Imagine being able to tell if your partner was being unfaithful.
Smart rings aren't a new thing, but they've been received pretty well in the tech market and can vary in what they measure or track.
For example, the Oura Ring is designed to track sleep and stress levels, while older wearables like Amazon’s now-discontinued Halo could even analyse your tone of voice using AI. Meanwhile, long-distance couples have gadgets like the Bond Touch Bracelet that can send little vibrations to show they’re thinking of each other.
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Now, a make-or-break device for relationships combines all these features into one ring, letting couples keep tabs on each other 24/7.
Described as a 'dystopian loyalty tracker,' the RAW Ring helps couples track their relationship.
According to RAW Ring CEO Marina Anderson, the ring’s goal is about building trust rather than spying. But the bold idea - which is an extension of the unfiltered RAW dating app - is still a work in progress.
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“The idea behind the ring was to give couples more ways to explore each other’s feelings on a deeper level and build more trust,” Anderson said.
“Almost 50 percent of marriages now end in divorce. We would like to build the ring as a symbol of trust again.”
How will the RAW Ring work?
Although the smart ring isn’t something you can buy yet, Anderson has a detailed plan of how it’ll work.
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The blueprint of the RAW Ring includes a heart rate monitor and skin temperature sensor, an accelerometer and gyroscope to detect movement and a noise-cancelling MEMs microphone to analyse shifts in voice tone.
Additionally, the ring will feature a 'dual-level AI' - one processor to interpret real-time signals and biometric data and one cloud-based system to look for 'deeper trends' over time.
The ring’s AI would reportedly be able to tell the difference between a workout, nervous energy and arousal by analysing multiple physiological cues, Anderson explained. Again, this idea might sound like relationship surveillance, but Anderson assures the ring is about mutual trust - and it's flexible to the user.
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“We don’t want to market the ring as any loyalty tracker or tracking device because it’s not suitable for people who want to cheat," Anderson told The Verge. "If you plan to cheat, you’ll never wear the ring because it’ll be easily visible when you do so.”
And if one person doesn’t want to share every little spike in their heart rate, they can choose not to as users decide which metrics or emotional markers get shared with their partner.
“We’d like people to be able to change [their settings] fast in reaction to something. You don’t always know problems within a relationship or your boundaries until something happens. The device needs to be super flexible,” Anderson added. “You can always quickly shut it down as well and completely stop any sharing.”
When can we expect to buy the RAW Ring?
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The RAW Ring is still in development and testing, with a prototype planned for release in September this year, and aims for an official launch in 2026.