Review of the Circular Ring sleep analysis
The Circular Ring is primarily promoted for its extensive sleep-tracking abilities.
Just like the well-known Oura Ring, which we’ve also reviewed, it is intended to help you improve your sleeping pattern in the long term.
How well did you sleep?
Ever wonder why some days you wake up feeling exhausted?
And on others, you jump out of bed full of energy and ready for the day ahead? 🦸♂️
The Circular Ring will provide you with answers to these exact questions.
Info: Since the ring does not have a display, all your recorded data can be accessed through your phone. The Circular App can be downloaded for iOS from the Apple App Store and for Android from the Google Playstore.
You will receive the following information:
- Sleep Score (provides information about the quality of your sleep)
- Total sleep time
- Sleep start and end times
Other parameters are also recognised. 👇
Your sleep stages: Deep, REM and light sleep
The Circular Ring can also tell you how much time you’ve spent in which sleep stages.
How do you activate performance mode on the Circular Ring?
To activate the performance mode on your Circular Ring, open the Circular App on your mobile phone:
- Click on "My Ring" in the top right corner.
- Go to "Data Mode."
- Activate the "Performance Mode."
- Your ring now measures your sleep stages while you sleep.
Interruptions to your sleep
The Circular Ring detects when you wake up throughout the night.
Waking time during sleep should not exceed 20% in healthy adults.
Real sleep: How efficient was your night's rest?
The real sleep or the efficiency of your night's rest provides information about how long you really slept.
So “real sleep” is simply total sleep time minus interruptions.
A value above 90 % is optimal here. 😌
How much did you move in your sleep?
The Circular Ring also detects how often you toss and turn while you sleep.
This information is summarised under “Tranquility”.
Nights with lots of movement usually reduce the quality of your sleep.
Circadian rhythm - how good is your body clock?
The Circadian rhythm is your inner body clock. It refers to processes that respond to your environment over a 24-hour cycle.
Our sleep-wake rhythm is probably the best example of a circadian rhythm.
This is because it allows our body to adapt to the changing environmental conditions that occur throughout the day.
The Circular Ring detects whether your sleep pattern corresponds to your chronotype.
Time taken to fall asleep
We often don't fall asleep straight away when we lie down in bed at night.
The Circular Ring detects the time taken to fall asleep.
Did you sleep too long or too little?
Sleeping too long is inefficient and can have a negative impact on our productivity.
However, not sleeping long enough also has negative effects on our body.
The Circular Ring compares the duration of your sleep with the optimal sleep duration for your body.
Measuring your heart rate and heart rate variability
The Circular Ring also measures your heart rate and heart rate variability.
This way you can keep an eye on your heart rate throughout the day.
In addition, the Circular activity tracking ring also measures your heart rate variability.
The Circular Ring uses this data to tell you how well your body has recovered from the events of the previous day.
In addition, HRV can also provide information about fatigue and stress.
In our test, however, our HRV was always far below the reference line, even though we actually felt fit and rested. 🤔
Measuring your breathing rate
The Circular Ring also recognises your breathing rate.
This data can be used to detect illness, for example. Because when we are sick, we breathe harder and faster. 😮💨
Breathing exercises for relaxation and falling asleep
The Circular Ring offers breathing exercises to help you relax and fall asleep.
The smart ring vibrates on your finger to let you know when to take your next breath.
Taking your temperature
The Circular Ring is also equipped with temperature sensors. 🤒
With this data, you can see how your body's natural defences react to your environment.
Your SpO2 value: Blood oxygen level
Just like most smartwatches, the Circular Ring can continuously measure the oxygen saturation of your blood.
This value can be used to identify possible respiratory diseases, such as shortness of breath, asthma or sleep apnea.
In healthy adults, the SpO2 value is usually between 94 and 100.
Smart alarm clock
The Circular Ring also comes with a silent, smart alarm clock.
This allows the smart ring to wake you up in the morning during light sleep by gently vibrating. ☀️
You can specify a time window in which you would like to be woken up in the Circular App.
As soon as the Circular Ring detects that you are in a light sleep phase during this period, it will wake you up. ⏰
Our conclusion on sleep analysis with the Circular Ring
We spent a lot of time reviewing the sleep analysis of the Circular Ring.
All in all, the Circular Ring records pretty much everything you could want from a good sleep-tracking ring. 🥳
But of course we didn’t just want to find out what data the ring provides, but also how accurate it is.
And this is precisely what we would like to deal with in the next chapter. 👇
Accuracy test of the Circular Ring sleep analysis
The Circular Ring records all kinds of data while you slumber peacefully at night. 🦥
But of course it is not only the variety of data that is crucial, but also its accuracy.
To check the accuracy of the Circular Ring, we wore it together with the Oura Ring 3 and the Apple Watch Ultra.
Deviations in the sleep score
The sleep score provides information about how well you’ve slept overall.
It is a compilation of all the different sleep data the Circular Ring has recorded.
When comparing the wearables, we noticed that the Circular Ring generally calculates a higher score than the Oura Ring 3.
The reason for this could be different formulas for calculation.
Accuracy of the sleep stages
For a more detailed overview, we compared the measured sleep stages of the Circular Ring with both those of the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch Ultra.
We retrieved the following results in the measured sleep stages:
Circular | Oura | Apple | |
Awake | 0 h 1 min | 1 h 47 min | 0 h 20 min |
REM | 1 h 16 min | 1 h 10 min | 1 h 31 min |
Light | 4 h 12 min | 3 h 36 min | 5 h 6 min |
Deep | 1 h 2 min | 1 h 18 min | 0 h 25 min |
When comparing this data, it becomes clear that the Circular Ring definitely has problems measuring waking phases.
Unlike the Oura Ring 3 and the Apple Watch, the Circular Ring did not detect any waking stages during our sleep.
On the other hand, the rest of the data largely coincides with that of the Oura Ring.
Heart rate measurement accuracy
Next, we compared the measured heart rate (HR) between the Circular and the Oura Ring. 👇
When comparing the heart rate monitors, we received the following results:
Circular | Oura | |
Average | 73 bpm | 71 bpm |
Lowest HF | 58 bpm | 59 bpm |
The collected data of the two gadgets are overall very close to each other! 🥳
Heart rate variability accuracy
Another variable we looked at closely is heart rate variability (HRV).
Here you can see the following:
Circular | Oura | |
Average | 44.93 ms | 42 ms |
Maximum | 75.36 ms | 76 ms |
Another data match between the two rings! 🤩
Sleep analysis accuracy - Our conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that the measured data of the Circular Ring is broadly consistent with that of the Oura Ring. 🙌
Such problems could be fixed by future updates. After all, we must not forget that the Circular Ring is still in the beta phase.
Review of the activity tracking features of the Circular Ring
The Circular Ring not only offers sleep tracking, it also aims to keep track of your daily activity.
Unlike a smartwatch, the focus of smart rings is generally not on sports and exercise.
Nevertheless, the Circular Ring has all kinds of fitness tracking features on board. 🤩
Always-on activity tracker
As you go about your daily tasks, the Circular Ring continuously tracks your activity with its built-in accelerometer.
You will receive the following information in the app:
- Steps
- Distance travelled
- Calories burned
- Pulse and heart rate measurement
- VO2max
- Temperature
Your daily activity
The Circular Ring not only tracks your daily activity, but also categorises it according to intensity.
Your cardio points: have you moved enough today?
The Circular Ring helps you to get enough exercise every day.
To do so, it tracks your activities and awards you with so-called cardio points depending on the intensity of each activity.
The higher the intensity of the activity, the more cardio points you get.
With the help of the Circular Ring, you can ensure that you get enough exercise every day.
Steps taken and calories burned
The Circular Ring counts your steps and measures your calories burned.
You can see your daily progress as well as data from the past days and weeks in the app.
Based on your habits and profile, the Circular Ring sets daily walking goals for you.
The Circular Ring helps you to stay active.
The ring is water-resistant and can also be worn for surfing, swimming, sailing and other water sports.
Measuring heart rate and resting pulse rate
The Circular Ring doesn’t just measure your heart rate and resting pulse while you sleep at night.
Even during the day, the Circular Ring offers you these health-tracking features.
The Circular smart ring always compares your resting heart rate with your reference value.
Your energy score: how fit you are today
The Circular Ring also tells you how much energy you have available for the day.
The following aspects are taken into account when calculating the energy score:
- Immune system
- Stress level
- Sleep
- Activity recovery
A high score means your body is ready for intense physical and mental activities.
If, on the other hand, your energy score is low, rest is the order of the day.
Circular Ring’s fitness features - Our conclusion
Overall, the variety of recorded data impressed us.
The Circular Ring helps you keep track of your daily activity and well-being. 🙌
Accuracy test of the Circular Ring fitness data
As part of our tests, we naturally also wanted to check how accurate the measured activity data is.
To do so, we wore the ring in conjunction with the new Apple Watch Ultra and the Oura Ring 3.
Pedometer accuracy
When testing the accuracy of the Circular smart ring’s pedometer, the following data was recorded by the 3 wearables. 👇
When comparing the data, the following results were obtained:
Circular | Oura | Apple | |
Steps | 19.112 | 14.461 | 19.828 |
Distance | 14.0 km | 13.8 km | 16.20 km |
Looking at the data side by side, it is clear that both the Circular Ring and the Oura Ring recorded a significantly lower distance travelled than the Apple Watch Ultra.
In terms of the pedometer, however, the Circular Ring performs very well! The number of steps recorded is much closer to the Apple Watch Ultra than the Oura ring. 🙌
How accurately does the Circular Ring count your calories?
In our test, we also wanted to find out how accurately the Circular Ring counts calories burned.
Here, too, we have compared the data with that of the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch Ultra.
We have looked at the data in detail. 👇
Circular | Oura | Apple | |
Calories | 2,583 | 2,933 | 3,043 |
Here it becomes clear that the Circular Ring somewhat underestimates the calories burned when compared to the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch.
Conclusion of the fitness data accuracy test
Due to the design, it is not surprising that neither the Oura Ring nor the Circular Ring can provide as accurate data as a smartwatch.
That being said, the Circular Ring's pedometer is surprisingly accurate. 🥳
However, the ring somewhat underestimates the number of calories burned.
The Circular Ring smart features review
The Circular Ring website also promises smart functions. The wearable claims to act as an extension of your smartphone.
At present, however, these are not yet available.
Nevertheless, let’s take a look at what the ring is supposed to be able to do for you.
Notifications on your finger
The Circular Ring is designed to alert you to incoming messages by lightly vibrating on your finger.
Whether it's calendar reminders, your timer or message notifications, soon you'll be able to find out from your finger when news awaits you!
Smart control
The website also promises smart control options.
Circular is still keeping quiet on the details here, however.
That being said, it should be possible to control connected devices using the small button on the fitness tracking ring's housing.
As soon as we receive new information about the Circular Ring, we will of course tell you about it here.
Our experience with the design and wearing comfort of the Circular Smart Ring UK
The Circular Ring is of course not only a sleep and fitness tracker, but also an accessory.
So naturally, the smart ring should also look good on your finger and fit comfortably.
Let’s have a look at our experience with design and wearing comfort.
Appearance of the smart ring
A medical-grade, non-metallic inner material is used for the inside of the ring. The ring is non-allergenic and therefore also suitable for allergy sufferers. 🥳
The outside of the smart ring is made of a carbon fibre coating with a stainless steel alloy.
On closer inspection, however, we noticed that the surface of the ring already appeared somewhat scratched when it was unpacked.
To be honest, we would have expected better workmanship from such an expensive gadget. 😕
Side button
An inconspicuous black button is located on the outside of the ring.
Pressing this button will deactivate your alarm.
In the future, it will also be possible to control connected devices.
Personalised design thanks to exchangeable outer shells
The Circular Ring comes with a changeable outer shell.
This is a metal ring that you can simply slide over the outside of the wearable.
When you place your order, you can choose from one of the four shells:
- Gold
- Black
- Silver
- Rose gold
The outer shells in silver, gold and rose gold are more a matter of preference.
The ring itself is black. So if you use a shell other than the black one, a black border will be visible.
Size and weight of the Circular Ring
The Circular Ring is available in US standard sizes from 6 to 13.
The ring also has the following dimensions:
- Width: 9 mm
- Thickness: 2.75 mm
- Weight: 5 grams (depending on size)
In our opinion, the Circular Ring looks a bit clunky.
Wearing comfort: How comfortable is the Circular Ring?
To find out how comfortable the Circular Ring is to wear, we wore it every day for several weeks.
Overall, however, we found the ring to be a bit big and clunky.
Some people may find it particularly bothersome while sleeping.
In addition, the sensors on the inside of the ring sometimes press a little uncomfortably into your skin.
How do you find the right smart ring size?
In order for the Circular Ring to measure your data as accurately as possible, it is important that it fits well and does not slip.
Circular offers a sizing kit for determining the size. Alternatively, you can also determine your ring size using the template that is available for download on the website.
Determine your ring size with the sizing kit
You can order the sizing kit on the company website.
You will then receive a sizing kit with 8 plastic rings delivered to your home.
Now you can try on the different circular rings. The flat side should face the inside of your hand, and your should be able to reach the button with your thumb.
To find the optimal fit, Circular gives the following tips:
- The thickness of your fingers changes throughout the day. Therefore, wear your ring for at least 24 hours to ensure an optimal fit at any time of day.
- Go for the smaller size if you are unsure.
- Wear the ring on your non-dominant hand.
Use the free Circular ring template
For those who do not wish to order the size kit, Circular provides a template.
You can simply download it and print it out.
The Circular printout also makes it quick and easy to determine the right ring size.
Our conclusion on the design of the Circular Ring
For our taste, we find that the ring is a little too clunky overall.
The workmanship is also less high-quality than we would have expected.
But we hope that Circular will pay a little more attention to elegance with future generations of the ring....
The Circular Ring battery life review
Battery life is, of course, a particularly important topic among all wearables. 🔋
After all, this largely determines how long you can wear your wearable before it has to be recharged.
So of course we also took a close look at this point for our review.
How long does the Circular Ring battery last?
According to the manufacturer, the Circular Ring's battery should last up to 4 days before you need to recharge the smart ring.
In our test, this information was confirmed.
How long does the Circular Ring take to charge?
The charging time of the Circular Ring is quite fast at around 60 minutes. 🙌
A magnetic charging cable is included in the package contents.
The power cable is USB-C. However, a power unit is not included in the delivery.
Our experience setting up the Circular Ring
To use the Circular Ring, you need a mobile phone with the Circular App installed.
The app can be downloaded either from the Apple App Store or the Google Playstore.
The set-up itself takes only a few moments:
- Charge the Circular Ring.
- Install the app on your smartphone.
- Create a Circular account.
- Select your ring in the app.
- Follow the set-up steps on your phone.
- And you're read to go! 🥳
We had no problems with set-up.
Our experience with the Circular App
You can view all the data recorded by the fitness tracker ring in the Circular app. 📱
In addition, you also have the option to adjust your ring settings.
First thing’s first: In our opinion, the Circular App is not yet fully developed. 😕
We would like to share our experiences with the app below.
Your activity and sleep
The Circular App is generally divided into 2 large blocks:
- Your sleep data
- Your activity data
Here you will find all the information collected by the ring.
If you click on the individual parameters, you will also receive useful explanations of what the values actually mean.
However, we would have liked to see more recommendations on what exactly you can do to improve your sleep in the long term.
Your personal assistant Kira
In the Circular App, your personal assistant Kira is at your side.
Kira provides you with all your recorded data.
Make adjustments to your ring
In the Circular app, you can also adjust settings on your ring, edit your personal data or set your smart alarm clock.
All in all, however, the Circular App does not yet appear to be fully developed in our opinion, as can be seen in the screenshot on the right, for example. 👇
Our conclusion: good concept, rough execution
In conclusion, the concept of the Circular App is not bad in and of itself.
You will find all the important information presented in graphs. 📈
However, in our opinion, the design could be a little nicer. In addition, the operation is somewhat less simple and intuitive than we are used to from Oura, Apple or Samsung.
Price: How much does the Circular Ring cost in the UK?
An important point when buying a new wearable is, of course, the price. 💶
Even though the Circular Ring is not yet fully developed, it seems to have a lot to offer.
So, how much does the smart ring cost?
At market launch, the Circular Ring costs £239 in the UK.
This makes this smart ring a cheaper alternative to the popular Oura Ring.
Where can you buy the Circular Ring in the UK?
The Circular Ring is available directly from the manufacturer.
However, you may have to put up with long delivery times.
Since the Circular Ring is a crowdfunding project, delivery dates can be delayed, depending on the number of orders.
The current anticipated delivery for UK orders, according to the manufacturer site, is May 2023.
The gadget is not currently available on Amazon.
What alternatives are there to the Circular Ring?
Smart wearables are very much in vogue at the moment.
The well-known Oura Ring was the first fully developed smart ring on the market.
If you are looking for a smart ring, the Oura Ring is the best alternative to the Circular Ring.
However, a smart ring isn’t necessarily the best option for athletes who want extensive support during training.
In this case, it's better to go for a smartwatch or a sports watch.
The Circular Smart Ring Review UK - Our Conclusion
When the Circular Ring was announced a few months ago, we were immediately on board.
Now we’ve finally been able to put the smart ring to the test ourselves. 🤩
And the wearable definitely has a lot to offer:
- Extensive sleep analysis
- Continuous activity tracking
- Lots of information about your health
- Smart and silent alarm clock
The idea behind the ring is definitely good!
However, the concept is not yet fully developed. The ring does not look quite as elegant as we would have hoped.
We like the black shell best. But of course that's a matter of taste....
There is also definitely room for improvement in the app and the accuracy of the recorded data.
But of course we must not forget that the ring is currently still in beta phase.
With a few updates and improvements, we believe this could be one of the best smart rings available in the UK.
The app will give you regular updates and news about new features and improvements, which is exciting. You feel like you're part of the development. 🚀
Table of Content
The new Circular Ring - Our review of the new smart ring on the UK market (2024)
Review of the Circular Ring sleep analysis
Accuracy test of the Circular Ring sleep analysis
Review of the activity tracking features of the Circular Ring
Accuracy test of the Circular Ring fitness data
The Circular Ring smart features review
Our experience with the design and wearing comfort of the Circular Smart Ring UK
The Circular Ring battery life review
Our experience setting up the Circular Ring
Our experience with the Circular App
Price: How much does the Circular Ring cost in the UK?
What alternatives are there to the Circular Ring?