Oura’s Automatic Activity Detection (AAD) gives you the credit you deserve for all your daily movement. Whether you’re doing housework, walking the dog, or training for a marathon, Oura tracks more than 40 activities automatically and more accurately than ever before.
Now, in addition to providing details such as duration and distance, Oura provides your average heart rate and heart rate zone information after an activity has been automatically detected or manually added so that you can better understand the activity’s intensity.
This means you no longer have to manually start a workout from the home screen to track your workout heart rate. (This feature is available to Gen3 members and Oura Ring 4 members.)
“This update to Automatic Activity Detection is the result of years of innovation at Oura,” says Maris Jameson, Staff Product Manager. “The goal of the feature is to empower members to understand the impact of their activity on their health. It’s not just a heart rate feature; it’s a holistic health solution.” Learn more about this update below.
New to AAD: Average Heart Rate & Heart Rate Zones
As of October 2024, Oura Ring will automatically capture your average heart rate and heart rate zones. Once you’ve completed the activity, you’ll see a heart rate chart and how many minutes you spent in each of six heart rate zones.
This enables you to understand how all of your activities throughout the day—from walking your child to school to a high-intensity fitness class—benefit your health.
Plus, at the bottom of the Activity detail card, you’ll also see a bar chart aggregating your total activity minutes for the week, showing how many minutes added up to metabolic and cardiovascular benefits.
What Are Heart Rate Zones?
Your heart rate zone provides insights into how hard your body is working during an activity, which affects your overall health.
All six heart rate zones deliver benefits to your overall health. While vigorous exercise is great, remember that low-intensity activities and everyday movement can improve your energy and mood, help you manage your weight, and benefit your metabolic health. The more intensely you work out (e.g., zones 3 to 6), the more it will benefit your cardiovascular system and muscle strength.
Heart Rate Zones |
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| Oura uses six heart rate zones. The ranges assigned to each zone are calculated using an age-based estimate of your max heart rate (max HR). | |||||
| Zone 0 | ≤ 49% of max HR | You’re either fully at rest or moving slowly. This zone is associated with recovery. | |||
| Zone 1 | ≥ 50-59% of max HR | You’re moving at a light, steady pace, promoting circulation without much strain. It’s still easy to speak in full sentences. This zone is associated with metabolic health, and is common in warm-ups, cool-downs, and low-intensity activities. | |||
| Zone 2 | ≥ 60-69% of max HR | You’re moving at a light-to-moderate pace that may cause mild strain but feels sustainable. At this intensity, you’re still able to talk in full sentences, but it feels a bit harder than zone 1. This zone builds endurance and supports metabolic and cardiovascular health. | |||
| Zone 3 | ≥ 70-79% of max HR | You’re expending moderate-to-high amounts of energy and feeling more strain. Your breathing is more labored and it’s becoming difficult to maintain a conversation. Zone 3 benefits your cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength. | |||
| Zone 4 | ≥ 80-89% of max HR | You’re exerting near-max effort—moving with high intensity and really challenging your body. Time spent in this zone has high cardiovascular benefits but should be balanced with recovery. At this intensity your breathing is much quicker and you can only speak a few words at a time. | |||
| Zone 5 | ≥ 90-100% of max HR | You’re working at an all-out effort, and your heart and respiratory system are working at maximum capacity. This zone should leave you breathless while fortifying your cardiovascular and metabolic health. | |||
How Does Oura Calculate Heart Rate Zones?
Your heart rate zones are personalized to you, as Oura bases them on a formula that includes your maximum heart rate and your age at the time of activity, among other metrics.
Tracking Your Activity More Accurately Than Ever
In February 2024, we announced that we’ve improved the accuracy of Automatic Activity Detection to 89% accuracy.*
This means Oura is better at detecting the right activity you’re actually doing, whether it’s surfing, dancing, or cleaning up your house.**
The top 10 most popular activities among Oura members, including walking, yoga, hiking, yard work, and housework, have all seen notable gains in accuracy.
What’s more, the more you do that activity, the more accurate Oura is in detecting it. Based on the way Oura captures your daily movement and calculates exertion, the duration of your AAD is accurate to within one minute for 40 unique activity types, and you just have to do that activity for 10 minutes for it to be registered. All movement counts!
RELATED: Inside the Ring: How We Improved Automatic Activity Detection (AAD)
*Accuracy calculation is based on when any one of 40+ activities are detected by Oura and not dismissed by the member.
**Keep in mind that while you can wear your Oura Ring while doing most gym activities, like other jewelry, Oura Ring may become scratched if worn while lifting weights or gripping barbells or dumbbells.