JC Ring (J Style) 2301B Smart Ring with blood glucose monitoring
So, I finally received the 2301B J Style Smart Ring that uses the JC Ring app. So far, I love it! Sleep tracking is amazing. The ring is super comfortable and fits well on my index finger (they recommend it to be used on your non-dominant index finger). And the charging station is amazing and functions as a storage box as well.
Let me say this: overall very pleased with the ring and it seems to be pretty close with most readings compared to the E09 Smart watch which I now compare everything too (amazing piece of tech), however there are a few issues, most of which can probably be addressed through the software design.
Issues: 1. Blood glucose: WARNING DO NOT USE ANY OF THESE SMART RINGS OR SMART WATCHES AS YOUR PRIMARY MEASUREMENT FOR GAUGING HOW MUCH INSULIN OR MEDICINE YOU SHOULD USE!!! Ok. A few problems. First, it only allows mmol/L to be displayed, which in the US is not the standard unit of measure. Second, it doesn't track it automatically and requires you to manually push a button to read it (the e09 smart watch I have tracks it every 5 minutes, but even that isn't a replacement for a CGM or manual finger sticks, although it seems to be decent at watching for trends). Third, the reading is seemingly only an estimation of whether it is above or below 140 mg/dL and not an actual spot reading (but it does let you tell it if it's a fasting, post-prandial, etc). Fourth, it does not seem to be that accurate against the E09 smartwatch at all. So unless something changes with time, I'm thinking it's not going be a good way to track or show trends. Could be wrong though. Says it needs multiple days of readings and I'm still not there. We shall see.
Blood Pressure: Even though the website advertisement for the ring says blood pressure tracking and shows the symbol for it, BP monitoring is no where to be found. Cuffless BP has been a thing since Scanadu first proved it was possible back in 2016. The e09 smartwatch does it and even tracks it every 5 minutes automatically.
Temperature: Every hour monitoring only instead of 5 minutes like the E09 watch. Also only gives a change from baseline +/-. Technically both are a negative, however as a pharmacist, I kind of like the idea of not reporting temperature and instead reporting how much up or down it is from your baseline, since we are finding out that baseline temperatures are not 98.6 F for everyone like we used to say for centuries. We need to adopt this methodology in medicine!
HRV and SPO2: Every half hour monitoring only instead of every 5 minutes.
Heart rate is the only automatic monitoring measurement that is every 5 minutes. I'm assuming this is due to battery life issues, so the smart watches like the e09 are going to win out here in this regard. But so far, the ring hasn't gone dead on me yet since yesterday.
Permissions: Way too many permissions needed. It's almost a guarantee that they are spying on you and possibly attempting to steal data. Why would you need to view my notifications including reading text messages? Why do you need photo and video access? Why do you need audio access? Location access? Way too much. Seems like I can deny these permissions with some manipulation and trickery (approving them during initial setup, but denying them in permissions after), but still a red flag.
But seriously, over all very impressed and pleased. A little disappointed with the blood glucose stuff and the lack of BP monitoring which I'm sure is possible, but maybe updates will address this.