Samsung is the only big brand that offers a smart ring, looking to leverage its ecosystem by plugging the data it collects straight into Samsung Health. While it's perfect for Samsung users, it works perfectly well on other Android phones too.
I've been wearing the Galaxy Ring every day since November 2025 and I've become something of a fan, or rather, I've become addicted to the data.
With Galaxy Ring 2 confirmation coming from Dr Hon Pak, who heads up Samsung's digital health team, there's plenty to wish for in Samsung's next generation device.
The confirmation we've already had addresses the elephant in the room, with a hint at iPhone compatibility. Currently, it's Android only which suits me fine, while it has an advantage for Samsung users by adding additional features when used with a Galaxy phone, like supporting a tap gesture.
But for me, the biggest challenge that Galaxy Ring faces - and this is what it has to address - is battery life.
Missing data because my ring died
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is rated for 6 days according to Samsung's website. But glance at the reviews and a little more detail emerges, especially around the battery life. While initially I found that the Galaxy Ring gave me about 5 days, I've now seen that drop to about 2 days.
On a number of occasions, I've woken up to find no data, because the Galaxy Ring was flat. That's the experience that customers on the site report, there's discussions about it on Reddit, and the same reports through Amazon too.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring cannot be repaired and the manufacturer warranty only lasts for a year, so when that battery starts to fail, there may not be anything you can do about it. If Samsung deems that to be normal degradation, you're stuck with it.
This might also be why other brands are staying out of this segment: smart rings struggle to maintain the initial battery life. While there are things you can do to prolong the life of your Oura ring, battery decline has also been reported on Oura's alternative.
Fixing the battery life would be the key to the smart ring castle, because aside from battery life, I've been loving the experience.
It's all about sleep and recovery
The thing that attracted me to a smart ring was the sleep metrics. I don't like sleeping in a watch because I find it too bulky and often I wake and need to release the strap or take it off. This also happens with some bands - prior to the Galaxy Ring I was using the Fitbit Charge 6, but often woke to find I'd undone it during the night.
Sleep data gives you an insight into how well rested you are, while offering suggestions to help improve your sleep performance. Through the data it's also possible to spot the link between things like drinking alcohol and a bad sleep - with changes to average heart rate through the night a clear side effect.
If nothing else, having a glance at that data gives you a better idea of what's happening with your body and how well rested you are. In that sense, between watches, rings and bands, there's not a huge difference in the data gathered, but how it is presented makes a difference.
But that leads me on to a couple of other things that Samsung Galaxy Ring could do better.
What else would make Galaxy Ring better?
Here are a couple of other things that would make the Galaxy Ring better:
Switch to a convex shape
The concave shape is a novelty, but I've never found it to fit as well as a flat or convex ring. This change would make it more wearable.
Support for more activities
Galaxy Ring collects steps and runs, but on some activities it just stops tracking. I found I had no heart rate measured while I was riding my bike, so the entire day's data isn't accurate.
Combine Health and Wear apps
Samsung's wearables get a little confusing because they rely on a separate Wear app. This connects and maintains the device, while Health manages the data.
Up until recently there was no link from Health to Galaxy Ring - there is in the latest update, but it still doesn't show battery life. Just being able to check the Ring's status from Health would be so much more user friendly.
