Update - March, 2024: In your ŌURA App, you can now unlock a more complete view of your active life on Strava. Our new integration allows you to create and share an ŌURA sticker to a selected activity on Strava.
Choose the relevant data points across Sleep, Readiness, and Activity (or any combination of all three) to build your story, and then select the Strava activity you want to share to. For full instructions on this new integration, please visit this link
When some wake up in the morning, they first check social media, their messages, or in with work to see what they missed while the other half of the world was awake. First thing in the morning for me? Before I’ve even had my cup of coffee or hear the pitter patter of my children’s feet as they make their way to my room…I check 3 apps (in no particular order): Supersapiens, WHOOP, and ŌURA. I’ll go into the first two later but for now, I’m going to talk about our exciting new integration with ŌURA.
First off, I test a lot of devices. On average I have four devices on at a time and even more when I’m out for a run or ride. So you can imagine my excitement when my ŌURA ring first arrived and I didn’t have to find space on my wrists! Initially, I wanted to have the device on my ring finger but the smallest size they make is a ring size 6, I’d need a 5. Plus, ŌURA recommends the best results are from the pointer finger. Did you know that “the finger is the ideal source of accurate heart rate data, more sensitive to movement, and more accurate across all skin tones.” - ŌURA
ŌURA has found its home on my middle finger, as I kept fidgeting with it on my pointer and the middle fingers feels a little less middle school mood ring-ish. It is bulkier than the standard rings I wear but after two days it was barely noticeable, besides spinning it around constantly.
ŌURA Mobile Application
Now, let’s talk about the app. Easy to read, presented with a sense of calming with the use of nature and cosmic landscapes. Even when I know I didn’t get any sleep (yay parenting toddlers) it gives a gentle nudge to “Give yourself a break” and a reminder to take some time to rest and ‘just breathe’.. No “in the red you failed” type vibes. ŌURA even has a rest mode to pause your your activity goal and continue giving yourself that needed rest.
The app is quick, syncing is seamless and the icon at the top keeps you up to date on battery percentage. As there is no means to check the battery level from the device itself. There are app push notifications you can turn on as reminders for when it is getting time to charge, but honestly, they tend to cloud together with the other hundreds of notifications I get daily and I have to remind myself to check the battery level periodically.
Strava ŌURA Integration 
You can record your activities seamlessly on ŌURA and have them sync to Strava or continue what you’re doing and have your Strava activities sync to ŌURA. It’s a beautiful partnership and one I know many are excited about.
Recording on ŌURA
So how does recording work? At the moment it is pretty simple. After you connect Strava and ŌURA, and your ring is up to date, your new WHR activities will sync to Strava! WHR activities are recorded using the “Record Workout Heart Rate” option found directly on the home screen. Front and center, you can’t miss it. Be aware that manual and auto-detected activities recorded by ŌURA cannot be synced to Strava as of July 2022.
Once your ŌURA recording is finished, like magic (okay, API magic) it pushes to Strava. Including a summary of your daily readiness and activity score. And yup, just like I was saying….toddlers “pay attention”.
On top of that, your Strava activities will also pull into ŌURA. These Strava activities will be automatically displayed as activity cards within the ŌURA app. Strava activities will count towards your activity goal and Activity Score in the ŌURA App.
Hardware
Now for the hardware itself, I am really hard on rings, in fact I had to switch my wedding ring to a silicone ring because I managed to crack the diamond….honest, don’t ask me how. That being said, the ŌURA ring has stood up, it does however, have a lot of scratches and is showing it has been well-used.
For more information about connecting your ŌURA Ring and Strava or checking in on future feature development, check out our help center article: Oura-and-Strava
Features I’m excited about:
- Strava Integration
- Inclusion of Mediation, Sleep, and Breathe sessions found under Explore
- Recommended bedtime (yet I’ve never managed to hit those)
- Readiness Score
- Sleep Tracking
- Convenient device with epic ring tan line possibilities
