Oura adds birth control and menopause tracking to its health ring

Health-tracking ring maker Oura is expanding into hormonal health with two new features aimed at women. The company this week launched birth control support and menopause insights for its ring wearers.

The move comes alongside a major sports partnership. Oura signed a five-year deal to become the official wearable fitness device sponsor of the United States Tennis Association and the US Open tournament.

What's the news?

Oura's new hormonal health features build on its existing Cycle Insights experience. The birth control support integrates with the company's fertility tracking tools, which already provide cycle stats and educational resources.

Here's how the birth control feature works:

• Users specify their preferred birth control method in the app
• The ring tracks biometric data to show how hormones affect their health metrics
• Users can chat with Oura's AI bot called Advisor to understand what's normal for them
• The feature connects to Twentyeight Health for access to licensed healthcare providers

The menopause feature uses something called the Menopause Impact Scale. Oura developed this questionnaire to measure quality of life across 22 symptoms. It combines those answers with biometric data from the ring to provide personalized insights.

On the sports side, Oura's US Open deal means every tournament athlete will get a free Oura Ring through the player gifting program. The partnership also extends to USTA coaching programs and league championships.

Why does it matter?

Women's health tracking is a growing market for wearable devices. But most fitness trackers still treat hormonal health as an afterthought. Oura is betting that deeper integration of reproductive health data will set it apart from competitors like Apple Watch and Fitbit.

The menopause focus is particularly smart timing. Menopause affects millions of women but gets little attention from tech companies. "This is a place that is obviously very trendy right now," Oura's clinical director of women's health Dr. Chris Curry told MobiHealthNews in March.

The sports partnership helps Oura compete with rivals like WHOOP, which has dominated professional athletics partnerships. High-profile athlete endorsements can drive consumer sales and provide valuable health data for product development.

The context

Oura has been steadily building its women's health portfolio. The company launched pregnancy tracking features last year and has partnerships with Maven Clinic and other reproductive health companies.

The sports angle isn't new territory either. Oura already sponsors the WNBA and NBA. But the US Open deal is its biggest tennis partnership yet.

Other health tech companies are also chasing sports deals:

• WHOOP partnered with the NFL Players Association in 2017 and provided devices to all NFL players in 2020
• Telehealth company Onrise partnered with the United Soccer League in 2023 for mental health support
• Mental health platform Unmind teamed up with Major League Baseball in 2020

The trend reflects how professional sports can validate health technology and provide massive data sets for improving algorithms. For Oura, tracking elite athletes' recovery and performance could help refine its health insights for everyday users.