Hardware startup Aina today released a smart ring that includes a screen, joystick, and microphone. This allows you to talk to the agent and take notes. The $399 ring also has a speaker, so you can use it to take calls.
The startup, which raised $5.5 million in July, positions Ring as a kind of controller for both AI and non-AI apps.
The company previously developed Mirage, a three-key controller that can summon buttons based on apps on your Mac’s screen. For example, if you’re in a Google Meet call, you can map keys to turn your camera on/off, mute/unmute your microphone, or leave the meeting.
Aina took the lessons learned from that device and created a new ring that he simply calls the “AI Ring.” The microphone lets you take notes, prompt agents, set reminders, and dictate notes on your Mac using Wispr Flow or the startup’s own dictation engine.
Currently, there are already smart rings on the market with similar functionality, such as Pebble Index 01, Sandbar Stream, Oasis, and Natura. Perhaps that’s why Aina has added more controls and features to make it stand out. The ring has a speaker so you can take calls, and a screen where you can see notifications from your phone and which apps you’re controlling.
It has a joystick for navigation and also supports gestures, so you can trigger different actions based on what you see on your Mac or phone screen. The ring also lets you control your music and smart home devices like Apple TV.
I’ve been using the ring for a few days now, and it feels like a smartwatch in ring form with more controls. You can receive and respond to notifications. It surfaces my meeting. If you want a ride home, you can call an Uber.
It’s easier to use the Apple TV remote itself, but there were a few times when I couldn’t find the remote, and the Aina Ring came in handy. Admittedly, a lot of the software and features are still being fleshed out, so it’s hard to see where a device ring like this would fit into my daily usage, but this one is aimed squarely at people who are surrounded by digital devices and AI applications.
“The screen on your phone or laptop was designed for the era of browsing, where you think about opening an app. Interacting with a proactive agent requires a better interface, and that’s what we had in mind when designing Aina,” Aina founder Apoorv Shankar told TechCrunch by phone.
Companies are catering to programmers and AI enthusiasts by offering specialized hardware to help leverage a variety of agents. This includes OpenAI’s experimental keyboard and Rabbit, which is positioning itself as a controller. The hope with such hardware is that enough people will run multiple agents to invest in and monitor specific gadgets.
Aina’s Ring will be available for pre-order starting Thursday at an early bird price of $399, and the company plans to begin shipping the device in January 2027. Once the early bird period ends, the ring will cost $499.
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