Oura Ring 5: Impressive Design, Can’t Be Repaired

The Oura Ring 5 is the most wearable smart ring the company has produced. It is genuinely small now, light enough that most people forget they have it on, and polished enough to pass as jewellery. If the earlier generations felt too chunky, this one does not. It’s the real deal. Or at least it seems to be at first glance. The full comparison with alternatives is in our Oura Ring 5 comparison piece.

One thing is worth knowing before you spend $399 on it.

A teardown by iFixit, the repair specialists, found that the Ring 5 cannot be opened without destroying it. The casing has to be cut apart. Once the internal battery degrades to the point where the ring can no longer hold a useful charge, the device reaches the end of its usable life.

Oura generally replaces the entire ring when a battery is found to have failed under warranty, rather than replacing the battery itself, which is impossible. That warranty runs for one year in most markets.

EU battery rules taking effect from February 2027 tighten repairability requirements across the wearables category. Compact wearables are currently exempt from mandatory user-replaceable batteries, but manufacturers face broader obligations around battery servicing and spare-part availability. The regulation requires replacement batteries to remain available for at least five years after a product stops selling. These rules apply to products launched after February 2027, so the Oura Ring 5 itself sits outside their scope. The obligation falls on Oura’s next generation.

Oura has filed a patent for a smart ring with a replaceable battery, so the problem is on the company’s radar. The Ring 5 on sale today has no solution in place for a battery failure after the warranty expires, beyond whatever consumer law your country provides. In the EU and the UK, consumer protection legislation applies a reasonable lifespan test: a $399 ring is reasonably expected to last considerably longer than a one-year warranty would imply, regardless of what the warranty itself says.

For buyers outside the EU/UK, the regulatory picture is less favourable, but the practical question is the same. A $399 device with a non-replaceable battery and a one-year warranty has a fixed lifespan. Many owners are likely to find themselves replacing the entire ring once battery degradation becomes significant after the warranty expires.

If you track your recovery seriously and are weighing the Ring 5 against subscription-based alternatives such as WHOOP 5.0, the total cost over three to five years is worth calculating before you commit.

Oura Ring 5

Smart Ring

$399

£399

+other retailers

Last Updated on 26 June 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID