Oura Ring 2 Teardown: Inside the NBA’s COVID-19-Detecting Smart Ring

[@GrepowBatteryOfficial]

Thanks a lot for the great video. Our custom shaped 3.7V battery is showed in this video. The thickness of our battery is just similar to the circuit board, fulfill the rest of the space and providing the max duration.

[@whatthetruck6880]

Do you have a link for the battery used?

[@punchface3000]

Can you make batteries like this with wireless charging?

[@GrepowBatteryOfficial]

@Pete Moss If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us. Or you can directly Google *Grepow Battery* and you can see the full information of the shaped battery.

[@pranavarora3456]

@@GrepowBatteryOfficial is the battery management system used in it also your product?

[@GrepowBatteryOfficial]

@@pranavarora3456 Hi Pranav. We have a professional R&D team and can customize BMS according to customer's needs. But the BMS of this ring is not made by us, if you are interested, please feel free to contact us :)

[@onometre]

I have a hard time faulting this product niche for lack of repairability lol. I'm not sure how else they could do it.

[@onometre]

@@smg950u they have to seal it off. Sweat will corrode unprotected electronics

[@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart]

I mean, rating products for their repairability is kinda their thing. And the manufacturers could always have pulled a smartphone and stuck a battery in a hump, protected by a glued piece of colorful glass. That would give it some repairability and some points for style too.

[@hellothere55551]

@@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart I'm having a hard time visually imagining what that would look like, would sou mind naming an example? :)

[@wewter]

Great teardown. To second what others have said, I'm not sure how you could get a replaceable battery into this thing without introducing multiple fault points along the way. But if they had a program where you send it back for a replacement ring and they're able to recycle/refurbish it (effectively), then that doesn't seem too shabby.

[@prussian7]

When I started out in electronics small vacuum tubes were still a thing. The level of technology in this ring, we saw as kids watching Star Trek (TOS) and many people older than me would say while watching that'll never happen.

[@kristoradion]

Yesterday i saw "teardown engineer", now "lead teardown engineer". I want to work there and climb up to "senior lead teardown manager" 😄

[@SandiaPeaks]

Great video! As an owner, I can tell you that you nailed the biggest flaw - the battery. My original didn’t hold a charge after 6 months. They replaced it but the original is a throw away. Not too environmentally friendly.

[@mitchib1440]

How is it aside from that? Does it do what it should do? I heard that you have to pay them monthly to get your data.

[@iam5085]

Our ring lasted 3 years. If this breaks, to be fair, the amount of waste is quite minimal compared to any other product (like smart phones).

[@JanMessersmith]

Excellent presentation. Please tone down the repetitive background music. It's not content, just noise.

[@tortysoft]

I totally agree - deeply irritating 'music' very interesting product.

[@lbsiuk]

What microcontroller is that? I'm interested about things like this. I know it will be ARM based but it still fascinates me. Edit: found it! It's a Cypress PSoC 6.

[@bootchoo96]

He's says it at 7:51...

[@purenatural5736]

Interesting upload. First time I see a smart ring teardown.

[@iFixitYourself]

It was our first smart ring teardown!

[@purenatural5736]

iFixit looking forward to your next ring teardown. There are many out there (from China mostly).

[@timscott8561]

I have to say, it's a fantastic teardown video. I've always been curious about the smart ring. How could there be such a small or ultra thin battery to support the smart ring? Emm... This Grepow battery manufacturer is amazing.

[@brendankiyohara771]

Who is curious when Ifixit tears down a new electronic?

[@iFixitYourself]

You? Hopefully? 🤞

[@drewvigne]

The temperature sensor is most likely built in to the accelerometer. Many of them have this feature these days.

[@wolf1438]

Maybe you should think about negative score rating e.g. -2 when you destroy the device + the casing. -5 would be if you destroy everything include tools you used. -10 all above + it destroys your sanity.

[@markfisher7962]

Like the definition of a good landing: "good" if the crew survived, "great" if the aircraft can be reused.

[@shayverde]

I love my Oura ring! So much more comfortable than smart watches/bands. Plus it tackles a more holistic and wellness approach compared to other smart devices, which is better for activity. The cycle tracking and battery life is super awesome! And another interesting thing is it detects illness before you feel anything. Also, it was very accurate when it comes on tracking my sleep. You can actually protect its beauty without sacrificing biometrics and comfort with an OSleeve.

[@araigumakiruno]

repairability score : -13/10

[@hdtravel1]

Amazing micro miniature device. Unbelievable what they have fit into this ring. Like a James Bond device.

[@supercrazymario404]

I would’ve submerged it in acetone since the plastic would’ve dissolved nicely and left everything else in tact

[@ShervinShares]

Will we see an Oura Ring 3 teardown?

[@shanpoxiao2737]

I'm also looking forward to seeing what you have to say

[@ShervinShares]

@@shanpoxiao2737 i will definitely make a video when I get it!

[@shanpoxiao2737]

@@ShervinShares Hope to see your excellent video, especially very concerned about its wireless charging technology, it is an honor to see the specific receiver chip

[@finbarrdolan]

It’s an expensive item to just throw away, also you become attached to it as a pice of jewellery. It would be pretty cool to be able to surgically remove and replace the battery. Think of all those users who might want to get this done. I’m sure you could do it.

[@kiranranjitkar2748]

How the hell is it possible to fit so much features in the tiny ring ?

[@Msound500]

Great video 🤩, think the only way to tear down this ring without damages is try : dissolving the epoxy with acetone or breaking it carefully by frozen. Originally the PCB are probably flexible ( that’s how been introduced inside the metal frame ).

[@atta1798]

not pcb ....flex .....

[@xelionizer]

Thanks for sharing your insights! Insane to think that you pay so much for a product, then furthermore, have to have a subscription for it (gen 3), and it can't even be serviced?? I thought about getting one, but my spider-sense is telling me, I would be a fool if I bought it! Consume, consume, consume!

[@toddkrein]

I've had both generations and love it, and I can attest that it's nearly physically indestructible. When the battery failed in one (after more than a year, IIRC) it was repalced under warranty. They aren't fixing them.

[@janvandermark2747]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing!

[@rc51bigdaddy]

Great video. I was wondering how those things were assembled.

[@Lvth]

One of the best videos i ever watched, this is from the future.

[@thesral96]

Would be awesome to to get some clouse ups of the teardown process...

[@desmondhow343]

I would probably put it into acatone. It will probably dissolve away the resin and not harm the rest of the components.

[@tanmaypanadi1414]

did you mean acetone or am i missing something?

[@thetechnicalsocietyofknoxv6926]

Thanks for the great video. But you left out a very important finding: Does it still work? Also why did you not try to saw the metal ring apart very carefully to pry it off from the outside?

[@JasonGardnerUK]

Happy to see this product. I'm now thinking we are step closer to the "Fringe" earring phone.

[@zondervon]

I'd get one. But I would still like to screen my calls, so maybe an accompanying watch. But I feel that would just be a Bluetooth in ear head phone with a 4G watch. Which is already a thing. I'd still get it 😁

[@tanmaypanadi1414]

@@zondervon it could work with voice assistant

[@PeriodicalDisaster]

I know I'm way late to the party but I am a jeweler and I think best best. The line you chose to cut from the inside. Instead in that exact spot I'd cut the metal from the outside with a jewelers c clamp hand saw and try to pry just a bit then alcohol bath to remove it and probably recast the outer metal in gold and reassemble with some jewelers 2 part clear epoxy to hold it in

[@DarkNemesis25]

I would have thrown it in an a acetal bath to disolve the plastic. ( you could re overmold a new layer if you wanted to repair it i guess) those small unmarked chips would be protection circutry on the battery possibly or wireless charging regulating circutry, The temp sensor would be inside the chips, many IC packages have thermometors inside the chips to measure chip temp but if it's done after sleeping and watchdog wakeup , the chip temp is negligable and can be used for ambient temp. pretty legit build but should not be $300, that could be made for under $15-20 with most of the cost being molding and finishing the ring metal. metalworking is much more costly than pcb production and ovemolding plastic.

[@Mireaze]

Curious why you didn't start with the alcohol bath?

[@iFixitYourself]

Good question! We wanted to get the alcohol underneath the circuit board to counteract the adhesive holding it in place. But it can only penetrate after the waterproof seal is broken and the circuit board is dislodged a little.

[@lisaliu7870]

Interesting Grepow Battery. How can you make such a small battery? First time I see such a small battery!

[@Arcade3145]

Can you tear down the raycon e25s I’m really curious what’s inside the ones I have

[@xalataf3365]

They're just the same inside as some shitty Chinese wireless earbuds - because Raycons are shitty Chinese wireless earbuds except sold for $100 more

[@gsimable]

It’s definitely a disposable device. My battery won’t hold a charge at night after close to 3 years. That’s a $300+ lesson learned.

[@remanjecarter2787]

Now if they had a version that showed off the electronics then it might be worth the price for tech enthusiasts

[@ChazzC]

That would be a conversation piece. Many years ago (when there were mostly analog, mechanical watches) there was a Bulova (I think) that had a transparent face and back so you could see everything: of course, being a low volume item, it cost more.

[@SteinErikDahle]

@@ChazzC, look up skeleton watches. They are designed so you can see the internal parts moving.

[@1719pankaj]

This thing is crazy

[@Gallienus53]

I guess it doesn't work any more? I'm looking to buy an Oura ring but sadly, all the rings currently made are for those with smaller fingers. The largest Oura3 made is just ~.75 mm too small in diameter. As a chemist I believe you could dissolve the metal using an acid or electrochemically (which will even dissolve gold or Platinum) and won't hurt plastics assuming that no circuitry is exposed. The battery is an issue. That happened with my Kindle too. One option would be putting a solar cell on the outside and or else a replaceable battery in the ring's crown.

[@veasnanoeun235]

We have the first version of the Lord of the Ring

[@Daniel-Biruk]

I wonder who types for the ifixit channel considering the fact that a lot of people are part of ifixit

[@iFixitYourself]

A lot of different people :) It takes a village, or something like that...

[@Daniel-Biruk]

iFixit oh thanks ifixit it was just one of the things I wondered about

[@jamesmcintosh4664]

@@iFixitYourself hahahahahaha it takes a village

[@newjargon1697]

Very interesting. Thank you for the video, enjoy this New Near!

[@lucatrento344]

Looks like Oura rings have serious battery issues. My ring stop holding the charge and became useless just after the warranty expires. If you are not willing to buy a new ring (almost 400$) every two years, think before buying one.

[@gunplaytv]

Do the galaxy ring, I want to know how much titanium is truly under the surface

[@stevegeekscorner]

Fantastic teardown, thank you

[@AudreyJoyceBurch]

What about trying a solvent to melt the potted electronics? Maybe acetone?

[@FredFierling]

Enjoyed the content, but did I see colour shifts? Maybe your camera was set to auto white balance.

[@iFixitYourself]

Thanks for the kind words. We're all filming from home for the first time, so we're still working out the kinks!

[@1rstTry]

Maybe your constructive criticism is set to auto troll.

[@vnagaravi]

Why don't just ground line side and push the PCB

[@shermanhoman5984]

Brilliant tear down!

[@shanpoxiao2737]

I guess my main concern is which one is the wireless charging chip inside?

[@kevinjloder]

Do you teardown gen 3? I got my oura ring 3 STUCK on my right finger which I didn't realize how much bigger it is than left. MIght have to get it cut off :(

[@jimfogle184]

A Dremal tool with a rotary cutting wheel should be able to cut through the outer case. I like iFixIt but it sure seems hypocritical to have a laptop with a low repair rating sitting on the desktop instead of a laptop with an easy to repair score. The vise stand with a suction cup mount doesn't stick to a wooden desktop very well, does it? I sure like the heat resistant gloves though.

[@jeffsuovanen4818]

Hi! That's actually a 2012 (unibody) MacBook Pro - 7/10 repairability. Over the years it's had at least two battery replacements, multiple RAM upgrades, several hard drive/SSD upgrades, a full keyboard replacement, a MagSafe board replacement, and probably something else I'm forgetting. A lot of folks at iFixit still use them.

[@Rickiye]

@@jeffsuovanen4818 Good teardown dude.

[@PauloRCLopes1]

If you're interested in knowing more on the partner responsible for the design and engineering part of the Oura ring as well as the improvements from the first generation follow the link: www.haltian.com/reference/oura-ring/ Interestingly enough Oura won a Red Dot Award for that design.

[@laverdadbuscador]

could it still work flattened out?

[@mrfrog8502]

9:15 Sulfuric acid... that's a bit overdramatic. How about Acetone. This might dissolve the plastic layer.

[@game-tea]

I think it wont work because it is medical-grade plastic, so it is built to last extremely long. I don't think it would be harmed by some acetone. But you never know maybe it works!

[@ashishsinha1987]

They have Pulse Oximeter hardware but they don’t mention it on their website. It’s not enabled.

[@matgessel]

I think Jeff 's guess of "pulse oximeter" is incorrect. As far as I can tell, pulse oximetry requires two LED emitters of different wavelengths; SpO2 is calculated as a ratio of reflected red to infrared light. The Oura works with infrared alone. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_oximetry#Function

[@hkyt21]

I bought this ring and the box said "assembled" in Estonia but based on this video, I feel they intentionally avoided to be labeled made in China

[@TheAnoniemo]

It can still be assembled in Estonia with a battery from China right? I don't see the problem.

[@hkyt21]

@@TheAnoniemo A reply after one year. Where did I say it's a problem? Don't make a problem that doesn't exist.

[@TheAnoniemo]

@@hkyt21 The reply was made a year ago on my screen...?

[@hkyt21]

@@TheAnoniemo but you noticed. You misunderstood my comment so I just wanted to correct it.

[@movoyemickele]

Now I'm afraid that the ring can explode while it's on my finger

[@borquein]

How much does each ring coast and where can I buy it at

[@Razzman70]

$300 for the one in the video, $400 for one in black from OuraRing.com. Google does wonders for finding this out.

[@JWSmythe]

I just saw these in another video, and a paid content. They're over $300 new, but down around $100 on eBay, but I was wondering how to replace the battery. So I see, we don't. That's disappointing. I really don't like disposable electronics, especially at that price.

[@elnurinjo]

Can some one tell what charging coil exactly used here?

[@ratulalam2144]

Anyone know, how I can get a hold of the microcontroller?

[@davidkleinman4920]

How thick would you say the titanium is directly over the battery?

[@Adri_BlackBeast]

Para mi la puntuación de reparación debería ser de 0. Cualquier intervención acaba con el dispositivo dañado, por lo que incluso es imposible repararlo, además de que las conexiones van soldadas todas 👎

[@macbookpro16inch82]

For the people who speak English: For me the repair score should be 0. Any intervention ends with the damaged device, so it is even impossible to repair it, in addition to the connections being soldered all 👎

[@harmcampmans9188]

I watched this because I would like to replace the battery myself (or actually: keep using my ring with a battery that doesnt hold charge for one night). When watching it I realise it is probably easier to bring the charger to the finger at night (and then only wear the ring at night, with some bulky charging-bracelet or something). However, the software is probably built to not measure data while being charged. If anybody has more intel on what the behavior of the ring is while being charged, please let me know.

[@harmcampmans9188]

Just realized I could test this quite easily. Bringing the charger to the ring is not a solution. main reason: if you put the ring on the charger and try to trigger a meditation break or something, it would just prompt you with something like "cannot do this, because the ring is on a charger".

[@Breathdeep0k]

Would replacing my Nintendo Switch’s old battery with the new one work? Please answer

[@kevinhutcheson2660]

Video about repair kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2mtdZWHidBosNk In the video description is the links to the tools & parts

[@2.7petabytes]

Plus, a monthly fee to use one?! No thanks!

[@xdxdxdxdboi5796]

How do I install ox s el Capitan

[@nadiyek8539]

if you were a jeweller you could cut through the metal outer ring with a metal jeweler's saw and pry it open without having to deform the inner plastic ring at all… but you would then have to cast an entirely new outer ring which seems like more work than this nonserviceable tech is worth to be honest

[@SmithyScotland]

And only $299.

[@atta1798]

you should get a microscope for your teardowns....

[@chrono_ninja]

Here’s my jeweler’s advice: throw it away. These rings are not designed to be repaired rather thrown away

[@txm100]

🙄 Yeah but the point of the video is to just look inside.

[@Stefun8D]

I disagree, anything can be repaired with enough patience and the proper application of google.

[@Rickiye]

Maybe future iterations of such rings will be built with repairability in mind. Reminds me of the 1st Apple Airpods Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus teardowns. Going by how they're made Airpods Pro are disposable while the Buds + are more repairable.

[@NaterFernat]

Me actually shouting: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[@hortonj63]

Testing to make it where cips are small enough where we can implant them

[@Stefun8D]

You dont need a jeweler, you need a mechanical designer. Dont hesitate to reach out and maybe I can help

[@bicycler]

Can you speak to the wireless radios and if a user should be concerned about wearing it all day? I'm legit curious, not trying to bait.

[@mshremshock]

you can turn off the bluetooth function on the ring. it is auto-enabled when you put it on the charge ring to sync.

[@Taskforce1]

these were $500ish + subscription and they some how pushed em on the nba 😂

[@HunterRodrigez]

THEY WANT 300$ FOR THAT THING???

[@tanmaypanadi1414]

its a monopoly no competition and not too bulky

[@Deathbyfartz]

imma buy a switch and a thermometer instead XD

[@maxmixer]

Did you need to have the crap music playing through the whole video ?

[@EraserTraceur]

Lebron liked this video.

[@iFixitYourself]

But will Steph like it?

[@EraserTraceur]

@@iFixitYourself goat vs goat

[@lunaticcoding]

@iFixit Very cool video :D could you also do the same for the charger :D

[@shanpoxiao2737]

I'm also looking forward to seeing what you have to say

[@RimWulf]

These aren't made to fix.

[@carlosgaricaresendiz]

Hi ifixit

[@iFixitYourself]

Hi Carlos!

[@carlosgaricaresendiz]

You make great videos

[@iFixitYourself]

@@carlosgaricaresendiz you made our day!

[@Lionheart1188]

Pay $300 to give even more of your rights away? The fuck is humanity doing!

[@randfigueroa4696]

Just another tracking device

[@misaalanshori]

Medical-grade plastic dust. Yum

[@ahmadmamo7517]

K

[@pinsandneedles7248]

they should be given to everyone or at least a ring that just detects covid.

[@Razzman70]

I'm curious at how well it works. I can only imagine the shitshow that the company will recieve if one of the NBA players gets covid and this ring didn't catch it.

[@japiditto]

@@Razzman70 Well - Oura is not specifically designed to catch Covid-19. It tracks your temperature, breathing, heart and activity. It's seen - at least in some cases - that change in temperature, heart rate, etc. are early warning signs that you are getting sick. COVID-19 or something else. BTW, I have had Oura almost two years now. I had my ring replaced twice. With first two the battery died after 5 months, but now the third has been working full year nicely. Got a ring to my wife at the same time and she has got no problems with hers in two years. I didn't see any link to the Oura-site, so here it is, ouraring.com/

[@tanmaypanadi1414]

its not a covid detection tool its just a body temperature monitoring tool. which will just flag an warning to the medical army that supports these athletes.physically and mentally

[@a51mj12]

This "electronics repair skill set" guy doesn't know what he's doing. He's bad even at destructing, omg.

[@3mar00ss6]

not gonna lie but he looks like the typical iPhone sheep (ಠ﹏ಠ)

[@Fennecbutt]

Uhhhh, dremel/sand down outside of ring until you break through the metal band but not really into the plastic...