(4 minute read)

In this article I share my experience in choosing and using a smart ring from the company McClear to pay for goods such as my work lunch everyday over six months in 2022. This is my second look at smart rings having evaluated them five years ago when they first came out.

This is the purchase experience using the latest ring.

Pros

• More convenient and easier to pay than using a card or mobile phone
• Jedi gravitas. Impresses your friends /checkout staff as you pay. It is cool
• Hard wearing ceramic build quality

Cons

• Set-up didn’t work first time
• I lost trust in the buying experience so don’t spend much with it
• Instructions are poor
• You still need your smartphone with you to pay in your jacket or bag
• The ring is still a little bulky in size
• Choosing the right size is a ‘faff’
• Lack of usage. It’s unclear what the payment benefits are compared with new zippy cards like Monzo
• The white ring looks weird on your finger

Choosing a smart ring is like choosing a dress

Price : £51 discounted offer from £89.99 (Current price as of date of publishing)

Colour : White, black is also available

They say ‘the ring that fits is the one to buy’ like the dress and it is true. I don’t buy dresses (Well I’m not telling the exact truth. I did buy one for a fancy dress party to dress as Susan Boyle but that’s another story). I chose size 11.5 (21 mm wide) as it was one size larger than my wedding ring. I put my wedding ring onto the finger I wanted to use and it was it a little tight. I wanted to use the ring on the third finger on my right hand. The current generation of rings is still bulkier than a gold wedding ring. The first generation smart rings were too big. You can still feel that this ring is a little bulky.

The ring now looks like this on my right hand (See picture below). You have to be careful which finger you choose as it may affect your everyday life as you may type for a living like me or may use your hands for building or cutting. The ring is ceramic so I don’t think it will scratch or damage easily.

The ring I purchased is a little bit lose in the morning but as the day goes on it fits better as my finger swells up. I swap it to another finger sometimes when I wear it.

So in choosing a smart ring think as if you are buying a new wedding ring :

• Think about which finger you will put it on
• Put an existing ring you have on that finger in the morning and in the evening. Try at both times of the day as your finger thickness may change. Measure the diameter width of that ring with a tape measure to get the size of the smart ring you are going to purchase. Will the smart ring will be the same, smaller or larger than that ring?
• Try typing on a keyboard to ensure that you have chosen the right finger
• Remember when you get the ring it will be probably be thicker than anything you have so have to think about that. It may press against the other fingers

McLear offer a return service for another ring providing that you haven’t activated the ring. So don’t activate your ring if you are uncomfortable with it when you get it, just return it for a different size.

Unboxing

Whatever you do don’t throw away the piece of plastic the ring comes in as it has the ACTIVATION code written on a sticker on the back of it. When you unwrap new products it’s the first thing to throw away but here the ACTIVATION code is critical to you to make the ring work. It would be better if McLear would have labelled the piece of paper “Do not throw out, this is your activation code’ and not have it wrapped around the ring.

Activating the ring

Activation failed twice with the ring. I set it up twice and the ring said ‘inactive’. After emailing McLear they said it was something to do with their IT system. They fixed the activation. Next I had to make my first payment.

Making my first payment

Making my first payment was hard as the instructions were very poor and I lacked any trust in the ring from the set-up experience. I assumed wrongly if you added your VISA card to the mobile App then it would just feed the ring payment with money without me doing anything. That assumption was wrong. You have to top up the mobile App from your debit card. That sounds logical but there is no UI set-up to guide you to do this. In this day and age this is really poor user design. I added £25 and then went to the snack machine at work. I had been there many times before with the failed activation.

This time I felt like a Jedi as the payment worked when I placed my finger over the till. The feeling is great as you are doing something new.

With the old rings you had to virtually scrap the ring onto a surface to make it work. Here you just put your close to the payment area. I found after a few purchases that gripping my hand like a fist and presenting is better than using the force gesture.

Mobile App

The mobile App appears to have evolved from a ‘techy’ list of items to an attempt to add value. It really needs to be scrapped and started again. It is overcomplicated as it doesn’t help you to get started and then show you why you should keep using it. It breaks these simple design rules. It doesn’t compare with the great design of Apps like Monzo and Revolut. I couldn’t find the cashback retailers.

Where is the value?

The ring is a piece of hardware. The payment services on it is the software. They could be separated so that payment vendors can use a ‘ring platform’ to offer payment. This means that new and old kids to payment can use rings like a smartphone to offer their services. This may drive usage and value.

Other uses of Smart rings

Smart rings can be used for other task such as :

• Opening your front smart door
• Opening your Tesla door
• Sharing your business card
• Sharing secret information with Tom Cruise ( Remote opportunity, I must admit)

Do I use the ring after 6 months?

Yes, I do use the ring just to show off but I don’t spend much on it. I get regularly asked :

What is that white thing on your finger?

Is there a future for smart rings?

Yes there is a future for smart rings but they have got to overcome the obstacles discussed above. More players have to offer better value and make the provisioning process simpler. Velocity is slow. The value offered by current high flying cards and banks such as Starling and Monzo needs to be there. There is no doubt that waving your hand as a gesture is easier than finding a physical card or dragging a brick smartphone out of your back pocket.

END OF BLOG