If you own an Oura Ring 4, recently switched smartphones, and your ring has suddenly gone quiet — no syncing, no data appearing in the app — you may already be running firmware 2.13.1 without having chosen to install it. Oura confirmed Issue #495 on Known Issues as a Bluetooth pairing state conflict: a Bluetooth pairing state conflict introduced by the update is causing Ring 4 devices to drop their connection entirely, stranding up to two days of sleep, readiness, and activity data on the ring itself. The instinctive fix — a factory reset — can permanently erase that unsynced data. There is a simpler solution, and it works for most affected users.

Ring 4 Firmware 2.13.1 Is Already On Your Device — Even If You Never Updated

Oura pushes Ring 4 firmware automatically, without requiring any action from the user. That means firmware 2.13.1 may have been installed on your ring the last time you opened the app with Bluetooth enabled and your ring battery at 30% or above — no confirmation dialog, no opt-in prompt. To check whether you’re affected, open the Oura app, go to Settings, and look under Software for your current firmware version. If it reads 2.13.1, the sync failure you’re experiencing almost certainly traces back to Issue #495.

Oura’s Known Issues page, which the company updates weekly, lists Issue #495 under “Open” status — meaning the engineering team is aware of the problem but has not yet promoted it to “In Progress” or deployed a fix. No timeline for a resolution has been provided.

Note: firmware 2.13.1 does not currently appear on Oura’s public Ring 4 firmware changelog, which as of October 28, 2026 lists version 2.12.15 as the most recent release. The staging of this update suggests it may be rolling out to devices in waves rather than all at once — which means some Ring 4 owners may receive it in the coming days.

What Firmware 2.13.1 Is Actually Breaking: Bluetooth Pairing State Conflict

The root cause is a Bluetooth link key conflict — a mismatch between the authentication data stored on the ring and what your current phone presents when trying to connect.

When you first pair an Oura Ring 4 with a phone, the two devices exchange cryptographic authentication keys (called link keys) and store them for future connections. When you get a new phone and set up the Oura app fresh, your new phone creates a new link key and pairs with the ring as if it were a new relationship. If you didn’t factory-reset the ring first, though, the ring is still holding the link key from your previous phone — and potentially keys from phones before that.

Most firmware versions handled this gracefully, allowing the ring to recognize the new phone’s pairing request and update its stored key. Firmware 2.13.1 appears to have introduced stricter validation of the stored pairing state: when the ring detects a mismatch between its stored link keys and the connecting phone’s identity, it refuses the connection instead of re-pairing. The symptom — persistent disconnection rather than a re-pairing prompt — is consistent with this type of security-adjacent change that inadvertently breaks a common real-world usage pattern: switching phones without resetting the ring.

The result is that affected Ring 4 devices disconnect from the app for one to two days, with recent health data trapped in the ring’s onboard storage and inaccessible through the app during that window. Oura has confirmed that the data is not deleted during this period — it simply cannot be read until the connection is restored.

Issue #495 is scoped to the Oura Ring 4 only. The newer Ring 5 is not listed as an affected device.

Try the Charger Workaround First — Before Anything Else

Oura’s official recommended fix is straightforward and non-destructive:

1. Place your Oura Ring 4 on its charging tray.
2. Open the Oura app while the ring is sitting on the charger.
3. Wait for the ring to reconnect and complete a sync.

The reason the charger tray method works where other approaches fail is technical: placing the ring on its charger triggers a separate communication mode used for charging status checks and firmware verification, one that bypasses the stricter pairing-state validation introduced in 2.13.1. This gives the ring and app an opportunity to re-establish contact in a lower-stakes context, after which the ring may resolve or clear the conflicting pairing state and restore the normal Bluetooth connection.

Many affected users have reported the connection restoring after this process. Give it several minutes before assuming it hasn’t worked.

If the charger method doesn’t resolve the issue, Oura’s troubleshooting guidance recommends: restarting your phone, confirming Bluetooth is functioning normally for other devices, and then, if necessary, reinstalling the Oura app and re-pairing the ring from scratch — all before considering a factory reset.

Do Not Factory Reset Without Backing Up First

A factory reset should be the absolute last resort, and only after exhausting every other option.

Here is why this matters: health data collected by the ring — sleep sessions, readiness scores, activity data — is first stored on the ring’s internal hardware before being synced to Oura’s servers and appearing in your app. If the sync connection is broken, that recent data lives only on the ring. A factory reset wipes everything stored on the ring’s local storage, including any unsynced health data that hasn’t made it to the cloud yet.

Before attempting any reset, go to Settings in the Oura app and select “Back up all data.” This backup captures everything that has already synced successfully. Data that exists only on the ring and has not yet synced cannot be included in a cloud backup — which is exactly why the charger workaround matters so much. Restoring the sync connection without a reset is the only way to recover that locally stored data.

If you ultimately need to factory reset after all other options have failed, contact Oura support first. Live chat is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and phone appointments can be scheduled through the Oura support portal.

Oura’s Third Major Product Issue of 2026

The firmware 2.13.1 sync problem is the third significant product issue Oura has publicly acknowledged this year.

In July 2026, an Oura app bug caused Sleep and Readiness scores to disappear from the apps of iPhone users — a more severe data-loss scenario that required an emergency update to resolve. Earlier in 2026, the company disclosed in its confidential IPO filing to the SEC that Ring 4 battery warranty costs reached $84.4 million in warranty expenses during fiscal year 2025 — a problem that led to widespread ring replacements.

By comparison, Issue #495 is more contained: it affects a defined subset of Ring 4 users (those who switched phones without resetting the ring), existing data is not permanently erased, and the charger workaround provides a clear path to recovery without technical expertise. Oura’s Known Issues page — which the company maintains as a public-facing record of confirmed bugs — reflects the company’s active awareness of the problem, even if a fix timeline remains absent.

What You Should Do Right Now

If you own an Oura Ring 4 and have switched smartphones at any point since buying it:

• Check your firmware version: Oura app → Settings → Software. If it shows 2.13.1, your ring is at risk.
• Try the charger workaround first: ring on charger, open the app, wait several minutes for reconnection.
• Do not factory reset until you’ve backed up your data: Oura app → Settings → Back up all data.
• If all else fails, contact Oura support: live chat (24/7) or a scheduled phone appointment via the support portal.

Updates on Issue #495 will appear on Oura’s Known Issues page as the company’s engineering team works toward a fix.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my Oura Ring 4 not syncing after a firmware update?

If your Ring 4 received firmware 2.13.1 and you previously switched smartphones without factory-resetting the ring, you’re likely experiencing Issue #495 — a Bluetooth pairing state conflict introduced by the new firmware. The ring holds authentication keys from your old phone that the updated firmware cannot reconcile with your current phone’s identity, causing a persistent connection failure. The official workaround is to place the ring on its charger and open the Oura app while it’s charging; this triggers an alternate connection mode that bypasses the pairing conflict. Most affected users report a successful reconnection after this step.

Will factory resetting my Oura Ring delete my health data?

Yes — but only data that hasn’t already synced to Oura’s servers. Health data collected by the ring is temporarily stored on the ring’s onboard hardware before syncing to the cloud. If the sync connection is broken by the firmware bug, recent data exists only on the ring. A factory reset wipes local ring storage, permanently deleting any unsynced data. Before performing any reset, go to Settings in the Oura app and select Back up all data to capture everything that has already been synced.

Does the firmware 2.13.1 update install automatically?

Yes. Oura Ring 4 firmware updates install automatically when the Oura app is opened with Bluetooth enabled and the ring battery is at 30% or above. Users do not have to actively choose to install a new firmware version — it installs silently during a normal app session. This means some Ring 4 owners may already be running 2.13.1 without being aware of it. Check Settings → Software in the Oura app to confirm your current firmware version.

Does the Ring 5 have the same sync bug as the Ring 4?

No. Oura’s Known Issues page scopes Issue #495 specifically to the Ring 4. The Ring 5, which launched earlier in 2026, is not listed as an affected device. If you’re experiencing sync problems on a Ring 5, the cause is likely unrelated to this firmware issue and should be reported through Oura’s support channel separately.