Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy Ring, a smart ring designed to monitor your heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and more. The device comes in three colors (Titanium Black, Titanium Silver, and Titanium Gold), nine sizes, and is equipped with a battery that ranges from 17 mAh to 23.5 mAh, depending on the size.
Now, YouTuber ZoneOfTech has shared his experience with the smart ring. He was about to board a flight after nearly two days of straight travel when his Galaxy Ring started to swell while it was still on his finger, causing him considerable pain.
Ahhh…this is…not good.
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) September 29, 2025
My Samsung Galaxy Ring’s battery started swelling. While it’s on my finger 😬. And while I’m about to board a flight 😬
Now I cannot take it off and this thing hurts.
Any quick suggestions @SamsungUK @SamsungMobileUS? pic.twitter.com/LOO1kSlQUw
He"s had it since January this year and claims the battery life degraded from the advertised ~7 days to around 1.5 days before the swelling incident. This rapid drop in capacity made him stop charging it regularly, and it actually had no battery juice left when the swelling happened.
Other users on Reddit also have similar complaints about degraded battery life on the Galaxy Ring. Samsung says battery life on the device may be affected by usage patterns as well as environmental factors like temperature and signal strength.
When ZoneOfTech tried to remove it, he couldn"t, as his finger was trapped. He also tried using water and soap on the smart ring, which you should never do if you"re ever in this situation, because putting water on a damaged lithium-ion battery can make things much more dangerous, with a risk of fire or explosion. According to him, the attempt "expanded the battery even more."
The story ended with airport staff denying him access to the plane. He was sent to the hospital, where it was removed. Images he shared show the clearly distorted ring after the medical team removed it.
Update:
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) September 29, 2025
- I was denied boarding due to this (been travelling for ~47h straight so this is really nice 🙃). Need to pay for a hotel for the night now and get back home tomorrow👌
- was sent to the hospital, as an emergency
- ring got removed
You can see the battery all… https://t.co/SRPfYI92Zg pic.twitter.com/ob8uUp5BeW
Neowin looked but could not find other reports of the ring"s battery swelling so catastrophically, so this could be a one-time incident. But for ZoneOfTech, one thing"s for sure: he"s never wearing a smart ring "ever again."
Update (October 1, 2025, 14:34 GMT): Samsung reached out to Neowin with the following statement:
The safety of customers is our top priority. This is an extremely rare case, and we are in direct contact with Mr. Rotar to retrieve the product and learn about the concerns.
Mr. Rotar (ZoneOfTech) confirmed via X that Samsung picked up the ring from him, sorted out his hotel and ride home, and said they"d look into it. He also mentioned his finger is doing fine, just a few small marks that should heal soon.