There are a lot of ideas and promise packed into this smart ring, but it’s not all the way there yet.

In the run-up to CES 2022, I was chatting with Movano CEO John Mastrototaro about his big, ambitious idea for a smart ring that would one day monitor chronic illnesses. The renders showcased a sleek and slim ring with an open gap up top. It would be designed with women in mind. Accuracy would be paramount, and eventually, the ring would have FDA clearance as a medical device. It was an impressive pitch. It would just have to make it off the show floor.

A little over two years later, I now have Movano’s $269 Evie Ring on my finger. It’s not quite as slim as that original design, that FDA clearance is still pending, and it’s not really about monitoring chronic illnesses. But it is a working smart ring that you can buy — the start of a comeback in a dwindling field.

For the longest time, I’ve been waiting for something that could give the Oura Ring a run for its money. The Evie Ring isn’t quite that just yet, but I’m hopeful that one day it could be.

Clever design

Compared to smartwatches, smart rings are smaller, lighter, more discreet, more comfortable for sleep tracking, and more accurate for heart rate measurements. But there’s one major flaw: your fingers swell. I dread my Oura Ring running out of battery because every time I take it off, I risk dislocating a knuckle. In the summer, I often have no choice but to run my hand under cold water to get the ring free.

That’s never happened with the Evie Ring. To be clear, I’ve been bloated many times while testing this ring. It doesn’t matter. I can always comfortably take it off.

It’s not witchcraft — it’s the design. The ring’s signature gap not only looks chic but also functionally gives the ring extra flex. You can put on a few pounds and not think about whether you have to buy another smart ring. That’s clutch, as I’ve yet to see any smart rings that come in half sizes or offer ways to adjust sizing if your body changes. (The Evie Ring is available in sizes 5 to 12.) It’s a small thing, but it dramatically improves comfort — and with wearables, comfort is king.

It’s also hardy enough to survive showers, dishwashing, and a dunk in the pool. I would, however, consider taking it off for weight lifting. After about a month, mine has a few deep scratches on the underside. Nothing super noticeable at a glance, but it’s worse than scuffs I have on the Oura Ring.

Battery life is one of the most challenging aspects of smart ring design. A fully round ring requires a flexible battery that’s small enough to wear while still powering all the essentials. The Evie Ring adds another engineering hurdle with the open gap, so it’s encouraging to see battery life is decent. I get about four or five days on a single charge. While that’s not mind-blowing for the category, the charging case is another excellent touch. It holds up to 10 charges, the ring attaches magnetically to a groove inside, and crucially, it’s safely enclosed within. I can stick it in my purse or on my nightstand without worrying about the ring falling out.

A holistic health tracker

In Movano’s original pitch, the Evie Ring would combine accuracy with a streamlined app that makes sense of what all your health data actually means. Right now, I’d say the Evie Ring gives you a taste of that but not the whole meal.

Take the app’s design. It’s fresh, playful, and emphasizes holistic health. Instead of asking you to close a bunch of rings, the main tab displays your daily health factors as a single ring. It reminds me of a more stylish pie chart, and it’s a refreshing visualization of how things like sleep, active minutes, steps, and calories burned all play a part in your overall health. It’s also good that the app acknowledges there are only so many goals you should chase at once. You’re limited to three at a given time, which helps you stay focused and sustainably build new habits.

Accuracy-wise, everything except sleep tracking (more on that below) was in line with what I got on my Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Oura Ring. You can keep an eye on your heart rate trends, menstrual cycle, and overall activity and workouts. Sleep tracking has its own tab where the data is divided into sleep stages and metrics like resting heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO2, respiration rate, and skin temperature variation. In the journal, you can track your cycle and the various symptoms and moods that occur — or you could just choose to track your emotions sans your period.

This is fairly typical but lacks some of that extra context I was hoping for. Is it nice that the Evie Ring tracks my temperature? I guess. But I can’t view my temperature history over time or see how it relates to my cycle. There are blurbs as to why certain data points matter but not as many insights as to what my data’s telling me. In all fairness, this is a problem with most fitness tracking platforms. I’m calling it out here because contextualization was supposed to be something that set Evie apart.

First-gen quirks

While the Evie Ring is a refreshing take on smart rings and health trackers, it’s still a first-gen device. And like any first-gen gadget, it has kinks to iron out.

My biggest issue was syncing. I’d open the Evie app first thing in the morning, and it’d take a few minutes for it to sync with my phone. In 2024, that’s four or five whole K-pop TikToks I could’ve scrolled through before dragging myself out of bed. Thanks to some firmware updates, it’s gotten a lot better over the last week, but if I don’t sync first thing in the morning, it sometimes doesn’t register my sleep from the previous night. That’s despite the fact that the ring can store up to seven days of data between syncs.

Sleep tracking accuracy has also been a mixed bag. While the duration usually corresponds with my Oura Ring and my myriad sleep trackers, it repeatedly reports a much shorter amount of deep sleep. One weekend, I zonked out for 10 whole hours. It reported maybe an hour of deep sleep.

So far, the Evie Ring is also iOS only. That’s not uncommon — I’ve seen plenty of other health tech companies prioritize iOS first and then come out with an Android version later. It’s just a bummer.

A good start

I dig a lot about the Evie Ring — particularly the design. It’s more comfortable thanks to the gap, charging it is more convenient, and overall, it’s delivering a similar experience to the Oura Ring. And it’s doing it for less money and no monthly subscription.

But we’ll have to see whether Movano’s gambles on FDA clearance and its medical prowess help it stick out from the crowd. It’s about to get real competitive in the smart ring space. RingConn, Circular, and Ultrahuman are already out here chipping away at Oura’s dominance. Amazfit, which makes a ton of excellent budget smartwatches, is coming out with a fitness-focused smart ring later this year. The big doozy is Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy Ring. Samsung is a big name, and if it succeeds here, it’s a matter of time before other tech giants follow. I have to imagine that even Oura is feeling the pressure, let alone a smaller company like Movano.

Even so, I’m rooting for the Evie Ring to stick it out. The thoughtful design has been refreshing, and it’s got a solid foundation here. I just hope it gets the chance to build on it.