Two former Meta interface designers are betting the next great input device is not a headset, or even a pendant, but rather a ring. Their start-up, Sandbar, has announced Stream, a smart ring that records voice notes on demand while also serving as a tactile controller for music — essentially positioning itself as a minimalist “mouse for voice” in an era of AI-soaked software.
A Ring Engineered into a Voice Interface
Sandbar’s cofounders, CEO Mina Fahmi and CTO Kirak Hong, cut their teeth working on human–computer interfaces at places like Kernel, Magic Leap, Google, and CTRL-Labs, the neural-interface company that was later acquired by Meta. Their thesis for Stream is straightforward: voice is the quickest to extract thoughts out of your brain, but it requires an intentional, private, and reliable trigger — rather than a phone screen or always-listening mic.
Fahmi tried a journaling app when big language models first became popular, but found that the app got in the way of his ability to capture ideas. That’s what led the team to create an ultra-light hardware interface that you can wear on your index finger, and can disappear when it’s not wanted.
How Stream captures voice and controls media playback
Stream is slid onto the dominant index finger and equipped with far-field microphones and a touch surface. Instead, you press and hold the pad for a “wake word,” speak, and let go, at which point the mic mutes. In demos, the ring consistently captured whispers and turned them into text in a companion iOS app — a cool setup for meetings (or commutes or late-night ideas you don’t want to vocalize).
The app comes with an AI-based chatbot that talks to you as you record, structuring ideas into editable notes. You can zoom in to review conversations on a timeline and tasks or outlines later. Sandbar also incorporates some light personalization so the assistant’s voice is tinged with a bit of the user’s own, and the ring itself vibrates when it processes an action — helpful if you’re not looking at your phone.
And in addition to the note-taking abilities, that flat area of the ring also serves as a media controller for playing, pausing, skipping, and going up or down with volume. Which may sound redundant in the age of Bluetooth headphones, but has proved useful when your hands are occupied — cooking, on a busy train, or in charge of luggage — and when you want a universal control that transcends any one audio brand.
Privacy is integrated into the interaction model by default: The microphone is off on release, only responding to touch, and provides a haptic instead of using voice for feedback, letting you know that your request has been processed.
For private AI conversations in noisy places, users can connect headphones, or else Stream will rely on silent haptic feedback and fast gestures to maintain a sub rosa exchange.
Pricing, funding, availability, and subscription details
Sandbar is now accepting preorders for the Stream at $249 for silver and $299 for gold. A Pro subscription is bundled for a trial period, then costs $10 per month to unlock unlimited chats and notes, as well as early access to new features. According to the company, it will commence shipments after manufacturing ramps, with a phased rollout starting from preorder customers and moving on.
On data control, Sandbar highlights encryption at rest and in-region, and says users determine what’s saved or shared. The team also plans export pathways to popular knowledge tools like Notion, signaling an intent to prevent lock-in — a welcome stance as new AI devices increasingly wall off their ecosystems.
Sandbar has also raised $13 million from True Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Betaworks. Stream was a rare exception, and as True Ventures partner Toni Schneider — who has had his fair share of AI hardware demos — put it: for a product that is intentionally cramming input and shying away from spectacle, the experience felt close to ready for real use.
The competitive stakes in AI wearables and smart rings
The voice-first hardware category is packed and loud. Card-like recorders from Plaud and Pocket; pendants by Friend, Limitless, and Taya; and a wristband by Bee (now part of Amazon) are all competing to be the go-to thinking-and-tasking companion. Rings, in particular, are catching people’s attention for the small form factor and what feels like constant-wear potential; health-focused efforts from players like Oura and Samsung’s recent ring push show that they are mainstream, even if their use cases diverge significantly from Stream.
But history is rife with ambitious AI gadgets that failed to cross the chasm. Humane’s assets were acquired by a bigger PC maker, Rabbit is depending on software updates to resuscitate engagement, and any new entrant will have to persuade buyers they’re doing something more useful than tapping a phone shortcut or their own heads. Stream’s angle — an on-purpose press-to-speak “voice mouse” with universal media controls — is a sharper pitch than that for a general-purpose assistant, but it still needs to prove out everyday reliability, social acceptability, and comfort over long wear.
If Sandbar takes off, it may be due to nailing the boring essentials: low-friction capture, fast and accurate transcription, frictionless syncing, and data portability that respects the user’s current workflow. The hardware is almost deliberately unassuming — the experience revolves around making the gesture-to-note loop feel like it happens now and with trust.
Why this voice-first smart ring could matter for AI
As AI goes from novelty to infrastructure, perhaps the winning products won’t be the flashiest models but rather the quietest tools — the ones that make human expression faster without overhead. Stream doesn’t posit the ring so much as a personality-driven companion as it does an input device that helps you think thoughts aloud and file away the results. For some, that might be precisely the sort of AI hardware they’ll be willing to wear.
