Aina is launching preorders for its Aina Ring, a titanium smart ring with a small display and a joystick-like button designed to let wearers approve or reject actions proposed by AI agents without pulling out a phone. The company announced the product today after 15 months in stealth. The ring costs $399 for a limited time and will rise to a retail price of $499 when it begins shipping in January 2027, according to the company.
The ring is the work of Apoorv Shankar, who previously served as vice president of hardware at Ultrahuman, the fitness- and health-tracking ring maker that competed with Oura and was briefly banned in the US after a patent dispute with Oura. Aina first showed experimental products at CES 2026 under the name Project Mirage, including a device called Dune that connected to a Mac and turned three buttons into context-aware controls, such as mute, camera off, or record shortcuts during a meeting. Aina studied how people used Dune before developing the ring.
The Aina Ring connects to Macs or iPhones, and its onboard assistant looks for the three things the user needs next, learning routines from personal data including location, calendar, and email, and from third-party services connected in the Aina app, such as Uber or Spotify. Features the company calls Aina Cues can suggest resuming a podcast or playing music when a user puts on running shoes, propose an Uber ride at a usual commute time, or offer to email a Zoom meeting that the user will be late for. Shankar says users can also build their own Cues in natural language, and can connect preferred AI agents such as Muse or Instinct, which handle tasks through virtual browsers.
Aina Voice lets users talk to their AI agents by pressing the center button or ask the ring to take notes, and a tiny speaker allows phone calls that the user takes by bringing a hand to the ear. The ring also works as a context-aware remote, offering Zoom controls during a Mac call or acting as a TV remote when connected to a TV system. Shankar says the display is essential so users know an action actually went through, because agents do not respond immediately and trust requires display confirmation.
The launch lands in a crowded field of attempted AI gadgets. Humane and Rabbit are two notable examples that have not stuck so far, and OpenAI is developing such a product with former Apple designer Jony Ive. Many of those devices claimed to replace the phone, and some, like the Rabbit, felt awkward to carry alongside a smartphone. Shankar says the Aina Ring is not trying to replace anything, describing phones as too perfect, and frames the ring as a way to keep users from becoming a bottleneck so their AI agents can keep working on their behalf.
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