Muse returns to Indiegogo with the more ambitious Ring One 2.0

Muse Wearables will launch Ring One 2.0 on Indiegogo on August 4, promising another unusually broad mix of health tracking, payments and smart access features. The second-generation ring arrives with plenty of ambition, but also with considerable baggage from the original Ring One campaign.

A bigger second attempt

Ring One 2.0 builds on the same basic idea as its predecessor. Muse wants to make a smart ring that does more than monitor sleep, activity and recovery.

According to the company’s Ring One 2.0 launch page, the new model will track sleep, exercise, mindfulness and general wellness while adding cuffless blood-pressure readings, AFib detection, sleep-apnea detection and vascular-health insights. Muse also claims six to seven days of battery life, with the charging case extending total use to around one month.

The company is placing greater emphasis on software this time. New AI applets are there to target specific goals such as sleep, recovery, fasting, metabolic health, weight management and mental wellbeing.

Muse is also keeping Ring One’s wider digital ambitions. Ring One 2.0 is being promoted as a contactless payment device, a key for compatible Tesla vehicles and smart doors, and a tool for passwordless authentication. There will be no mandatory subscription.

It is an impressive list. The question is how much of it will work at launch, where each feature will be available and whether health functions such as AFib and sleep-apnea detection will carry the necessary regulatory clearances in different markets.

The first Ring One took a difficult route

Let’s look back.

Muse launched the original Ring One campaign on Indiegogo in late 2023. It raised close to $1.7 million from more than 7,500 backers, helped by a feature list that included blood-pressure readings, contactless payments, haptic feedback and a rotating outer control.

Delivery was initially expected a few months later. Instead, the campaign slipped through a long series of revised production and shipping schedules, with many international backers waiting well into 2025 before receiving anything.

As we reported when Ring One began shipping internationally, the finished device also differed from the original pitch. There were no blood pressure readings, rotating control disappeared, payments were not ready for most owners and several software features remained under development.

Muse later activated on-demand blood-pressure readings. Even so, availability is not the same as validation. The company has not yet published enough independent evidence to establish how closely its cuffless blood-pressure estimates compare with a validated upper-arm monitor across a broad population.

Current owners are not uniformly happy

The response on social media to the Ring One 2.0 announcement has been noticeably sceptical. Recent comments include original backers asking about undelivered orders, outstanding refunds and replacements for failed first-generation hardware.

Charging cases appear to be a recurring source of frustration. Several owners say their cases stopped charging the ring after a relatively short period, while others report waiting months for redesigned replacements. There are also complaints about overheating, cracked internal resin, pairing failures and inconsistent syncing.

Payments remain another weak spot. Muse has introduced payment support in some markets, but recent owner discussions suggest that card enrolment and transaction support still vary considerably by country and provider.

Of course, not every report is negative. Some owners say they like the ring’s sleep data and general health tracking. And in fairness, Muse has also continued issuing app and firmware updates rather than abandoning the original device.

Muse still has something to prove

Ring One 2.0 could fix some of the original model’s biggest weaknesses. Muse says it has improved the design, with better build quality, a redesigned charging case and more polished software all on the list.

But after everything that happened with the first Ring One, it is worth keeping the usual crowdfunding caveats in mind. Backing an Indiegogo campaign is not the same as buying a finished product from a shop. Shipping can slip, features can change and your money is at risk if the project does not deliver.

Muse has already opened a reservation page offering early supporters discounts of up to 50%. Final pricing, delivery estimates and the full specifications are still under wraps, so we should know a lot more when the campaign goes live on August 4.