Smart rings are emerging as popular tools in women’s health technology.
The world of FemTech – technology focused on women’s health – is experiencing explosive growth. The global femtech market is projected to surpass $100 billion by 2030, driven by innovations in reproductive health, maternal care, and wellness. Women are leading the charge in adopting health wearables: over 70% of wearable device users are women tracking fitness or health metrics. But these users aren’t just counting steps. There’s a surging demand for devices that provide deeper, more personalized insights – from fertility and menstrual health to stress and sleep. In fact, a staggering 85% of women say they prefer wearables that offer reproductive health insights like cycle tracking and ovulation data. This reflects a broader trend: women’s health tech trends are shifting toward tools that empower users with intimate body knowledge. Among these innovations, smart rings have emerged as the next big thing.
FemTech on the Rise – and It’s Personal
Why are smart rings gaining traction in women’s health? One reason is the overall growth of femtech and the focus on addressing long-neglected needs. Women are seeking out technology that goes beyond generic wellness tracking, looking instead for devices that help manage hormonal cycles, fertility, menopause, and mental well-being. The market data underscores this shift. Wearables for fertility tracking have seen a 300% increase in adoption since 2018, as more women embrace natural family planning and ovulation awareness. At the same time, devices to help manage menopause symptoms (like hot flashes and sleep disturbances) have grown in demand by 250% over the past five years. These spikes in adoption show that female consumers are hungry for tech solutions tailored to life stages and hormonal changes – areas historically under-served by general wellness gadgets.
Another factor is the push toward body literacy and non-invasive health management. In the wake of increased interest in alternatives to hormonal birth control, many women want detailed knowledge of their menstrual cycles for family planning or general wellness. Over half of women ages 18–45 now use a wearable device for period tracking and ovulation prediction. This signals that cycle tracking is moving into the mainstream. Femtech innovators are responding with products that meet these needs in more convenient ways than traditional methods (like daily temperature checks or manual diary entries). Smart rings, which continuously monitor biometric signals, are perfectly poised to deliver these insights seamlessly, fitting right into a modern lifestyle.
Why Smart Rings? The Right Tech at the Right Time
Smart rings have some unique advantages that make them especially attractive in the femtech arena. Firstly, their form factor is discreet and comfortable. Not everyone enjoys wearing a bulky smartwatch or remembering to use a thermometer each morning. A sleek ring can be worn 24/7 without getting in the way – you can even sleep and shower with it. The finger is also an excellent spot for accurate readings: it has a rich blood flow, which helps measure metrics like heart rate and skin temperature reliably. Importantly, many smart rings boast multi-day battery life, so users don’t need to charge them every single day – a huge plus when continuous tracking is key. This combination of convenience and accuracy is turning heads. As The Verge noted, smart rings are “thinner, more accurate, and more wearable” now than a decade ago, and for some people they’re a smarter choice than watches.
Crucially, smart rings are arriving just as women’s health tech needs them. These rings pack sophisticated sensors that can track subtle physiological changes. For example, measuring nighttime skin temperature at the finger has proven useful for predicting ovulation – even a small rise (~0.5°C) can indicate that fertile window. Rings can gather this data passively, unlike traditional basal thermometers that require manual use each morning. Similarly, rings track heart rate variability, sleep quality, respiratory rate, and other metrics that collectively paint a picture of one’s hormonal and stress cycles. In short, a smart ring can serve as an ever-vigilant companion, quietly logging the body’s signals and alerting the wearer to meaningful patterns.
From Fertility to Menopause: Empowering Women’s Wellness
The versatility of smart rings means they can support women through various health journeys. A single device can help someone track menstrual cycle patterns, monitor for irregularities, and even assist in natural contraception. (Notably, the FDA has cleared apps like Natural Cycles to use wearable temperature data for contraception, and certain rings sync with such apps.) Smart rings can also aid those trying to conceive by pinpointing ovulation more precisely. Down the line, when a user enters perimenopause or menopause, the same ring’s data (like temperature fluctuations or heart rate changes) can help track symptoms such as hot flashes or sleep disturbances. It’s rare for one piece of tech to span so many life stages, and this long-term usefulness makes the investment more compelling.
Furthermore, these rings feed into the broader trend of holistic women’s wellness. They don’t just focus on one metric; they often give a dashboard of body and mind indicators. For instance, some rings now offer features to log mood or stress levels alongside physical data, acknowledging that mental health is part of the wellness equation. By correlating sleep patterns with mood or cycle phase, women can glean insights into how each aspect affects the other (e.g. noticing higher stress during certain cycle phases and taking proactive self-care steps). This holistic approach is very much in line with the femtech movement’s ethos: empowering women with knowledge about their own bodies, so they can make informed health decisions.
Your body gives signals—this ring helps you decode them
Smart Rings Leading the FemTech Movement
Several pioneering products illustrate why smart rings are at the forefront of femtech. The Oura Ring – one of the first mainstream smart rings – gained fame for its accurate sleep and readiness tracking, but it has also embraced women’s health by enabling period prediction and even partnering with fertility apps. It famously helped some users detect early signs of COVID-19 and even pregnancy by noticing subtle vital changes. The Evie Ring, launched by Movano Health, is explicitly billed as “the smart ring designed for women’s health,” focusing on menstrual cycle tracking and no-subscription access to your data. And then there’s the Belle Ring, an emerging femtech ring that exemplifies this innovative wave. Belle Ring combines sleek design with powerful cycle intelligence – aiming to offer highly sensitive skin temperature tracking for ovulation, compatibility with popular period apps, and long battery life. Notably, Belle emphasizes a privacy-first approach to data, a crucial trust point in the post-Roe era (more on privacy later). Smart rings like Oura, Evie, and Belle are thus spearheading a new generation of wearables tailored for women’s needs. By continuously monitoring key biomarkers and delivering insights via user-friendly apps, these devices are reshaping how people manage fertility, contraception, and overall wellness.
It’s also telling that the smart ring market itself is on a rapid upswing. One analysis even estimated the smart ring market could reach $50 billion by 2025, fueled in part by this very interest in ovulation and cycle-tracking rings. While that figure might be optimistic, there’s no doubt that big players are taking notice. Industry giants like Samsung have signaled interest in ring devices, and countless startups are entering the space with their own twist – whether it’s focusing on metabolic fitness, mental well-being, or reproductive health. The momentum suggests smart rings won’t remain a niche gadget; they are on track to become a staple of women’s health tech.
A Movement for Body Autonomy and Innovation
Ultimately, the rise of smart rings in femtech speaks to a larger cultural movement. Women are asserting their right to understand and control their health, and technology is finally catching up to those needs. In a time where digital health tools are abundant, it’s the women-focused solutions that stand out for addressing gaps in traditional healthcare. The ability to reclaim reproductive rhythm and gain cycle clarity – without invasive procedures or daily effort – is revolutionary. Smart rings epitomize this revolution: small but mighty devices that put information literally at your fingertips.
This femtech surge is about more than trendy gadgets; it’s about autonomy and personalized care. As one researcher noted, “Wearables are changing the landscape for menstrual cycle tracking and what can be done with those data.” Beyond the buzzwords, what’s happening is that women now have access to continuous data once only obtainable in labs or doctor’s offices. They can track subtle shifts in their bodies in real time and leverage that knowledge, whether the goal is to conceive, avoid pregnancy naturally, manage a condition like PCOS, or simply feel in tune with their body’s rhythms.
In conclusion, smart rings are poised to be the next big thing in femtech because they align perfectly with what today’s women want: convenient, insightful, and personalized health tech. Backed by market trends and an enthusiastic user base, these unobtrusive rings are transforming women’s wellness from the ground up. As femtech continues to rise, expect to see a lot more fingers adorned with smart jewelry – symbols of both tech innovation and women taking charge of their health.
Sources: Femtech and wearables market data; Women’s adoption of health wearables; Smart rings in menstrual tracking; Belle Ring features.
