Aina, a hardware startup led by founder Apoorv Shankar, is taking early-bird preorders at $399 for an “AI ring” that has a screen, a joystick that also supports gestures, a microphone and a speaker for taking calls, according to TechCrunch, which tested it for a few days and reported on November 5, 2026. The price rises to $499 after the early-bird period, and Aina plans to start shipping in January 2027.

What the ring does

  • Sending prompts to AI agents by voice, taking notes and setting reminders.
  • Dictating notes on a Mac using Wispr Flow or Aina’s own dictation engine.
  • Using the joystick and gestures to trigger actions based on what is on a Mac or phone screen, and viewing phone notifications and which apps are being controlled.
  • Controlling music and smart-home devices such as Apple TV, seeing upcoming meetings and placing calls.

The company and its pitch

Aina raised $5.5 million in July. Its earlier device, Mirage, was a three-key controller that mapped keys to buttons in Mac apps such as camera, microphone and leaving a Google Meet call. Shankar told TechCrunch: “Phones and laptop screens were designed for an age of browsing,” and “For interacting with proactive agents, we need a better interface.” Aina presents the ring as a controller for both AI and non-AI apps. TechCrunch’s article does not mention the battery or sensors, and it names competing smart rings from Pebble, Sandbar, Oasis and Natura.

The reviewer’s experience

TechCrunch’s Ivan Mehta used the ring for a few days and wrote that it “feels like a smartwatch in a ring format, with more controls.” He found the Apple TV remote easier to use, but said the ring helped when he could not find the remote, and he noted that much of the software is still in development.

Sources and notes

This post is based on TechCrunch’s report by Ivan Mehta (6:42 a.m. PST, November 5, 2026). The price, shipping date and funding are the company’s, as relayed by TechCrunch. Preorders are not shipped products, and Lens did not test the ring or contact Aina.

Image: a hammered silver ring gilded with gold using the keum-boo technique, by AnnikaHendriksen via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped. Stand-in photo; it is a jewelry ring, not Aina’s product, and does not show the events described.