Can the Oura Ring 4 automatically detect workouts?Best answer: Yes! The Oura Ring 4 smart ring is designed to automatically detect exercise, workouts, and other distinct movements, like gardening or walking the dog. That’s thanks to a feature called Automatic Activity Detection (AAD) that can track more than 40 different activities automatically. This ranges from runs and walks to even housework or swimming. What to know about Oura Ring 4 and AAD (Image credit: Oura)

The AAD feature in Oura Ring enhances the experience by providing and tracking even more information. Along with logging duration and distance for certain activities, it can also provide an average heart rate and heart rate zone information once the Oura Ring 4 detects that you’re in the middle of a specific activity among the 40 supported activities. (It can do this if you manually queue up a workout as well). 

When the activity is done, you can look in the app and see a heart rate chart that shows how long you spent in each of the six heart rate zones. This will help you determine the intensity of the workout and if you need to ramp up the next time or slow down because you’re staying in a target heart rate zone for too long. It will also give you an idea of which activities get your heart rate up the most or help you keep consistent numbers. 

There’s also a bar chart at the bottom of the Activity detail card that will add up your total activity minutes for the week and how these relate to metabolic and cardiovascular benefits. 

Oura calculates the heart rate zones, which range from slow movements and recovery to all-out all-out effort whereby your heart and respiratory system are working at maximum capacity, by using a formula that takes into account your maximum heart rate combined with your age, how long the activity lasted, and additional metrics. 

The feature, which is coming to Oura Ring 4 members as well as Gen 3 members, means even if you forget to start tracking a workout, the ring will detect that you’re doing something, potentially even know what specifically you’re doing, and start tracking it so you get credit for your hard work. So, no more frustratingly stamping your feet because you're halfway through a 5K run and forgot to start the workout.

Oura says that AAD is about 89 percent accurate within one minute, and it is able to detect all types of activities based on the way you’re moving, your heart rate, and other factors. Some of the most popular activities it can track, according to Oura, include walking, yoga, hiking, yard work, and housework. Once you are doing the activity for at least 10 minutes, the ring should kick in and realize what’s going on. The more you perform any of these activities or others Oura Ring can detect, the better the smart ring will get at automatically detecting them. 

Introduced in early October 2024, Oura Ring 4 is the latest generation of the company’s smart ring. At its heart is Smart Sensing technology that works with research-grade sensors to adapt to your finger and deliver continuous and accurate data. Lightweight with a smooth interior and thin shape, Oura says it’s also more comfortable than previous generation models. It’s also available in an expanded range of sizes, from 4 up to 15. 

We have already named the Oura Ring Gen 3 smart ring the best smart ring you can buy. We’re confident the Oura Ring 4 will overtake this model as the new favorite for smart ring buyers.