At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, Oura CEO Tom Hale pushed back against viral claims that the smart ring company is sharing user data with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and data-mining firm Palantir.
“There was a lot of misinformation about this,” Hale said, adding that Oura does not sell user data and will never share it without explicit consent. The backlash erupted after influencers suggested Oura rings, which track metrics like heart rate, sleep, temperature, and menstrual cycles, were feeding personal data to government systems.
Hale clarified that Oura’s DoD program runs in a secure, separate environment and that government agencies have no access to user health data. He also downplayed ties to Palantir, explaining that Oura had acquired a company with a standard SaaS contract connected to Palantir’s infrastructure for DoD certification compliance. “That relationship became blown into a ‘massive partnership.’ … There’s no way Palantir has access to your data. No one in the government can see your data. Totally overblown,” he said.
Oura’s terms of service explicitly oppose data being used for surveillance or prosecution, Hale noted. Even when users authorize support staff to view data, access is limited and controlled.
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Looking ahead, Hale said Oura is expanding globally, especially in Asia and India, and growing at “north of 100%.” He positioned the smart ring as a “preventionist” health device that alerts users to issues before they escalate. Oura has also partnered with Medicare Advantage to provide rings to eligible patients and is exploring future wearable integrations.
“It’d be really cool if there was one ring to rule them all, but we know practically that’s not true,” Hale said, suggesting a “cloud of wearables” could define the future of digital health.
