Oura Ring's new Symptom Radar feature could predict your next cold. How it works

Wearable tech is getting so good at monitoring your health that it might even predict when you’re about to get sick. That’s what smart ring giant Oura’s new feature, released Thursday, claims to do. 

Oura’s Symptom Radar, a previously experimental feature through Oura Labs, just got a permanent spot on the smart ring app’s interface. Here’s how it can detect when your body needs a break. 

Also: Can Oura predict when you’re about to get sick?

Symptom Radar uses the biometric data collected through the smart ring to assess and detect signs of strain or illness. This could be a higher resting heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, or breathing rate. If it detects a fluctuation in a user’s baseline health metrics, Oura will notify the user with one of three severity levels in the Symptom Radar tab: no signs, minor signs, or major signs. If Oura detects minor or major signs of strain, it will encourage the user to turn on Rest Mode and prioritize recovery.

Oura users can view their Symptom Radar status every morning when they wake up, as they do for their sleep and readiness scores. The feature initially debuted through Oura Labs, the smart ring’s user feedback-generated testing lab where people test out new features and provide feedback before a possible and permanent relaunch. The smart ring brand updated the feature from its original run in Oura Labs to improve upon historical insights and contextual factors that inform the three severity levels, so people can understand the patterns behind their health trends, like the trend of an elevated body temperature or resting heart rate. 

Also: Oura Ring 3 vs 4: Which model should you buy?

By constantly monitoring and collecting your health data, the Oura Ring creates a baseline for your health metrics. This makes it easy to spot fluctuations in those metrics that tend to indicate illness. 

The feature will begin rollout Thursday and hit all Oura Ring 3 and Oura Ring 4 member’s phone’s by Dec. 11, according to an Oura spokesperson. 

This might be the official launch of a tool that monitors when someone will get sick, but Oura has been monitoring and — sometimes even predicting —  illness from the get-go. Last month, Oura’s senior vice president of science told me about how his Oura Ring had waved the red flag on his health days before he experienced a dental infection that resulted in an emergency surgery.  

Also: How old is your heart? This new Oura Ring feature could tell you

The smart ring has collected health data that members take to their doctor to get diagnoses of autoimmune disease, pregnancy, and more, according to stories shared on Reddit.  

I’m looking forward to testing out Symptom Radar now that it will be officially available on the app. Some users on the Oura Ring Reddit reported that the feature failed to detect illness during its experimental run on Oura Labs. I’ll put it to the test to see just how accurately it can detect signs of strain and report back.