The Galaxy Ring could have a subscription future after all

While smart rings aren’t new by any means, the Galaxy Ring from Samsung is the first such product from a major consumer technology brand. After much anticipation, it finally launched a little under two weeks ago at the company’s Galaxy Unpacked event alongside new foldables, earbuds, and smartwatches. Samsung’s smart ring is particularly notable because, although it’s a bit pricier than its leading competitors at $399.99, it doesn’t require any subscription fees to use its features. That, however, might not always be the case, at least for future features.

The Samsung Galaxy Ring packs a handful of health sensors such as a heart rate monitor, sleep tracker, blood oxygen tracker, step counter, and more. These sensors power the Galaxy Ring’s various health and fitness tracking features, which include continuous sleep monitoring, heart rate monitoring, activity tracking, workout detection, cycle tracking, and more. Since the Galaxy Ring doesn’t have a display, all the health and fitness data it collects must be viewed through the Samsung Health app on the Android smartphone it’s paired to.

At Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung promised that none of the Galaxy Ring’s features require an additional subscription fee to access. However, buried in the footnote of one of the slides shown during the presentation is text that suggests this promise only applies to “currently available Samsung Galaxy features.” For “future Samsung Health features,” Samsung warns that “different terms may apply.”

“Galaxy Ring must be paired with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone with Android 11.0 or above and minimum 1.5GB Memory. Samsung Health app (v6.27 or above) and Samsung account login is required. Service availability may vary by country or region. Currently available Samsung Health features that use the Samsung Galaxy Ring are provided without monthly subscription. Different terms may apply for future Samsung Health features.”

While this doesn’t guarantee that Samsung will charge a subscription fee for future Galaxy Ring features, it does leave the door open for such a possibility. As for whether it’ll actually happen, though, we can’t say. Earlier rumors suggested that Samsung planned to charge a monthly subscription for some Galaxy Ring features. Some articles published after the Ring’s launch state unequivocally that Samsung has no plans to charge for any Ring features, either now or in the future, while others suggest that’s only the case right now.

If Samsung were to eventually charge a subscription fee for Galaxy Ring features, it wouldn’t even be unusual for them. After all, Galaxy AI features are currently available for free on the Samsung Galaxy S24 series, but there’s a caveat: they’re only guaranteed to be free through 2025. This caveat was similarly buried in a footnote during January’s Galaxy Unpacked event, so it’s clear that Samsung doesn’t want to guarantee free access to every feature—particularly resource-intensive AI ones—in perpetuity.

Various Samsung Health features already fall into the Galaxy AI umbrella, including the Galaxy Ring’s Energy Score and Wellness Tips features. Since Samsung doesn’t guarantee that Galaxy AI features will be free after 2025, then these two features could theoretically be walled off after 2025. However, since these two features are currently available (so long as you pair a Samsung Galaxy phone to the Galaxy Ring), it’s likely that Samsung won’t charge for them in the future, given their launch commitment.

The Galaxy Ring’s top competitor, the Oura Ring, starts at $299 but charges a $5.99/mo subscription. So even though some of Oura’s options cost less upfront, many people consider Samsung’s option to have better value. If Samsung were to charge a subscription fee in the future, though, that calculus could change. However, we’ll have to wait and see if they really do decide to charge a subscription fee in the future and if so, how much they’ll charge and what features they’ll lock behind the subscription.