Oura launches genius features to take on Apple, Fitbit, and Whoop

Tracking your steps and sleep used to be enough.

But as consumers grow more health-conscious and tech-savvy, the bar is higher than ever for wearables. People want real health insights, not just data dumps. They want to know how their body responds to food, stress, rest, and movement in real time.

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I know because I’m one of them. I’ve worn every tracker out there — Apple Watch, Fitbit — and while they're useful, I always felt like something was missing. I wanted more than passive data. I wanted a tool that could help me understand my patterns, not just track them.

And increasingly, people like me want it all without a screen strapped to their wrist — something that blends seamlessly into daily life, not clashes with it. (Because let’s be honest, a chunky watch doesn’t always vibe with a carefully styled outfit.)

That’s exactly the gap one major wearable company is aiming to fill.

Oura bets big on AI technology

Oura, the company behind the popular smart ring, just announced two major new features designed to deepen its role in metabolic health: Meals and Glucose.

Both tools rely on AI and personalized pattern recognition to offer users a more holistic view of their health.

The Meals feature is wild — you literally just take a picture of your food, and the ring uses AI to figure out when you've eaten. No logging, no typing, no swiping through food databases. It just knows.

I tested this feature when it was in Oura Labs and was obsessed. It just worked. When I got the notification that it was going away, I was genuinely bummed, so seeing it return now in an official way is a big win.

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For the Glucose feature, Oura teamed up with Dexcom to bring real-time blood sugar tracking into the mix. Users can now buy a Stelo — a tiny sensor you wear on your upper arm — directly from Oura’s website. It tracks glucose 24/7 and syncs with the ring to show how your daily habits affect your levels.

So, in other words, this ring might understand your habits better than any other smart device you’ve ever worn.

"Our product roadmap for this year is built on a robust investment in AI-forward offerings that enable a deeper understanding of the dynamic interplay of key health factors,” said Chief Product Officer Holly Shelton in Oura’s latest press release.

Oura is a growing threat to Apple and Fitbit

While Apple and Fitbit have dominated the wrist-wearable space for over a decade, they’re increasingly facing pressure from more niche — and now, more innovative — competitors.

Oura’s ring offers a form factor that many users prefer for 24/7 wear, especially while sleeping. But now, it’s also pushing the boundaries of what a wellness device can track.

Apple’s been teasing non-invasive glucose tracking for years — still nothing. And Whoop? No glucose tools, period.

Oura just leapfrogged them both — not by building a glucose sensor, but by integrating with Dexcom and building smarter health correlations around the data.

And let’s not forget the out-of-this-world meal detection tool. Just snapping a photo of your lunch and having your ring know what you ate? That’s the kind of futuristic simplicity users crave — and something Oura's competition hasn’t even touched.

This move also signals a broader trend: wellness wearables inching closer to medical-grade insights, without going full clinical.

For users, it’s a win. For competitors, it’s a wake-up call.

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