Oura finally confirms Ring 4 has a battery problem, and the fallout is staggering

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android AuthorityAdd Android Authority on Google: TL;DR Oura has confirmed battery performance problems affected some Ring 4 units, contributing to an $84.4 million increase in warranty expenses. Oura replaced affected Ring 4s for free and, in some cases, even replaced devices after the one-year warranty had expired. Oura hasn’t revealed which Ring 4 batches were affected, so owners experiencing sudden or unusually fast battery drain should consider contacting support. Battery complaints about the Oura Ring 4 have been floating around online for a while, but we now have a much better indication that something was actually going wrong with at least some of those rings. And it comes with a rather eye-opening number attached.As reported by Gadgets & Wearables, Oura has disclosed battery performance problems with certain Ring 4 units in paperwork filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of its planned IPO. The company recorded an $84.4 million increase in warranty expenses during fiscal 2025, with Ring 4 battery issues among the factors behind that jump.That’s a lot of money to have tied up in warranty costs, and it gives us something Reddit posts and individual owner complaints never really could: confirmation from Oura that some Ring 4 devices had a genuine battery problem.The company hasn’t told us exactly what went wrong with those batteries or how quickly they deteriorated. What we do know is that the issue generated enough warranty claims for Oura to replace affected rings for free. In some cases, it even provided replacements after the usual warranty period had ended; a year in this case.That last bit could be useful if you own a Ring 4 that’s struggling to hold a charge. A smart ring isn’t something you want to think about charging constantly. Ideally, you put it on, go about your day, sleep with it, and only take it off every few days for a top-up. Once charging becomes a daily chore, it’s not just annoying; forgetting once could leave a gap in the sleep or recovery data you bought the ring to collect in the first place.Kaitlyn Cimino / Android AuthorityUnfortunately, Oura hasn’t given owners a way to tell whether their ring is one of the affected units. The filing only points to certain groups of Ring 4 devices, without identifying purchase dates, sizes, serial numbers, or other details that could help narrow things down. We also don’t know how many rings Oura ultimately replaced.Oura says the warranty increase was tied to earlier design, manufacturing, and supplier-related factors, and that it has since added more testing and quality-control work.What’s interesting is that this expensive problem arrived while Oura itself was growing rapidly. During the nine months ending June 30, 2026, the company brought in $1.21 billion in revenue, sold 3.1 million rings, and reached five million paying members. So while the Ring 4 battery issue clearly wasn’t cheap to deal with, it hasn’t stopped Oura from becoming a much bigger wearable business.Oura has since moved on to the Ring 5, although battery complaints haven’t disappeared completely. A handful of Ring 5 owners have also reported unusually fast drain on Reddit. There isn’t enough evidence right now to connect those complaints to the Ring 4 problem, however, and they don’t appear to be happening on anything close to the same scale.For now, the important change is that Ring 4 owners no longer have to rely entirely on anecdotes to know something was up. Oura’s own IPO paperwork confirms battery trouble affected some devices. So if yours has recently started living on its charger, contacting support is probably worth a shot. Although there’s no guarantee the company will do the same for everyone.Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.