One of Samsung’s biggest launches this year is the Galaxy Ring. Not only is it a completely new product for the company, but it also makes Samsung the first smartphone brand to enter the smart ring market, which has so far been dominated by smaller companies like Oura.
The Galaxy Ring is a super-compact wearable device that sits on your finger. While you wear it, it tracks your health parameters such as heart rate and sleep, and also uses AI algorithms to give you insights like an energy score and sleep score.
You don’t need to own a Samsung Galaxy smartphone to use the Galaxy Ring, as it works with any Android phone that has Samsung Health installed. But what if you’re using an iPhone? Well, you’re out of luck, as the Galaxy Ring simply isn’t compatible with iOS. And, if you ask me, that’s the biggest flaw with the Galaxy Ring.
Smart rings should be for everyone
I primarily use an iPhone 15 Pro, and for the past few years, I’ve also been using an Oura Ring (I also spent some time with the Evie Ring). In addition to those two options, the world of smart rings also includes the Circular Ring Slim, the Ultrahuman Ring Air, the RingConn Smart Ring, and more.
With the exception of the Evie Ring, all of the rings I’ve mentioned work on both iOS and Android. And even in the case of the Evie Ring, it has been confirmed that it will have an Android app in the future.
The thing with the Galaxy Ring, though, is that it seems Samsung has no plans to make it compatible with iOS, and I’m wondering: why?
A smart ring is a wearable device that doesn’t have a display. So, unlike a smartwatch, it doesn’t run software like a Galaxy Watch 7 running Wear OS. It makes sense that Samsung and Apple would make their smartwatches only compatible with their respective platforms, but smart rings? They just use a Bluetooth connection to pair with your phone — there’s no proprietary software involved on the ring itself.
One swing and one miss
By arbitrarily excluding iPhone users, Samsung is also excluding half of the Galaxy Ring’s potential customer base. Again, I’ve been using the Oura Ring for several years and would love to try the Galaxy Ring. But its lack of iOS support makes it much less appealing, so I have no choice but to stick with the Oura.
Although it’s probably a lot easier said than done, I wonder what it is that… In fact What’s stopping Samsung from creating a Samsung Health app for iOS? After all, Google’s Fitbit app is still in the App Store, meaning wearables like the Fitbit Charge 6 work with iOS and Android without issue. It makes sense that a Galaxy Watch Ultra wouldn’t work with an iPhone, but the Galaxy Ring? I’m not buying it. Plus, if an iPhone user likes the Galaxy Ring enough, they might try other Samsung products in the future and maybe even upgrade to a Samsung phone, smartwatch, etc.
Not giving iPhone users the option to try out the Galaxy Ring without an Android phone is, to me, a mistake. It could have been an opportunity to convince iPhone users that the grass could be greener, but alas, it isn’t.
Of course, if Apple were to make an Apple Ring, I doubt it would make it available to Android users to try out. After all, both Apple and Samsung have their own loyal users within their respective walled gardens and ecosystems at the moment.
When we have such closed ecosystems, where even accessories like a smart ring can only work on a specific platform, consumers lose.
