The Easiest Way to Track Wellness Without Thinking About It Too Much

Your new favorite small black ring 

I spent the last few months with the black Galaxy Ring on my left index finger. I washed my hands and dishes with it on. I washed my face and my daughter’s face when she drew all over it. I took out the trash, put on gloves to help move a swing set, and then rode on the swing with the Galaxy Ring. Generally, I don’t take off the ring except when doing my twice-daily cleansing and showering. At that point, it’s simply par for the course, like when I remove the rest of my jewelry, which is to say, the Galaxy Ring feels like an accessory in my stead. I even found a nice labradorite ring to wear on my right index finger to match it.

The Galaxy Ring comes in three titanium finishes: plain black, which I mentioned, gold, and silver. If you want a smart ring that blends with regular jewelry, go for the two metallic finishes. The plain black one sometimes feels too gadgety when I wear it alongside my favorite big stone rings. Also, since I’ve had it on for two months, it’s already scratched up on the bottom side, where the tracking hardware exists. I imagine this is from all the laboring I’ve done with the ring. I expected some wear, but not this soon. At least it’s on the bottom, so it’s not as noticeable at first glance. 

Samsung fitted me with a size 9 ring. Getting there was an entire ordeal, but it was the proper size in the end. It hasn’t felt as tight as it did that day I was originally fitted for the Galaxy Ring in New York in July, and I’ve been wearing it throughout this hot summer. Whenever the Ring feels like it’s strangling my finger, I pop it back into its clear charging case to get re-juiced while I take a break. 

The charging case for the Galaxy Ring is certainly distinct. Initially, I chalked the case up as chintzy, but its small size is perfect for tossing into my bag on the way to the nail salon when I’d need to take that Ring out and dock it. The box is see-through with white LED accents, including around the charging base, to indicate how much battery is left on the case and how much battery is left on the Ring when it’s docked.  

A side character for health tracking

Yes, this is the easiest way to track your health daily without thinking about it too much. But if you’re doing more than that, like training for a marathon or trying to get better at mountain biking, the Galaxy Ring is no replacement for a smartwatch.

For those who are a little more cozy with our movements, the Galaxy Ring can help promote wellness without the physical footprint of a smartwatch. During the day, it tracks steps you’ve walked, stairs you’ve climbed, and even factors in elevation if you live in a hilly area. At night, while you’re sleeping, it tracks blood oxygen levels and variable temperature throughout the night. It lets you know if you snored and how often you got up to use the bathroom. It will also scold you about how little sleep you’re getting and whether it’s restful enough to conquer the day ahead. 

Granted, it’s not the Galaxy Ring doing all of this. The Samsung Health app takes in the data the smart ring procures and then spits out its best guess of how you’re living your life. I’m OK with the casual understanding of how I’m doing, and so far, I’m getting more out of Samsung Health now than I was before wearing the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 6. Because it’s a ring, I’m wearing it around the clock. I realize I walk more than I think during a sedentary day in the office. I also don’t sleep as well as I thought, and that post-morning did-I-sleep-enough hangover seems to directly correspond with whether I’m exercising consistently.

The Galaxy Ring is not a perfect end-all, be-all tracker. For instance, there were constant disparities between the distance I walked from Samsung Health’s assessments versus what Strava said at the end. Often, the watch would say I walked less than I did, and I think it’s because it relies on location data from the phone. But Strava has access to the same data, and it still seems to glean a more accurate distance reading from the ring. The point is that this is all very confusing, which is why I’d suggest a traditional smartwatch route if you need serious numbers. The Galaxy Ring also isn’t good at tracking niche workouts and activities. If you’re walking, hiking, or biking, those are all fine. But I took the Galaxy Ring swimming, which gave me nothing about my heart rate during laps nor how far I swam. I usually get that kind of information from a smartwatch.

The other discrepancy is related to the Galaxy Ring tracking blood oxygen levels during sleep. If you thrash in your sleep, you could pin down your finger and thus get the more alarming readings. Samsung Health claimed I hover around 85-89% in blood oxygen levels most nights, which I’m quickly reminded is the kind of reading that would send you to the hospital. I wouldn’t rely on this data unless you’re explaining to the person surveying it that there’s a bit of a flaw with how the Ring tracks blood oxygen through the night. A smartwatch has more surface on the wrist to pull data, and you’re not immediately cutting circulation by sleeping on it. 

The most annoying part about wearing a smart ring over a smartwatch is that you must bring your phone anywhere if you are doing more than simply existing. I bring my phone with me anyway to stream music to my headphones on a jog, but theoretically, I wouldn’t need to do that if I have a smartwatch on—it usually has onboard storage to bring music on the go without the bulk. You’ll also rely heavily on the phone for insights into your daily stats. Every morning, rather than checking the display on my wrist, I grab my phone and sync it to the ring to see how I slept. It’s not a routine I’m proud of, but I’m reaching for that device anyway to snooze the alarm. 

The key is Samsung Health

Because there is no display on the Ring itself to interact with, everything you do, from programming the device to checking your stats, involves dealing with the Samsung Healthy. Now, this app has gotten much more sophisticated since its early days. I’ve been using it to track my health data since 2019 I first adopted the Galaxy Fit smartwatch. Samsung Health also integrates easily with Google Fit and Android’s Health Connect, so you can share that data with third parties like Strava without worrying about double-ups.

One thing I’m not yet convinced that Samsung Health can do is coach me on developing better habits. I mean, it sort of worked with the app’s Energy Score, which is reminiscent of FitBit’s Daily Readiness score, and I generally looked to it for a marker of where my “health” was headed. But the advice it gives me without factoring in every other part of why my issues are what they are is unfairly taunting. Rather than ask me how I’m doing and whether I’m dealing with an illness—the app doesn’t even know I have one, it never bothered to ask—it accused me of compromising my sleep, immediately assuming I had had alcohol or a snack before bed. The way it’s worded is accusatory in tone, and I’m shocked this dialogue was a part of the rotation.

I got the compromised sleep notice a few times during the review period. The second time that Samsung Health alerted me about it, it again accused me of drinking alcohol and late-night eating. Again, I have other stuff going on with me mentally and physically that are actual factors of why I struggle to sleep. But there was nowhere to manually enter that data and factor it in with everything else.

Samsung Health is nice about guiding you when things are going well. I had about three weeks of consistent walking and daily exercise, and the messages were positive and encouraging about continuing that streak. I was also periodically reminded that this kind of lifestyle helps stave off depression and anxiety. It indeed does! But I wish I could input more about my mental health and everything that I am diagnosed with in there, too, and have that factored in with the numbers on my heart rate and blood pressure and why I may not be sleeping at night.

Samsung Health will hopefully become more robust down the line. At the very least, it doesn’t cost anything for the stats it gives now. Competing devices like the Oura Ring, which arguably brought the product category into motion, require a subscription for tracking, while Samsung offers it to you outright. But who knows what will be the case down the line? By then, we’ll hopefully have a smart ring that isn’t wildly concerning when displaying blood oxygen levels. I swear I’m fine!

If you are training for something, or you’ve picked up your exercise routine and want more stats, you’ll have to stick within the Samsung ecosystem. The Galaxy Ring works best with at least a Samsung smartwatch in tow, and there are a few gestures available only on Samsung smartphones. We’re still waiting on our Galaxy Watch 7 review unit, but I already know that wearing the Galaxy Ring and, say, the Pixel Watch simultaneously gets messy. You’ll have to choose which wellness suite to prioritize syncing with Google Fit, and the data won’t correlate. At least if you have a Galaxy Watch on you, Samsung Health knows when to switch off tracking duties for more detailed workout data.

Great for passive health tracking

The Galaxy Ring is one of the more expensive smart rings on the market. It’s a little more than you’d pay for a cheaper brand like RingConn, but at least you can fully integrate the data with other services without too much trouble. If passive health tracking is your modus operandi and you want to promote more wellness for yourself, you’ll have an easy time justifying the $400 price tag, especially if you’re already knee-deep in the ecosystem. The only bummer is that those blood oxygen levels it reads out are seriously alarming. I imagine that’s something Samsung will try to fix with an algorithmic change or, at the very least, a disclaimer.