Do smart rings require a subscription? Brand by brand, with the fine print

The answer for every brand

Most smart rings don't require a subscription. The exception is the best-known one. Here is every brand we track, with the words each uses on its own page or listing, checked on September 19, 2026.

Checked September 19, 2026. US policies; fees before sales tax.

If you only need the dollar side of this, our smart ring cost breakdown multiplies every fee out over one, three and five years. The rest of this page explains what each policy means in practice.

Does Oura Ring require a subscription? For most things, yes

Oura calls it a membership, and it costs $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the US (Oura Support). The ring still works without it, in the narrow sense that it pairs and reports three scores. Everything else Oura's store advertises sits behind the plan: the membership “unlocks personalized insights, an AI health companion, and new features as they arrive” ( Oura store).

A few details matter if you're deciding:

• It applies to Ring 5 and Ring 4 alike. Buying the older model, even on clearance, doesn't dodge the fee.
• One month is included. Oura says new members receive one included month. After that, the fee starts.
• There's no lifetime option. Oura says there “currently is no option to purchase or upgrade to a Lifetime Membership.” Some early Gen3 buyers kept grandfathered lifetime plans, and Gen2 owners “do not require an Oura Membership.” New buyers pay the regular rate.

Over three years on the annual plan, that's $209.97 on top of the ring. The full plan breakdown is in Oura membership cost, and exactly what the free tier shows is in the Oura Ring without a subscription.

Is RingConn subscription based? No

RingConn doesn't sell a paid tier for any of its three rings. The Gen 3 page leads with “No Subscription,” the Gen 2 page says “No Subscriptions” and “Multi-dimensional health monitoring included,” and the Gen 2 Air page lists no subscription either. The Gadgeteer's Gen 3 review put it plainly: “No subscription, no locked tier, no upsell screen anywhere in the app” ( The Gadgeteer).

So does RingConn need a subscription for anything? Not that we found. That includes the features RingConn promotes hardest: Gen 2's sleep apnea monitoring and Gen 3's vascular health and sleep apnea pattern insights come with the ring. Those are wellness features, not diagnoses; RingConn itself calls Gen 3 “not a medical device.” The only paid thing RingConn offers is optional two- or three-year Product Protection for US buyers at checkout. RingConn also settled with Oura in October 2025 under a multi-year patent license, so its US sales aren't in legal limbo. For model-by-model detail, see our RingConn Gen 2 review and RingConn Gen 3 review.

Samsung Galaxy Ring: no fee, one phone rule

Samsung charges nothing for the Galaxy Ring's app features; its Amazon listing is titled “No App Subscription,” and Samsung's US page lists no paid Samsung Health tier for the ring. What Samsung asks for instead is its phone. The ring works only with Android 11 or newer, not iPhone. On other Android brands, Samsung says “Double Pinch and Find My Ring does not work” ( Samsung Canada), and Energy Score insights “require compatible Samsung Galaxy AI phone, Samsung Health app and Samsung account” (Samsung US). We map what works on which phone in does the Galaxy Ring have a subscription.

Ultrahuman: no required fee, optional add-ons

Ultrahuman's US buy page says there are “no recurring subscription fees for accessing your data” and calls Ring PRO “a simple, one-time purchase” ( Ultrahuman). Its March 2026 press release went further: “No mandatory subscription. No paywall. No compromise” (Ultrahuman press release). Two named features are paid add-ons called PowerPlugs (Cardio Adaptability at $24/year and Cycle & Ovulation Pro at $39/year), and UltrahumanX damage coverage starts at $36/year. None is needed to see your core data. The bigger catch is the sticker: the Ring PRO is the most expensive ring on this site, it took a year of slipped ship dates to reach US buyers, and the older Ring AIR still isn't sold in the US at all. More in Ultrahuman's subscription costs.

Circular: no forced subscription

Circular's shop says “no forced subscription,” and its product page says “Every core feature is included with the ring” ( Circular). The word “forced” is doing some work: Tech Advisor's review reports that some future features “need virtual coins,” called Circular Coins, which can be bought (Tech Advisor). We found no published Coin price. The Circular Ring 2 is sold from Circular's own store, not Amazon.com; our Circular Ring 2 review covers the rest.

WHOOP: the membership is the product

WHOOP isn't a ring, but it comes up in every subscription conversation because it takes the model furthest. WHOOP sells its band as part of a membership: the hardware comes with the plan. A WHOOP staff reply on the WHOOP Community forum says that once a membership ends, “WHOOP will no longer collect, upload, or analyze your biometric data” ( WHOOP Community). We couldn't confirm current WHOOP membership prices, because whoop.com blocked our checker, so we don't print them. If WHOOP's membership is what you're leaving, see WHOOP alternatives without a subscription.

Three kinds of “no subscription”

The rings that don't charge a fee aren't all offering the same deal:

• Nothing to pay, nothing locked. RingConn. Every feature ships with the ring, and the only paid item is optional protection.
• No fee, but optional paid extras. Ultrahuman (PowerPlugs, UltrahumanX) and Circular (Coins). Your core data is free; a few named features aren't.
• No fee, but a phone requirement. Samsung. The ring is free to use, but only on Android, and only fully on a Samsung Galaxy phone.

One more ring now belongs in the no-fee column: the Amazfit Helio Ring, which we previously left out because we could not confirm it was still sold in the US. Its Amazon listings are live, and Amazfit's page says “No Subscriptions Required” with one footnote worth reading, covered in our Amazfit Helio Ring review.

How to check any ring's subscription policy yourself

New rings launch every year, and fee policies change. Here's how to check one in five minutes:

1. Search the brand's support site, not its homepage, for “membership” and “subscription.” Support pages state fees plainly; ad pages lead with the ring.
2. Look for the words “unlocks,” “premium” and “members get.” They mark a paywall.
3. Find the brand's “without a membership” list. Oura publishes one. If a brand charges a fee and won't say what works without it, treat that as an answer.
4. Read the Amazon listing title as a clue, not proof. RingConn and Samsung put “No App Subscription” right in the title; confirm it on the brand's own page.
5. Check phone requirements and optional extras. A no-fee ring can still need a specific phone or sell the one feature you want as an add-on.
6. Note the date. We recheck every fee we publish and date it. Do the same with anything you read.

Pass those checks and you're down to a short list. These three pass all six, and they're the no-fee rings we'd start with. For the full ranking, see the best smart rings without a subscription.

Subscription mistakes to avoid

• Reading “free app” as “no subscription.” Oura's app is free to download. The insights aren't.
• Counting the free month as the price. Oura's included month ends, and the fee starts.
• Assuming an older Oura skips the fee. Ring 4 uses the same membership as Ring 5. Only Gen2 owners are exempt.
• Assuming “no subscription” means nothing extra, ever. Ultrahuman and Circular sell optional add-ons. They're optional, but check whether the feature you want is one of them.
• Ignoring the phone. A Galaxy Ring on an iPhone costs you the whole ring, because it won't pair.

If the evidence behind Oura still tempts you, the fair comparison is Oura vs RingConn, which sets that fee against the published accuracy data. Every other cost question lives in our cost and subscriptions hub.

Beyond rings, and beyond fees

The hardest version of this question is not about a ring at all. WHOOP sells the band as part of the membership, and a WHOOP staff reply spells out what stops when the term ends - Whoop without a membership. And a fee is only one kind of dependency: every ring here also needs an app, and most need a brand account, which we go through on can you use a smart ring without a phone.