Circular Ring 2 controversy as backers push back on new fees

A feature-packed wearable that promised big things is now facing a wave of criticism. Circular’s second-generation smart ring is shipping, but some backers aren’t happy about what’s being held back behind a paywall.

Circular Ring 2 ships, but there’s turbulence ahead

Circular Ring 2 has officially started arriving in the hands of early backers in the past few weeks. It joins a short list of smart rings trying to punch above their weight in the health tracking space. It offers some novel features such as ECG measurements from your finger. But alongside the usual launch excitement, a storm has been brewing behind the scenes.

The issue? Two attention-grabbing features promoted in the Kickstarter campaign, blood pressure and blood glucose trend monitoring, are not actually available yet. Circular says they are coming later, potentially by the end of the year. That part alone might not have caused much friction. What has angered some backers is the news that these features, when they do arrive, will be locked behind a paywall.

This hasn’t gone down well with everyone.

Circular’s explanation and the reaction

To its credit, the company has published a fairly detailed explanation. It claims these two metrics weren’t part of the original feature set. They were added as stretch goals, and apparently only became viable thanks to the extra funds raised during the campaign. The project brought in around $4 million, which puts it among the top crowdfunded smart ring in recent years. Some 14,000 people have backed the campaign.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

The company explains that blood pressure and glucose monitoring require expensive R&D, server infrastructure and regulatory testing. They argue that keeping these features optional and paid helps maintain the broader “subscription-free” experience that was promised. Users will need to activate the features using something called Circular Coins or via in-app micro-transactions.

You can see the statement below. A longer version can be found on the Kickstarter campaign page.

That would be fine if expectations had been clear from the beginning. But some backers say the language used in the original campaign suggested otherwise. They believed these features were baked into the deal. Not optional extras or future paywalled perks.

And they’re making their displeasure known.

The tension between innovation and transparency

Let’s be honest, building something like this isn’t cheap. Especially when you’re talking about health-related features that need to be safe, tested and reliable. From a business perspective, charging extra for complex add-ons can make sense. But from the backer’s perspective, it’s all about what was promised.

Crowdfunding works on trust. If people feel misled, they get vocal. And that’s what’s happening. A glance through the comments on social media and Kickstarter shows that some supporters feel blindsided.

The bigger picture here is that Circular isn’t the first wearable company to stumble over feature expectations. It probably won’t be the last either. But the fact that blood pressure and glucose trend tracking are not available on any other smart ring right now does make this a notable experiment.

Whether it works at all remains to be seen. And whether it works as a business model depends on how many users decide to pay up once the features go live.

Circular says it wants to remain transparent and fair. We’ll see how that plays out. It’s an interesting story to follow, and for now the subscription stays.

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