Delcast Smart Ring Review: cheap way to try a fitness ring, with some annoying trade‑offs

I’ve been curious about smart rings for a while but didn’t feel like dropping Oura-level money just to see if I’d actually use one. That’s why I picked up this Delcast smart ring: price was low, reviews were mixed, and I went in with pretty moderate expectations. I wore it basically non-stop for about two weeks: work, sleep, workouts, showers, the whole thing. I paired it with my phone and compared it to my regular smartwatch to see how far off it was.

Right away, it’s clear this is more of a “starter ring” than a serious health tool. It does the basics: steps, heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep tracking, simple workouts. The hardware itself is okay for the price, but the whole experience is dragged down by the app and some reliability quirks. If you’re expecting Apple Watch or Garmin-level polish, this is not that. If you just want to play with a ring tracker and don’t mind some rough edges, it can get the job done.

During my time with it, I had a mix of “hey, that’s pretty solid for the price” moments and “yeah, that’s exactly why it’s cheap” moments. Sleep tracking and basic activity felt usable. Some of the more “fancy” features like blood pressure were basically there for show in my opinion. I also had a couple of sync and charging hiccups that line up with what other buyers reported.

So this review is from that angle: someone who used it normally, compared it to other devices, and isn’t trying to dress it up. I’ll walk through design, comfort, performance, the app, battery, and value. Bottom line: it’s decent as a low-risk way to try a smart ring, but I wouldn’t rely on it as my only health tracker, and I definitely wouldn’t buy it if you’re easily annoyed by buggy apps.

From a pure price perspective, the Delcast smart ring sits in the budget zone compared to stuff like Oura or Ultrahuman. That’s its main selling point: you can try the smart ring concept without dropping a big chunk of money. For that, it does offer a fair amount: step tracking, heart rate, sleep, SpO2, basic workout modes, and a full week of battery life in a small, discreet form factor. If you’re just curious whether you’d actually wear a smart ring, this is a low-risk way to find out.

But you do feel where they cut corners. The app is clunky, hard to find for some people, and doesn’t sync to other platforms. Some metrics are manual-only and not very trustworthy (blood pressure especially). The hardware works, but between scratching easily, occasional charging weirdness, and a single sensor that loses accuracy when the ring spins, it’s clearly not on the same level as established brands. A few people had units fail after a short time, which is always a risk with cheaper, lesser-known brands.

If you compare it to a basic fitness band at a similar price, you’re basically trading a worse app and fewer features for the advantage of a ring form factor and better sleep comfort. If you care more about solid tracking and ecosystem, a cheap Xiaomi/Fitbit-style band is usually a safer bet. If your priority is “I want a ring, not a watch or band,” then the Delcast starts to make more sense, as long as your expectations are realistic.

So in my opinion, the value is acceptable but not amazing. It’s good for people who want to experiment and don’t need perfect data. If you already know you like wearables and you care about reliability, I’d rather save up a bit more for a better-known ring or stick with a decent smartwatch. This one is more like a test drive than a long-term investment.

From a pure looks standpoint, the Delcast ring is actually pretty decent. It’s a simple black band with a smooth, rounded profile, so at a glance it just looks like a normal ring, not a gadget. I wore it to work and nobody noticed it was a tracker unless I pointed it out. Compared to a chunky smartwatch, it’s a much more discreet way to track stuff, which I liked. It’s also lighter than most metal rings I’ve worn, so it doesn’t feel like a weight on your finger.

The ring only has one sensor area on the inside, which the app and manual insist must sit on the underside of your finger. That means if the ring spins (which it does, especially if the size is slightly big), the readings can get weird or just stop. One reviewer mentioned this, and I ran into the same thing during workouts—heart rate would drop to nonsensical values or flatline for a bit because the sensor wasn’t lined up well anymore. More expensive rings use multiple sensors around the band to avoid this; here you’re stuck with a single point of contact.

A downside I noticed pretty quickly: it scratches fairly easily. I lift weights and do some basic DIY at home, and after a week there were visible marks on the surface. It’s not falling apart, but the glossy finish doesn’t stay nice for long if you’re rough on your hands. If you want it to stay clean-looking, you’ll probably need to take it off for anything involving metal bars, tools, or rough surfaces. The upside is it’s not huge or bulky, so it doesn’t catch on pockets or gloves much.

Overall, the design is simple and low-key, which I liked. It’s not flashy, and it doesn’t scream “cheap gadget” at first glance. But the single sensor design and the scratch-prone finish remind you that this is a budget device. If your priority is a ring that looks okay and doesn’t feel huge, it ticks that box. If you want something that can take a beating and still look new, you’ll probably be disappointed after a couple of weeks of real use.

Battery life is one area where the Delcast ring actually lines up pretty well with its claims. For me, with 24/7 wear, notifications off, and basic tracking on, I was getting around 5–6 days per charge. That matches what some positive reviews said (5–7 days). For a small ring, that’s not bad at all and definitely better than charging a smartwatch every day or two. You can easily make it a full workweek before needing to think about the charger.

The charging system uses a small wireless charging case/compartment. You drop the ring in and it starts charging, at least when it behaves. The idea is nice: it doubles as storage and is compact enough to throw in a bag when traveling. In practice though, I had a couple of moments where the ring said it was charging, but the battery percentage barely moved. One negative review mentioned this exact problem, and I can see how it would be frustrating if it gets worse over time. Mine eventually charged, but it wasn’t as plug-and-forget as I’d like.

The other minor annoyance is that the ring arrives with almost no charge, so out of the box you basically have to charge it before you can test anything. Not a huge deal, but combined with the not-so-clear instructions and app pairing issues, the first setup feels clumsy. Once it’s up and running, battery drain is relatively stable. I didn’t see any random drops or days where it died suddenly, unless I had spent a lot of time manually triggering measurements and playing in the app.

So overall: battery life itself is pretty solid for a cheap ring, but the charging reliability is the weak link. If you get a unit where the charger is flaky or the contacts are finicky, it goes from “charge once a week and forget it” to “is this thing actually charging or not?” pretty fast. If you’re not patient with gadgets, that may push you to return it like some users did.

On the comfort side, the Delcast ring is actually one of its better points. It’s lightweight and fairly thin, so after a day or two I didn’t really notice it much. I slept with it on every night, and it never woke me up or dug into my skin. That’s a big deal for sleep tracking because I personally hate sleeping with a watch on; this ring felt way less intrusive. The inside is smooth and there are no sharp edges, so no irritation or pinching.

The main comfort issue is sizing and spinning. Even when I picked a size that felt right, the ring still rotated on my finger from time to time—especially when my hands got cold or when I was lifting weights. That wouldn’t be a problem with a regular ring, but here the sensor needs to stay on the underside of your finger. Once it spins to the side or top, tracking gets less reliable. So you end up adjusting it more than you would a normal ring, which gets mildly annoying during workouts or long typing sessions.

Day to day stuff like washing hands, cooking, or doing chores was fine. The ring didn’t catch on anything, and I didn’t feel the need to constantly take it off. In the shower it was also fine; water didn’t cause any weird discomfort or slippage beyond the usual ring looseness when your hands are cold. The material on the inside didn’t cause any itching or sweating issues for me, even after long, hot days.

If I compare it to wearing a smartwatch 24/7, this is definitely more comfortable, especially for sleep and desk work. The main trade-off is that you have to keep an eye on its position if you care about accurate readings. So comfort is good, but function suffers a bit because of that movement. If you get the size just right and your fingers don’t change size much during the day, you’ll probably be happier than someone whose fingers swell or shrink a lot.

The ring is advertised as IP68 waterproof, which in normal language means you can wash your hands, shower, and even swim with it without worrying too much. I wore it through multiple showers and a couple of quick pool sessions, and it survived fine. No fogging, no weird behavior right after getting out of the water. So on the waterproof side, it seems to hold up to what most people will put it through. If you’re a serious swimmer doing long sessions, I’d still be cautious, but for casual use it’s alright.

Physically, the ring is made of epoxy resin and stainless steel. It feels light rather than heavy-duty. After about two weeks of normal use—typing, cooking, cleaning, light DIY, gym sessions—I started seeing small scratches and scuffs, especially on the outer surface. Nothing catastrophic, but enough that it no longer looked clean and new. One reviewer mentioned it scratching easily while lifting weights, and I had the same experience. If you baby it and take it off for anything rough, it’ll look better longer, but then you lose some tracking data.

I didn’t have any cracks or structural issues, but what worries me more is long-term electronics durability: charging problems, sync issues, and random app disconnects. One buyer said it stopped charging and syncing after a few weeks, and while mine didn’t fully die, I had enough small hiccups that I could see that happening over time. This is where the unknown brand factor shows—support and firmware updates are limited, and you’re kind of on your own if it starts acting up after the return window.

In short, the ring is fine for everyday wear if you don’t mind cosmetic wear and tear and treat the electronics as “it works while it works.” I wouldn’t expect it to look fresh after months of heavy gym use, and I wouldn’t bet on it lasting years like a high-end device. For the price, that’s not shocking, but if you’re rough on gear, it might annoy you faster than you think.

Let’s be blunt: performance is hit or miss depending on what you’re trying to track. For steps, the ring was usually in the same ballpark as my smartwatch, but not exact. On normal walking days, it was off by maybe 5–15%, which for casual use is fine. On days with a lot of hand movement but not much walking (cooking, cleaning, DIY), the step counter climbed higher than it should have. That’s pretty standard for cheaper trackers, but it’s worth knowing if you care about precise step counts.

Heart rate was okay at rest and during light activity. Sitting, working, or walking around, it lined up reasonably well with my Garmin and my Apple Watch—usually within a few beats. During more intense workouts, it struggled. Once I started lifting or doing intervals, readings sometimes froze, dropped randomly, or lagged behind what my watch showed. A lot of that is likely due to the single sensor and the ring spinning, like other users mentioned. If most of your activity is walking, casual biking, or desk work, it’s probably fine. If you’re training seriously, I wouldn’t rely on it.

Sleep tracking was probably the most useful part. It consistently recognized when I fell asleep and woke up, and the total sleep time it showed matched what I vaguely remembered. It breaks sleep into stages (light/deep/REM), but I treat that more as a rough overview than gospel. Still, it helped me notice patterns like short nights during the week and longer sleep on weekends. For a cheap ring, I’d say sleep tracking is its strongest feature, and that’s echoed in some of the positive reviews.

Other metrics like blood oxygen (SpO2) and especially blood pressure were more of a gimmick for me. SpO2 seemed plausible when I checked it occasionally, but you have to trigger it manually, so it’s not really continuous monitoring. Blood pressure, I simply do not trust here. Between my own inconsistent readings and another reviewer getting a ridiculous 210/134, it feels more like a random estimate than a real measurement. If you buy this for basic movement and sleep tracking, it’s okay. If you want medical-grade data, look elsewhere.

On paper, the Delcast smart ring tries to cover a lot of ground. It promises 24-hour health tracking, including heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, steps, calories, and even blood pressure. It’s IP68 waterproof, so you can technically keep it on for handwashing, showers, and swimming. It comes in sizes 8–12 and connects via Bluetooth to an app that’s supposed to show daily, weekly, and monthly stats. There’s no GPS inside the ring, so any distance or route data is phone-dependent and pretty basic.

In practice, here’s what I actually used regularly: step tracking, heart rate, sleep tracking, and occasional SpO2 checks. The ring constantly tracks heart rate, but for things like blood oxygen and blood pressure, you usually have to manually trigger the measurement in the app. That already tells you it’s more of a casual tracker than a medically useful device. The blood pressure numbers in particular felt like a guess, and one reviewer getting a reading of 210/134 says a lot. I personally wouldn’t trust that feature at all.

The app tries to show trends, but it’s pretty bare-bones. You get simple graphs and summary pages, but the logic of the interface is clunky. Some workouts I tried to log just stopped tracking if I locked my phone. There’s also no integration with popular platforms like Strava or Apple Health (at least I couldn’t find any), which makes it feel very isolated compared to a watch from Garmin, Fitbit, or Apple. So whatever you record basically stays stuck inside the app.

If you’re expecting a budget ring that covers the main basics, it does that—steps, sleep, daily heart rate. If you’re expecting a fully featured fitness system that talks nicely to other apps, this isn’t it. I’d describe it as a simple tracker that lets you see roughly how active you are and how you’re sleeping, but I wouldn’t build any serious training or health decisions around its numbers.