An AI necklace that couldn’t talk has spent two years defining itself through controversy instead of conversation. This week that changes. Friend AI Pendant, the always-listening AI pendant from founder Avi Schiffmann, now ships with a built-in speaker and a spoken personality, and the price has nearly doubled to match.
Schiffmann announced the update, calling it “friend 2.0,” on Thursday. The new hardware is available now on Friend.com, alongside a new commercial built around the device’s voice feature. For a product that has struggled to sell in meaningful volume since it started shipping, the relaunch is a bet that talking back is worth twice the price of staying quiet.
💰Friend 2.0: $249
Where to Buy: Friend.com
Optional $10/month subscription extends AI memory past 30 days
The pitch hasn’t changed, only the price
Friend is a small pendant worn on a cord around the neck. It listens continuously, and its AI, built on Google’s Gemini models, sends text messages and push notifications to a companion iPhone app instead of waiting for a wake word. The new version of the Friend AI Pendant adds a speaker so the AI can talk out loud, and each pendant is handed a voice and personality at random during setup, and owners have no way to swap it out or rename it afterward.
That upgrade comes at a cost. The new pendant sells for $249, up from the $129 price the hardware shipped at in 2025, which itself followed an original preorder price of $99 when Friend first opened for orders in 2024. An optional $10 monthly subscription extends how long the AI remembers past conversations beyond the default 30 days. Schiffmann has said an accessories line, including colored cords, is coming later this year.
A rocky two years before this relaunch
Schiffmann began pitching the idea in 2023, when he was 21 and had just left Harvard. The project was originally called “Tab” and drew over $250,000 in early investment before Schiffmann spent $1.8 million on the friend.com domain, which had sat unclaimed for 17 years. The hardware is manufactured in Toronto through a partnership with Bould, the design firm behind Nest’s thermostats.
Sales have been modest. By last fall, the company had sold around 3,000 units and shipped roughly 1,000 of them, generating about $348,000 in revenue against a marketing budget that dwarfed it. In 2025, Friend spent more than $1 million placing roughly 11,000 “always on” ads across New York’s subway system. The campaign became better known for the backlash it drew than the sales it generated: riders vandalized the posters with messages like “AI is not your friend,” and Schiffmann later framed the reaction as intentional.
What the hardware still is
Friend is a rounded plastic disc just under 2 inches across, about the heft and footprint of a chunky Apple AirTag. A single microphone handles always-on listening, and tapping the disc lets the wearer talk to it directly. The company rates the pendant for up to 15 hours of battery life; that figure hasn’t been independently tested for this article.
The headline change is the new speaker and the personality that ships locked to each unit. Design partner Bould kept the shape and the same candy-colored, iMac-style palette from the original hardware, so the visual identity carries over even as the interaction model shifts from silent texts to spoken responses.
Why a voice changes the equation
A pendant that only texted you could pass as a novelty, a quiet experiment in ambient AI. A pendant that talks back, unprompted, in a voice you didn’t choose, is a different kind of object to wear in public and a different kind of data relationship to opt into. It also puts Friend in more direct competition with AI companion apps and voice assistants that already talk, rather than the quieter always-listening wearables like recorders and note-takers that only transcribe.
The price increase raises the stakes on that bet. Friend’s first act sold in the low thousands of units at $129. Asking nearly double that for a device whose core value proposition, an AI that keeps you company, is still unproven at scale is a harder sell than adding a feature to an established hit.
💰Friend 2.0: $249
Where to Buy: Friend.com
Optional $10/month subscription extends AI memory past 30 days
Where things stand
Friend 2.0 is available now on Friend.com at $249, with the $10 monthly memory extension remaining optional rather than required. Given how small the company’s revenue base has been to date, whether a near-doubling of the price expands Friend’s audience or shrinks it further is the question this relaunch will have to answer in public.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Friend 2.0 available to buy right now?
Yes. The $249 version is listed for purchase on Friend.com.
Can you choose your Friend’s voice or personality?
No. Each pendant is assigned a random voice and personality at setup, and neither can be changed.
Do you need the $10 monthly subscription to use it?
No. The subscription is optional and only extends how long the AI retains memories of past conversations beyond 30 days.
What phone does it pair with?
Friend pairs with a companion iPhone app. The company’s site does not list Android support for this hardware.
Now retrieving an image set.
2-Pack LED Video Light Kit, NiceVeedi Studio Light, 2800-6500K Dimmable Photography Lighting Kit with Tripod Stand&Phone Holder, 73" Stream Light for Video Recording, Game Streaming, YouTube
