Pebble Is Making a Smart Ring for Saving All Your Fleeting Thoughts

Pebble’s next work is a smart ring with a built-in microphone to record your thoughts. Pebble smartwatch maker Eric Migicowski, who recently took back the Pebble brand (now under his new company Core Devices) and revived the wearable electronic watch, calls the $99 Index 01 smart ring an “external memory” for your brain.

Unlike the Oura Ring 4 Ceramic, Samsung Galaxy Ring, and countless other multi-function smart rings designed to track your health and fitness, Pebble’s Index 01 is a single-purpose wearable.

In a blog post detailing the Index 01, Migicowski says it’s “as small as a wedding band,” is made of stainless steel, is water-resistant, and comes in three colors.

The smart ring has a single button that you can press and hold to activate the microphone. It does not require an internet connection or subscription fees. After activation, you “whisper your thoughts,” which are then sent to your phone and “added to your notes, set as a reminder, or saved to review later.”

As you may have guessed, the name “Index 01” is named after the finger – the index finger – on which it is worn. This allows you to use your adjacent thumb to press and hold the microphone button, which Migicowski says has a “satisfying clicky feel” — perfect for one-handed use. He says he initially made it an app for the Pebble smartwatch, but it couldn’t be used with one hand, and he also found the “raise to wake and wake gestures” to be “very unreliable.”

Here’s how Indicator 01 works, according to Migicovsky. Audio recordings are first saved to internal memory, streamed to the Pebble app on your phone (iPhone or Android), converted to text, and then the on-device Large Language Model (LLM) converts that into an action such as adding it to your note and reminders.

What Indicator 01 does not represent is “an AI-friendly device or permanent recording device,” Mijekowski points out. He’s clearly not a fan of AI devices like the controversial (and vulgar) boyfriend necklace.

It’s a simple tool designed with privacy at its core. “The connection between the ringer and the phone is encrypted,” Migicowski says, and because all the audio is processed on the device and sent to your phone, no recordings are ever stored in the cloud. “An optional cloud storage system for backing up recordings is available,” he says, but has not been built yet.

While browsing through Migicovsky’s detailed FAQ about the 01 indicator, a few things caught my eye. I like that the smart ring’s battery can last “for years” – about 12 to 15 hours of battery life, if you use it 10 to 20 times a day for 3 to 6 seconds. But oddly enough, the Index 01 is a disposable device, which means it doesn’t have a rechargeable battery. Adding charging circuitry would have made the Pointer 01 larger and more expensive as well, Migicowski says. Instead, users are expected to send the smart ring back to Pebble for recycling; They will be notified via the Pebble app to order another episode. Migicowski estimates, based on the frequency of use mentioned above, that the Index 01 should last about two years before it needs to be recycled. If you use it less often, the battery may last longer.

Pre-orders for the Index 01 start today at a discounted price of $75, but that will rise to $99 after they start shipping in March 2026.

As I said earlier, the smart ring will come in three colors (brushed silver, brushed gold, and matte black). You’ll get eight sizes to choose from (6 to 13).

Since this is a Pebble device — built on open source and DIY principles — users will be able to hack and customize the Pointer 01. Migicovsky says you’ll be able to program the button for single and double presses, add your own audio actions, and even send audio recordings to your app or server. It’s all about the spirit of Pebble.