Ultrahuman Ring: How Does Its Smart Alarm Work?
A highly requested feature is here! Ultrahuman has introduced the long-awaited smart alarm functionality. It promises comfort, a scientific approach to sleep, and an improved morning routine. How does it work, what does it offer, and how does it compare to other devices?
Ultrahuman promised a series of updates under the tagline "Holiday Updates" (I mentioned this on IG). Some of the updates are arriving with a delay, but personally, I’d rather wait for a polished version than deal with bugs.
One of the most anticipated features is the Smart Alarm with the tagline: Wake up at your best. Let’s break it down from these angles ⤵️:
- 🤔 How does it work? Does it vibrate?
- 🎯 Test: Did the ring hit the light sleep phase?
- 🧭 What can (or can't) the competition do?
- 💭 My thoughts on the Smart Alarm feature.
YouTube version
🤔 How Does It Work? Does the Ultrahuman Ring Vibrate?
It doesn’t vibrate, folks! Let’s set this straight once and for all – the Ultrahuman Air ring in its current version does not vibrate. This version lacks any built-in mechanism to wake you up, unlike rings such as Circular (vibration), Aizo (LED), or the Whoop band (vibration).
Therefore, you’ll need to rely on your phone near your bed, with the Ultrahuman app running in the background.
Ultrahuman is rolling out new features labeled as Power Plugs, which are considered non-core functionalities.
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In short, these are features you can activate if you find them useful or relevant. Some are 🆓 (free), while others require a subscription 💲.
The smart alarm is 🆓 (free).
What Are the Options of Smart Alarm?
Ultrahuman has taken a (perhaps overly) comprehensive approach to this feature. You can set the following:
- 🥅 When you want to wake up (choose one of the factors):
- After a specific number of sleep cycles (choose between 2 to 10).
- When you repay your sleep debt (options range from 15 minutes to 3.5 hours).
- When you reach the desired sleep duration.
- When you achieve the desired sleep score.
- ⏰ Latest Time You Need to Wake Up
- 🪟 Tolerance – A time window during which you can be awakened, respecting your chosen latest wake-up time. Options range from 15 to 60 minutes.
- 🔁 Repeat Alarm – Set the alarm to repeat on selected days.
- 🎸 Alarm Sound – Scientifically designed options, including natural sounds, piano, harmonically tuned acoustic guitar, and more.
Settings of Ultrahuman Smart Alarm
🎯 Test: Does the Ring Wake You Up in the Light Sleep Phase?
I dedicated several nights to testing this feature. My default setting always targeted the number of sleep cycles, as this approach made the most sense to me. However, I must emphasize that I take the estimation of completed sleep phases—and thus cycles—with a grain of salt (and not just with Ultrahuman).
On the first night, I didn’t fully follow the instructions and notifications, and I likely didn’t have the Ultrahuman app running in the background.
The next three nights went smoothly in terms of the scientifically pleasant alarm melody (is that an oxymoron?). The alarm even rang during moments of wakefulness, which is even better than the light sleep phase. Perhaps the placebo effect of the alarm kicked in! :)
To confirm that I wasn’t just dreaming about being on the edge of light sleep and wakefulness, my Frenz EEG headband confirmed this fact:
I didn’t always manage to reach the target set by the chosen factor (number of cycles), but I consider that secondary at this point.
What About the Battery?
You might wonder if this feature will drain the battery more than usual. I had the same concern. It doesn’t. During the night, the ring’s battery dropped by only 6%, which I consider a normal level of battery drain.
🧭 What Can (or Can’t) the Competition Do?
When it comes to competing platforms, I have to mention the pioneering Czech app Sleep as Android, which I used quite a few years ago.
Among wearables, the standout is Circular, which comes equipped with vibration capabilities.
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Next, there’s the AIZO ring, a smart ring from the family of clones. It features an LED, but the light is so subtle that it hardly works as an effective wake-up method.
I’m also currently testing the Whoop band, which vibrates based on the alarm mode you set (at an exact time, after reaching a certain sleep score, or during "green recovery"). I’ll share more about that in the future.
A special category of wearables includes smart headbands. I have experience with the smart alarms of the Dreem headband (no longer available) and Frenz. Their advantage is accuracy (since sleep happens in your head, not on your wrist), while their downside is comfort—at least compared to rings.
💭 In Conclusion
We’ve all experienced being woken up (usually by someone else) during the wrong phase of sleep. This often leads to sleep inertia – feelings of grogginess, drowsiness, and sometimes a bad mood. Naturally, we try to avoid that. Personally, I believe the best way to wake up is without an alarm. But as we all know, sometimes you need to get up earlier or at least ensure you won’t oversleep – and that’s where alarms ⏰ come in.
A smart alarm can serve as an optimized safety net, or even an advanced life hack to master better waking habits.
Ultrahuman has developed its smart alarm feature to the best of its current ability, and I consider it a solid effort. However, it won’t become part of my daily routine. Why? For two key reasons:
- 👯 The alarm isn’t discreet – there’s a real risk of waking others in the room, not just myself.
- 📵 I’m not a fan of having a phone in the bedroom.
At the same time, I believe that the development of this feature could pave the way for further progress – perhaps the next generation of the Ultrahuman ring will include vibrations. Who knows...?
💍 The Ultrahuman Air is currently available with a 10% discount (use code FITNESATOR10):
Or you can try also Amazon discount link for Ultrahuman AIR "AZFitnesator"
