IFA 2026: Circular Ring 3 series gets slimmer while adding payments and vibrations

Circular has unveiled its Ring 3 series at IFA in Berlin. The range brings back the little vibrations that disappeared from Ring 2, and this time the company throws contactless payments into the mix as well. 

There are two models, Circular Ring 3 Pro and Circular Ring 3 Slim. They share quite a lot, but Circular has made a much clearer distinction between them than simply offering two sizes of the same thing.

Haptic vibrations are back

The return of vibration alerts is probably the most interesting bit here. Circular used haptics on its earlier rings, but dropped them with Ring 2, so Ring 3 brings back one of the few smart ring features that genuinely feels different from what most rivals are doing.

The ring can quietly buzz your finger for silent alarms, medication reminders and health alerts. Circular also plans to use vibrations during guided breathing exercises, which makes more sense on a screenless wearable than repeatedly asking you to check an app.  Both Ring 3 models get the feature.

NFC payments are also standard across the range. Circular says users will be able to tap their ring to pay using supported Visa and Mastercard cards, although we do not yet have a detailed list of banks, countries or card issuers that will work at launch.

Ring 3 Pro gets the full health package

Circular Ring 3 Pro is the one with most of the sensors. It has single-lead ECG, and Circular says its AFib detection is FDA-cleared. Blood pressure trend tracking also makes the cut, along with non-invasive glucose trend estimates, heart rate, HRV, SpO2, respiration, temperature, sleep, stress and activity tracking.

The hardware has changed quite a bit as well. Ring 3 Pro measures 6.8mm across and weighs roughly 3 to 4 grams depending on size. Ring 2 is 7.8mm wide, so the new model should look noticeably less substantial on the finger, although at 2.78mm it is actually slightly thicker than Ring 2’s 2.65mm profile.

Battery life gets a decent bump. Circular quotes up to 12 days for the Pro, compared with up to seven days for Ring 2. Its 700mAh charging case is rated for around five to six additional charging cycles, and a full wireless charge of the ring should take about 50 minutes. 

Ring 3 Slim cuts a few health features

Ring 3 Slim takes a different route. It drops ECG and blood pressure tracking, but keeps heart rate, HRV, SpO2, respiration, temperature, sleep, activity, stress and women’s health features. Interestingly, Circular’s comparison sheet also lists glucose trend estimates for the Slim.

It is considerably smaller than the Pro. The Slim is just 5.9mm wide, 2.35mm thick and weighs around 1.9 to 3 grams depending on size. That makes it both narrower and thinner than Circular Ring 2⁠, and probably the model to watch if comfort is higher on your list than ECG.

Circular quotes up to 10 days of battery life. Its 700mAh charging case can apparently recharge the ring around nine to ten times, while the ring itself takes roughly 30 minutes to fill up wirelessly. 

Both versions come in US sizes 6 through 14 and offer 50 metre water resistance. Circular is also rolling out an updated Kira app, which pulls the ring’s measurements together and uses AI to provide health trends and personalised recommendations.

There is one fairly important piece still missing, though. Circular has not announced pricing or a pre-order date yet, saying those details will follow in the coming months. 

So for now this is a proper hardware reveal rather than something you can go out and buy. But Ring 3 does look like a more interesting step forward than Ring 2, particularly because Circular is not simply piling on more health metrics. Payments and haptic alerts give the ring a couple of things to do during the day when you are not thinking about your sleep score.