Is your Oura Ring suffering from bad battery life?
With the newly announced Oura Ring 5 now starting to ship worldwide, attention has turned to the longevity of earlier models — and in particular, how the lithium-ion battery inside the device holds up over time. Long-term battery life is one of the most common concerns across all wearables, and fitness-focused rings are no exception.
While the Oura Ring is designed to maintain consistent daily tracking over years of use, some have reported a gradual decline after extended wear and tear, prompting questions about what Finnish health company Oura is doing to support owners when performance starts to dip below expectations.
The Oura Ring relies on consistent wear to provide the most accurate data on your sleep, activity, readiness levels, and more. For example, the Ring 4 is said to have a battery life of 5 to 8 days on a single charge. You can even give your battery a boost with the recently released portable charger.
However, Michel Janse, an Oura Ring owner, found that her smart ring's battery life wasn't delivering on its promise and decided to contact customer service.
Ms Janse said in an Instagram Reel: "I told them that my battery life was not optimal. They logged into my account and checked my ring from their side. If you have a new ring, which happened to one of my friends, they just replace it for free. If you have an older ring, which happened to me, they give you a $100 (which equates to about £80) promo code, which you can use on your next purchase. And you can use that for the new Oura ring."
It's worth noting that every Oura Ring comes with a limited warranty that covers manufacturing defects and workmanship issues under normal use. For most new rings purchased directly from Oura or an authorised retailer like Amazon, the warranty period is one year from the date of delivery in many regions, though coverage terms may vary depending on which region you purchased the ring.
If your ring develops a covered issue — such as a battery problem, charging malfunction, or hardware defect — Oura's support page says it may repair the device or provide a replacement ring at its discretion. Replacement rings supplied under warranty are typically covered for the remainder of the original warranty period or a specified replacement warranty period, whichever is longer.
The Oura Ring 4 was first released in October 2024
| OURA PRESS OFFICEBut if you're looking to get a voucher for the new Oura Ring 5, not every customer may be offered the same benefit.
A spokesperson for Oura told GB News: "Warranty replacement cases are reviewed individually, and any resolution offered depends on a range of factors, including but not limited to, the ring model, age, warranty status, diagnostic results and the specifics of the customer's situation."
Ms Janse isn't the only customer who is experiencing battery life issues. Several users have written about their experience on Reddit, and some seem to think it's related to the Ring 5 release.
One user wrote: "I just got the replacement ring in April 2026! It is not even two months old. I troubleshot the battery in the app just like I did with my first Oura ring, and it's saying that the diagnostics are normal."
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However, many of the users who have posted about issues with the battery life have done so long before the release of the Ring 5. Some of the posts from users complaining about the runtime date back a year.
Over time, the battery life of your favourite gadget will get worse. Lithium-ion batteries degrade over time as the chemical reactions that store and release energy become less efficient. Each charge cycle causes minuscule amounts of wear inside the battery, reducing its overall capacity. High temperatures, frequent charging, and age all accelerate this process, resulting in shorter battery life and reduced performance.
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Not only that, but there has long been a history of device owners believing that software updates purposefully reduce the performance of an existing gadget to make the idea of upgrading to a newer model more tempting. This phenomenon is known as "planned obsolescence."
Apple has faced multiple lawsuits over its decision to intentionally slow the chipsets in older iPhone models with degraded lithium-ion batteries, a controversial decision that was dubbed "batterygate". The Californian company said its decision to cap performance was designed to prevent unexpected shutdowns, but many iPhone owners disagreed with the decision to reduce performance without a clear warning.
The backlash led to lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, and Apple introducing battery health information and lower-cost battery replacements.
Likewise, Samsung has faced similar lawsuits regarding "planned obsolescence” of its smartphones.