Oura adds Cardio Effort and experimental automatic VO2 Max for Gen3 and newer rings

Two metrics with different jobs

Oura's update separates the cardiovascular demand of exercise from estimated aerobic fitness. Cardio Effort describes how hard the cardiovascular system works and for how long; automatic VO2 Max estimates maximum oxygen uptake. One puts workouts in the context of a personal baseline, while the other tracks a longer-term fitness measure.

Cardio Effort uses the Training Impulse framework, known as TRIMP, and a personalized range informed by the user's baseline and resting heart rate.

Individual workout scores accumulate into a weekly total, with categories labeled Light, Fair, Maintaining, Building and Reaching, according to TechCrunch and Athletech News. Those labels describe effort relative to the individual rather than a universal workout target. Oura says Reaching signals substantially elevated effort against that baseline and suggests prioritizing recovery.

Oura also says members who exercise without wearing their ring can manually log the workout to receive Estimated Cardio Effort.

From a dedicated test to regular activity

Automatic VO2 Max replaces the Cardio Capacity name and changes the estimation workflow. Instead of requiring a dedicated walking test, the new approach uses regular qualifying GPS-enabled activities, including walks, runs and hikes. According to Oura and The Verge, automatic VO2 Max activates after five qualifying GPS-enabled activities.

Oura says members can also manually save a laboratory result or another device's VO2 Max reading, but these records do not overwrite its automatic estimate. The records remain separate rather than making the external measurement a replacement for Oura's calculation.

In the My Health Heart Hub, members can see their VO2 Max estimate in ml/kg/min, a fitness category, historical changes and the last update. Oura and TechCrunch also describe personalized insights when the estimate changes meaningfully or remains consistent.

Eligibility is not the same as general availability

The Verge and Athletech News identify Ring Gen3 and newer models as eligible, while The Verge and TechCrunch report the active-membership requirement.

For members already recording qualifying walks, runs or hikes, the central change is the route to an aerobic-fitness estimate: regular activity replaces a separate testing task. Cardio Effort addresses a different group as well: Oura says members can receive an estimated score for manually recorded workouts completed without their ring.

However, The Verge and TechCrunch place automatic VO2 Max inside Oura Labs. Hardware eligibility should not be read as confirmation of a finished, nonexperimental release. The announcement establishes a new estimation workflow, not demonstrated accuracy against laboratory testing or competing devices.

Not yet confirmed

• The rollout completion date, regional availability and schedule for automatic VO2 Max to leave Oura Labs are unconfirmed.
• The full activity-qualification rules, including minimum duration, pace, GPS quality and completion window, remain unresolved.
• Required app and operating-system versions, phone permissions and the GPS source are unconfirmed.
• Membership pricing and whether any incremental feature charge applies are not established.
• Accuracy bounds, clinical-validation results and numerical thresholds for Cardio Effort categories are unconfirmed.
• Location-data retention, processing, sharing and any new privacy controls are not established.

What to watch

• Oura's publication of complete activity-qualification and compatibility requirements.
• A confirmed general-release schedule for automatic VO2 Max.
• Validation results comparing automatic estimates with laboratory measurements.

Related coverage

• DevicesAmazon renames Kindle Unlimited to Kindle+, adds thousands of audiobooks
• DevicesAMD and Intel plan shared oneDNN optimization path for PyTorch on CPUs
• DevicesSamsung and SK Hynix reportedly plan higher-layer NAND production at China factories