Movano’s smart ring is the rare CES health gadget that will actually ship

There’s always a certain degree of vaporware at CES. It comes with the territory — especially when we’re talking about ambitious health tech that requires regulatory clearance. So it was really neat that after two years, I got to actually hold Movano’s Evie smart ring in my hands ahead of the first wave of units shipping out to customers later this month.

The Evie Ring’s approach to health tracking has a twist. With wearables, women often feel like an afterthought in design. Just look at smartwatches. Usually, companies prioritize bigger sizes to extend battery life at the expense of those with smaller wrists. The Evie Ring, however, is one of the few woman-first wearables, and that clearly shows up in the design.

Holding the ring in hand, you can see it has an open gap that slightly flexes to account for finger swelling — something that can happen in warmer temperatures or as a result of hormonal changes. From an engineering standpoint, that’s actually pretty impressive given the number of sensors and flexible batteries that you need to stuff into such a tiny form factor.

I also dig that it has an actual case, kind of like earbuds. The Oura Ring comes with a small charging stand, and my cats have knocked it — and therefore the ring — off my nightstand and under my bed one too many times. Movano says that the ring itself has an estimated battery life of roughly four days, and that the case itself holds up to 10 full charges.

Meanwhile, the companion app also includes period tracking and mood logging, which will eventually power AI-based insights based on correlations between menstrual health, hormones, energy, sleep, and activity.

Stacy Salvi, Movano Health’s vice president of product and strategy, says the company’s built an AI framework that will allow it to pull insights from different types of data. “So if a woman experiences more restless sleep during the luteal phase per cycle, we’re going to point that out. Some people actually experience better sleep during their cycle and so we’d point that, too. We have actually have different insights on each of those.”

Since Movano is a smaller company, those types of insights will at first rely on users logging moods. Once enough of a database is built up, then those AI insights will come a lot more naturally with time, Salvi says. Other planned features include a health report that can be shared with doctors, automatic activity detection for workouts, and Android support in the second quarter of the year. (At first, the Evie Ring will be iOS only.)

At launch, the ring will be able to do both spot checks and passive overnight readings for SpO2, or blood oxygen. That’s fairly standard for wearables these days, but the more compelling thing to me is that Movano has made it a point to use medical-grade sensors, build the device at a medical device manufacturing facility, and seek FDA clearance for its pulse oximeter.

As far as FDA clearance goes, technically Movano still hasn’t gotten it. The company filed for 510(k) clearance in summer 2023 for blood oxygen and heart rate and is in the process of going back and forth to address concerns. That said, that won’t mean the Evie will launch with any features missing. Movano spokesperson Matt Bevenour says FDA clearance is merely to show users that the Evie Ring meets the regulator’s standards for accuracy. Once clearance is granted, Movano plans to transition from a wellness to medical device.

“It’s going really well. We’re in communication with the FDA, and we’re looking forward to getting that cleared,” Salvi says. She says that, so far, the ring has exceeded FDA standards in testing.

“The DNA of the company is medical-based,” Salvi says, pointing to Movano CEO John Mastrototaro’s background in helping to create the very first continuous glucose monitor. Salvi also noted that getting clearance presents future business opportunities as the line between wearables and medical devices blurs further.

The Evie Ring is available for iOS users to buy now. It’ll cost $269 with no subscription and comes in gold, silver, and rose gold. Shipping is slated to start later this month.