also monitors how well you’re clearing brain waste during sleep. You can also explore Ultrahuman’s PowerPlugs, which are mostly free add-ons to offer more personalised tracking. I’ve been using the new parent one, which pays close attention to cumulative rest, acknowledging that sleep is likely to be more broken and prompting you on how to get things back on track.
Most of these PowerPlugs are free, as mentioned. There are ones such as those that present migraine insights or sync data to a Tesla, which do require a monthly subscription. These are paid elements that most will be able to live without.
Battery Life & Charging
- Up to 15 days of battery life
- Offers three battery modes
- Charging case adds an additional 45 days
Battery life is a big story for the Pro and not just for the fact that it can go longer than the Air. Along with upping the battery from 4-6 days to 15 days, you have three battery modes to help you make the most of each charge.
Mike Sawh
If you choose the Turbo mode, which turns on all sensors, you can expect up to 12 days. That jumps to over 15 days when you opt for the Chill battery mode. This shifts the focus to sleep tracking, but will still capture vital moments in your day to make sure key insights still provide value. I’ve comfortably managed to get almost two weeks of battery from the Pro, which is a strong showing. That’s better than the Oura Ring 5 and up there with the RingConn Gen 2 in terms of battery performance.
You do now also have that charging case, which has the capacity to give you another 45 days of battery life. You do have to be precise about the placement of the ring inside the charger, where an audio cue from the built-in speaker confirms that it’s powering the ring back up. When I hit 0%, the Pro comfortably took less than an hour to get back to 100%.
Price & Availability
At the time of writing, the Ultrahuman Ring Pro is available to pre-order for £429/$479. That makes it one of the most expensive smart rings available.
That’s more expensive than the cheapest available Oura Ring 5 model (From £399/$399) and smart rings like the Samsung Galaxy Ring (£399/$399.99). The incoming RingConn Gen 3 will be more expensive than the Ring Pro in the US, but should be cheaper in other regions.
Like the Ring Air, the Pro remains a subscription-free smart ring. Some of the PowerPlug software add-ons do come at an additional cost.
Check our list of the best smart rings to see all your options.
Should you buy the Ultrahuman Ring Pro?
The big improvements with the Ring Pro over the Air lie with that larger battery and more durable design. I never found the monitoring performance on the Air to be lacking, and if you can still get hold of one and you’re a fan of the Ultrahuman software approach, then it’s still a smart (and more affordable) buy.
If you compare the Ring Pro to other smart rings, we do have to talk about price. It’s expensive and you can find subscription-free alternatives for less. Whether they’ll give you the same level of care and attention on the software side is up for debate. That’s really where the Ring Pro wins against much of the competition.
It might not be the smallest ring or the thinnest, but what the Ring Pro does have is a combination of hardware and software that amounts to an excellent overall package.
Specs
- Up to 15-day battery life
- Works with Android and iOS
- Waterproof up to 100 metres
- 2.65mm thickness
- Weighs 3.3-4.8g
- Tracks blood oxygen levels, heart rate and temperature
- Tracks sleep and daily activity
