Smart rings have become the quiet favourites of the wearables world. They track sleep, heart rate, and recovery without a screen begging for attention. But most of them still only watch. They cannot pay for your coffee, and they cannot nudge you when something needs your attention. Circular wants to change that. At IFA 2026 in Berlin, the French startup unveiled the Circular Ring 3 Pro and Ring 3 Slim. No phone. No wallet. Just a tap of the finger.
Both rings support NFC contactless payments with Visa and Mastercard. According to CEO Amaury Kosman, this makes Circular the first smart ring worldwide to combine payments and health tracking in one device.
The flagship Ring 3 Pro goes further on health. It carries a single-lead ECG with FDA clearance for atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection, a milestone that many larger ring makers have not reached. It also tracks blood pressure trends, glucose insights, SpO2, and heart rate variability. A vibration motor in the inner rim brings back haptic feedback: silent alarms, medication reminders, breathing biofeedback, and alerts on vital signs.
The Pro measures 6.8 mm wide and 2.78 mm thick and runs up to 12 days on a charge, nearly double its predecessor. The Ring 3 Slim answers the trend towards jewellery-like designs: 5.9 mm wide, 2.35 mm thick, 1.9 to 3 g, and up to 10 days of battery life. It drops the ECG but keeps payments and the core metrics of sleep, activity, skin temperature, and heart rate. Both rings are made of titanium, water-resistant to 50 m, and charge wirelessly.
The data flows into Kira, Circular's AI health assistant, which turns raw numbers into personal recommendations. Core features come without a subscription. Only blood pressure and glucose insights sit behind an optional paid plan, a clear contrast to the subscription models of many competitors.
Circular has come a long way for a small team. Its first ring sold tens of thousands of units. The Circular Ring 2 was named best wearable of CES 2025 by Laptop Mag and launched via Kickstarter. With the Ring 3 series, the startup moves from health tracker to everyday companion. Pricing and pre-order dates will be announced in the coming months, with shipping expected in 2027.
Circular was founded in 2019 by French-American entrepreneur Amaury Kosman and is based in Paris, France. The company develops smart rings and the AI health assistant Kira, with the mission to turn complex health data into actionable insights. Its Circular Ring 2 is FDA-cleared for AFib detection via ECG.
