Sharing sleep scores with friends is now possible for Oura Ring users.

Oura is introducing a new community feature to its smart sleep tracking ring. Beginning today, users can create or join private groups called “Circles” to share readiness, sleep, and activity scores from the past two weeks. The company has also exited the beta phase for its new sleep staging algorithm on both iOS and Android platforms. However, the results provided by the algorithm may not be well-received by all users.

With Oura Circles, any user can create a group and invite others to join through a shared link, provided they are also Oura members. When creating or joining a Circle, users have the option to customize the shared data. For example, if someone prefers to keep their activity score private, they can choose not to share it while still sharing their sleep and readiness scores. Users can also decide whether other members see daily scores or only weekly averages. The data spans the past two weeks, affecting the type of trend graph displayed. Weekly averages appear flatter, while daily scores show more fluctuations due to the higher number of data points. Users can react to other people’s scores with emojis, but interactivity is limited to this feature.

In addition, Oura users will now start experiencing the new sleep staging algorithm, which has completed its beta phase. The algorithm has achieved a 79 percent agreement with gold-standard polysomnography in detecting wake, light, deep, and REM sleep. Oura has a strong reputation for clinical research in the digital wellness space, having published its research on the new algorithm in the peer-reviewed Sensors journal. The algorithm was developed using data from 500 participants of different ages, genders, and skin tones. However, users should be aware that their data might show a slight shift as a result. For example, the new algorithm may reveal more instances of waking up compared to the previous version.

However, the success of Circles remains uncertain. As a reviewer of wearables, I have been using Oura for a long time and find it useful in testing the sleep tracking capabilities of other devices. Nevertheless, when I tried to create a Circle, I couldn’t find anyone to invite or search for contacts who are Oura users within the app.

This is understandable considering the Oura Ring’s price of $300 and monthly subscription. As a result, the device still caters to a niche market of affluent users. The ring has gained popularity among celebrities for some time and obtained wider public recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic when researchers explored the potential of wearables in detecting COVID-19 symptoms. It was also adopted by the NBA in their COVID-19 prevention plans. Recently, Oura partnered with Best Buy to make its smart rings more accessible to the general public.

Considering these factors, it’s not surprising that Oura is incorporating community features at this time. Other wearable manufacturers, like Samsung, have also emphasized improving their sleep tracking technology. Google has been promoting sleep as a key component of its Pixel Watch, leveraging Fitbit’s sleep tracking capabilities. Although Apple is behind in this area, it has been making progress as well. These devices have larger user bases and greater visibility among the general population compared to the Oura Ring, thanks to their display features.