In the future, you might never have to take off your Galaxy Ring to charge it

Smart rings are sleek, discreet, and increasingly capable, but charging them still feels like a step back in the wearable world.

Samsung has filed a new patent that could change (charge?) that, showing off a small portable battery pack designed to top up a future Galaxy Ring while it’s still on your finger.

One of the two options showcased in the patent is a smaller charger that clips onto the ring, not unlike the Whoop 4.0’s on-wrist battery pack.

An alternative version is a secondary ring that magnetically attaches itself to the smart ring; this is likely to hold more charge than the smaller clip-on option.

Why would Samsung not want you to take your ring off?

Simple: by continuously wearing the ring, you get an uninterrupted stream of health, sleep and stress data, helping the algorithm provide more accurate suggestions.

It’s a smart move, especially considering the importance of continuous data when looking at trends like recovery, readiness, and long-term sleep quality.

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This isn’t Samsung’s first attempt at solving the smart ring charging puzzle; the current Galaxy Ring comes with a compact case, similar to the solution used by RingConn.

The latter brand took things a step further with the RingConn Gen 2, offering a whopping 180 days of extra battery using its case, and even ditching the fiddly ring-size-specific charger entirely with the new RingConn Gen 2 Air, which uses a magnetic charging base.

Other smart rings still rely on proprietary cabled docks, often tied to the ring size. Admittedly, the otherwise flawless Oura Ring 4 is lagging behind the competition in this regard.

And while that keeps things compact, it’s less than ideal if you want a top-up on the go or forget to pack the right charger.

Samsung’s wearable charger patent doesn’t guarantee the feature will appear in the next Galaxy Ring, but it shows the company is thinking ahead.

As smart rings become more powerful and people rely on them for 24/7 metrics, being able to charge without breaking the data stream could become the next big innovation, especially for athletes, biohackers, and anyone obsessed with perfecting their sleep score.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t pinch.

[via Patently Apple]