Friend is selling hardware again, and this time the necklace talks. On 30 July 2026 Avi Schiffmann posted “friend 2.0”: a built-in speaker so the pendant can answer out loud, a $249 price, and an optional memory plan (WIRED, 30 July 2026; The Verge, 30 July 2026; TechCrunch, 30 July 2026). Friend’s own shop is the specification sheet this desk will score from: $249, 30-day memory included, $9.99 a month to keep memories, iPhone and Bluetooth required, 18–24 hours of typical use (Friend).
That is a shipping wearable. It is not a recap recorder. Friend’s FAQ says the pendant listens only while the app is connected at iPhone Bluetooth range, and hears nothing if you disconnect. There is still no published weight, no pickup range, and no file export of audio or transcripts. Android is “not yet.”
The first-generation pendant, which texted instead of speaking, reached people after a delay from Q1 2025 to Q3 (TechCrunch, 20 January 2025). This listing is the speaker SKU. Compared with the rest of the aisle, Limitless was the always-on pendant that treated a recording light as the product, and is no longer sold. Humane’s AI Pin was the other necklace-adjacent object that talked back, and it was bricked. Friend is the one you can still buy. The Friend page is the review.