Circular is putting mobile payments at your fingertips with its new Circular Ring 3 series. Announced at IFA, the consumer tech show in Berlin, the Circular Ring 3 Pro and Circular Ring 3 Slim are bringing more smartwatch-like capability to the ring category.
Both models add contactless payments to Circular’s existing health tracking and bring back the haptic vibration feature from the original Circular Ring. That means the rings can buzz your finger for app notifications, medication reminders and health alerts without a screen or phone as the middle man.
The screen-free wearable category is having its moment in the spotlight with an explosion of new rings and wrist-based trackers from Oura, Ultrahuman, Google and Garmin promising to track long-term health trends round the clock without the battery limitations and distractions that come along with tiny smartwatch screens. But that same lack of a screen has limited how much these devices can do beyond collecting health data.
Circular, based in Paris, is carving out its own lane by pushing more functionality onto the finger. Its FDA-cleared ECG feature and AFib detection, and NFC payments and haptic alerts push the Ring 3 series closer to smartwatch territory, without giving up the low-profile design that draws people to rings in the first place.
The trade-off is that Circular’s platform still isn’t as established as competitors such as Oura, Whoop and Google, which have had more time to build out their health insights, coaching and ecosystems.
The Ring 3 lineup also expands Circular’s health tracking with blood pressure trends, glucose trend estimates and advanced sleep metrics. But without FDA clearance, these remain wellness features designed for spotting trends and more conversation starters with a doctor rather than diagnostic tools.
Circular Ring 3 Slim vs. Circular Ring 3 Pro
Both rings share Circular’s core health tracking, NFC payments and the returning haptic vibration motor, but there are some important hardware differences.
Dimensions: As the name suggests, the Ring 3 Slim is a lot smaller, in both height and width, than the Pro and the previous generation, putting it closer to the ultra-slim Oura Ring 5, which was the smallest ring I’d tested at the time. The Ring 3 Pro, by contrast, is also slightly shorter than its predecessor, but it’s gained thickness and weighs exactly the same as the Gen 2 ring.
| Circular Ring 3 Slim | Circular Ring 3 Pro | Oura Ring 5 | |
| Width | 5.9mm | 6.8mm | 6.09mm |
| Thickness | 2.35mm | 2.78mm | 2.28mm |
| Weight | 1.9–3g, depending on size | 3–4g, depending on size | From 2g, depending on size |
Materials: The Pro uses titanium, while the Slim is made from a biocompatible resin with a titanium coating.
Battery: The Pro will outlast the Slim by about two days. Circular claims up to 12 days for the Ring 3 Pro, versus 10 days for the Slim.
Health tracking: Only the Pro has the ECG feature and blood pressure tracking.
CircularCircular Ring platform and AI coach
Circular has built its following on a subscription-free model, giving ring owners full access to core health tracking metrics along with its Kira AI health companion, a feature most competitors charge for even when they offer a free tier.
However, the company isn’t fully closing the door on charging for advanced medical features, with some of these showing as “limited time” in the app.
Price and availability
Circular hasn’t announced pricing or a firm release date for either Ring 3 model yet. The company says those details, along with preorder timing, will arrive in the coming months. We’ll update this article when the company announces more details.
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