Aina, a startup founded by former Ultrahuman hardware chief Apoorv Shankar, has opened pre-orders for a $399 ring with a built-in OLED screen. Shipping is planned for January 2027, and at launch it works only with iPhone and Mac.
Most smart rings focus on health tracking. Aina is built to control things instead, from phone apps and video calls to AI agents.
How it works
The ring's software learns from your app usage, location and calendar, then suggests the three things it thinks you need next. Before your usual commute, that might be a shortcut to book an Uber. If you're running late for a meeting, it could offer to send an email saying so.
You respond with your thumb, using a mechanical "shifter" in the band that tracks movement in four directions. Flick up to approve a suggestion or down to reject it. Holding the center button lets you speak to a connected AI agent or record a quick note.
The ring also changes its controls based on what you're doing, acting as a music remote, a mic and camera controller during meetings, or a TV remote. You can make phone calls too, by bringing your hand to your ear to use the built-in speaker.
"Pulling out and unlocking a phone for each of these binary moments won't work," Shankar said, arguing that AI agents will soon need constant quick approvals.
The specs
- Body: titanium
- Display: OLED
- Audio: microphone and speaker
- Battery: up to 18 hours
- Controls: four-direction thumb shifter and center button
- Support at launch: iOS and Mac
That battery figure is well short of the several days typical of health-focused rings, though those rings don't have a screen.
What's still unclear
The $399 price is a Super Early Bird offer on limited units, and Aina hasn't said what the ring will cost after that. It also says more details on supported integrations will come after launch, so it's hard to judge how much the ring will do on day one.
The announcement doesn't explain how the location, calendar and app data the ring relies on is stored or processed. The only testing Aina describes is a private pilot that began in early October, so its predictions are unproven outside that group.
Who's behind it
Aina was founded in May 2025 and announced a $5.5 million seed round in July. Its first product was Dune, a three-key Mac keypad that adapts to the app you're using and shipped to hundreds of early adopters in April.
This isn't Shankar's first ring. His earlier startup, LazyCo, made one for controlling other devices before Ultrahuman acquired the company.
