
Oura Ring
Review date: 11/02/2020
Tracking health biometrics has its merits. And wearing a watch 24/7 can be cumbersome. Oura makes a ring that tracks your health stats and aims to help you sleep better and feel better. And it seems the rich and famous--from Prince Harry to the NBA, WNBA, and NASCAR--have taken a shine to this little ring. It tracks sleep, activity like steps and calories, as well as heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature. And Oura offers up not one but four privacy policies that cover everything from the device and app to their website to a privacy policy for sharing data with your doctor, trainer, or coach. It's different, and that's a good thing.
What could happen if something goes wrong
From what we can tell, the Finnish company that makes the Oura seems to do a pretty good job with the privacy of all the personal data this little ring collects (they have four privacy policies!) Ouray says any health-related data won't be used for advertising without your explicit consent. And while they do use anonymous data for trend detection and for their benchmark data, this doesn't worry that much as it is pretty common. This device does track your biometric data closely and one reporter who reviewed it discovered it could tell when she had been drinking. So, beware of what info you could be sharing with the world if your ring's data escapes your phone.
Privacy
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: No
Microphone
Device: No
App: No
Tracks Location
Device: No
App: Yes
What is required to sign up?
Yes
Phone
No
Third party account
No
What data does it collect?
Personal
Email, gender, date of birth
Biometric
Heart rate, movement, sleep data, temperature, and more
Social
Partners that you share your data with like your doctor, trainer, or researchers
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record for protecting users’ data?
No known incidents in the last 2 years.
Can this product be used offline?
User friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Security
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Strong password
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Oura regularly tests their service, systems, and other assets for security vulnerabilities.
Privacy policy
There are 4 privacy policies for you to peruse.
Artificial Intelligence
Does the product use AI?
Does the AI use your personal data to make decisions about you?
Does the company allow users to see how the AI works?
Researchers from West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and WVU Medicine set out to predict symptoms before they appear using wearable rings by Oura and AI prediction models.