A wave of voice-enabled hardware devices has emerged, designed to offer companionship, boost productivity, or support personal development. These include card-shaped gadgets like Plaud and Pocket; pendant-style wearables such as Friend, Limitless, and Taya; and a wristband from Bee, which has since been acquired by Amazon.
Now, two former Meta interface designers have launched Sandbar, a startup that created Stream—a smart ring aiming to deliver similar functionality. Dubbed a “voice mouse” by the company, the ring records notes, facilitates interaction with AI assistants, and enables music control.
Sandbar’s CEO, Mina Fahmi, brings extensive experience in human-computer interface design. He previously worked at Bryan Johnson’s Kernel and later joined smart glasses startup Magic Leap. Sandbar’s CTO, Kirak Hong, formerly worked at Google before moving to CTRL-Labs, where the two first met. Meta acquired CTRL-Labs in 2019, and their work eventually contributed to the tech giant’s neural interface for smart wearables.
Fahmi explained that when large language models began gaining traction a few years ago, he developed an experimental journaling app. However, he found it disrupted the natural flow of capturing his thoughts. Drawing on his background in hardware interfaces, he started exploring a conversational hardware solution.
“Many of my best ideas come to me while walking or commuting. I didn’t want to pull out my phone and break that moment, nor did I want to speak aloud into my earbuds for everyone around to hear. Kirak and I wanted to figure out how to capture thoughts the instant they arise—that’s how Stream was born,” Fahmi said in an interview.
The ring is designed to be worn on the index finger of the user’s dominant hand and features both a microphone and a touchpad.
During a virtual demo, Fahmi wore the Stream ring on his index finger and recorded thoughts by holding down the touchpad. By default, the microphone remains off and only activates through this gesture. It’s sensitive enough to pick up whispers and transcribe them in the companion iOS app. Other apps like Wispr Flow and Willow also enable discreet thought capture.
Stream’s companion app includes an AI chatbot that engages users as they record ideas. These thoughts can be organized into individual notes, editable by either the user or the AI. The app also allows zooming out to view conversations over days or weeks. Sandbar added a personalization layer that makes the assistant’s voice somewhat resemble the user’s own.
Fahmi noted that in crowded environments, users can pair headphones for private conversations with the AI. Without headphones, the ring provides haptic feedback upon successful note capture—enabling silent additions to to-do lists, quick notes, or shopping list checks.
Beyond voice capabilities, the ring’s flat surface doubles as a media controller, supporting play/pause, track skipping, and volume adjustment. While many headphones offer similar controls, the ring proves handy when hands are occupied or during on-the-go moments.
Sandbar will open pre-orders for Stream this Wednesday, priced at $249 for the silver version and $299 for the gold variant. Shipments are slated to begin next summer. A Pro subscription tier—free for three months to pre-order customers and $10/month thereafter—offers unlimited chats, notes, and early access to new features.
Fahmi emphasized that users retain full control over their data at every level, with encryption applied both at rest and in transit. He added that Sandbar rejects closed ecosystems and plans to support exporting data to platforms like Notion.
The company has raised $13 million in funding from True Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Betaworks.
