Best AI Wearables for Memory in 2026
Best AI Wearables for Memory in 2026
The pitch: wear a small device. It listens to your conversations. AI transcribes and summarizes them. You never forget a meeting again.
The reality is more nuanced. After testing the major AI wearables and comparing them to software alternatives, here's what actually works — and what's just expensive jewelry.
The Market Right Now
There are two ways to get "AI memory":
Hardware — a pendant, pin, or glasses that you wear. Records audio from your environment. Typically cloud-processed.
Software — an app on your existing computer. Records your screen and/or audio. Can be local or cloud.
Both aim to create searchable memory. The trade-offs are interesting.
The Hardware
Omi — Open Source Pendant (~$25-50)
Omi is the affordable, community-driven option. A small BLE pendant that pairs with your phone and records conversations.
Genuinely good:
- Open source hardware and firmware
- Cheap — $25-50 for the device
- Captures in-person conversations away from your laptop
- Active developer community
Not great:
- Audio goes to the cloud for processing — your conversations are on someone else's server
- BLE range means it needs your phone nearby
- Audio-only — no screen content, no text, no visual context
- Battery needs charging (another device to manage)
- Transcription quality depends on ambient noise
See our Omi comparison.
Limitless Pendant (~$99 + $20/month)
The premium option, from the Rewind team. Higher build quality, tighter software integration.
Genuinely good:
- Well-designed hardware
- Good transcription quality
- Integrates with the Limitless Mac app
- Works for both in-person and virtual meetings
Not great:
- $339 first year ($99 + $240 subscription). $240/year after that.
- Audio processed on their cloud servers
- Closed source
- Mac-only companion app
- No screen capture from the pendant
See our Limitless comparison.
Humane AI Pin ($700 + $24/month)
Remember this one? The clip-on AI assistant with a projector.
Widely criticized for being slow, unreliable, and expensive. The company's future is uncertain. Hard to recommend in 2026. Moving on.
Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses ($300+)
Not primarily a memory device, but Meta AI is built in. Camera provides visual context.
The problem: it's a Meta product. Your data goes to Meta's servers. And the "memory" features are limited — it's more of a voice assistant that can see, not a continuous recording/recall tool.
You Already Have a Better Option: Your iPhone
Here's something most people overlook: iPhone Voice Memos syncs natively with Screenpipe.
Record a conversation on your phone at a coffee meeting, a conference, or a walk-and-talk. The voice memo syncs to your Mac automatically via iCloud. Screenpipe picks it up and indexes it alongside all your screen and audio data.
The result? Much higher audio quality than any BLE pendant (iPhone microphones are excellent), completely private (no cloud AI processing — just iCloud sync you already use), and zero extra hardware to buy or charge.
For the "away from my computer" use case that wearables supposedly solve, your iPhone already does it better.
The Software Alternative: Screenpipe
Your laptop already has a screen, a microphone, speakers, and more compute than any wearable. For the 90%+ of your workday spent at a computer, software beats hardware.
Screenpipe captures your screen and audio continuously. Everything stays local. No cloud, no hardware, no charging another device.
What it captures that wearables don't:
| Wearables (Omi, Limitless) | Screenpipe | |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual meeting audio | ✅ | ✅ |
| In-person audio (away from PC) | ✅ | ⚠️ Use iPhone Voice Memos |
| Screen content / OCR | ❌ | ✅ |
| Slides, presentations | ❌ | ✅ |
| Chat messages, emails | ❌ | ✅ |
| Documents, spreadsheets | ❌ | ✅ |
| Websites visited | ❌ | ✅ |
For knowledge workers, screen content is arguably more valuable than audio alone. You spend more time reading and browsing than talking.
The privacy difference: Wearables upload your audio to cloud servers for processing. Screenpipe processes everything locally on your device. Your conversations, your screen data, your memory — it all stays yours.
The cost difference:
| Cost | Recurring | |
|---|---|---|
| Screenpipe | $400 lifetime | None |
| Screenpipe + Pro | $600 lifetime | None (1yr pro included) |
| Omi | ~$50 | Cloud costs |
| Limitless | $99 + $240/yr | $240/yr |
| Humane Pin | $700 + $288/yr | $288/yr |
The Practical Recommendation
For most knowledge workers in 2026:
Start with Screenpipe. It covers the vast majority of your digital life — every app, every meeting, every thing you read or write on screen, plus audio from meetings at your computer. $400 for a lifetime license, local, open source. Download here.
Use iPhone Voice Memos for in-person conversations. When you're at a coffee meeting, conference, or away from your laptop — just record a voice memo on your iPhone. It syncs to your Mac automatically, and Screenpipe indexes it. Better audio quality than any pendant, and you already own the hardware.
Skip the wearables unless you have a very specific need. If you're in constant in-person meetings all day and don't want to think about recording — maybe. But for most people, the iPhone + Screenpipe combination covers everything without sending your conversations to someone else's server.
The Bigger Picture
AI memory is real. The question isn't "should I record my work?" anymore — it's "where should the recording happen?"
On your device (Screenpipe, iPhone Voice Memos) — you control the data. Nothing leaves your machine.
On someone else's server (Omi, Limitless, Otter) — you trust their infrastructure, their policies, and their future business decisions.
On dedicated hardware — adds cost and complexity, and the data still needs to be processed somewhere (usually the cloud).
For most people, Screenpipe + your iPhone is the right combination. One-time purchase, covers nearly everything, and keeps your data private.
Hardware wearables are a complement at best, not a replacement.
Try Screenpipe → — AI memory without the hardware.