Robot model
Friend
Friend is an always-listening wearable AI companion pendant (a necklace) made by the startup Friend, founded by Avi Schiffmann.
- Manufacturer
- Friend
- Form factor
- wearable
- Maturity
- commercial
- Lifecycle
- active
- Deployments
- 1
- Website
- friend.com ↗
The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies Friend, a wearable by Friend (commercial): 1 verified deployment on record. 7 sources back the record.
Overview
Friend is an always-listening wearable AI companion pendant (a necklace) made by the startup Friend, founded by Avi Schiffmann. Unlike the productivity recorders in this cohort, it is an emotional-companion device that texts the wearer. It is shipping to the US, Canada, and EU at $129 (it launched as a $99 preorder in 2024).
A roughly $1M New York subway advertising campaign in late 2025 became a flashpoint for public backlash against consumer AI. Friend raised about $2.5M at a $50M valuation (led by Caffeinated Capital, with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas as an individual angel); the friend.com domain was purchased for about $1.8M. The registry records it at commercial maturity, correcting the dispatch's preliminary research/promised label: it is verifiably shipping.
Verified vs. claimed
- Maturity stage
- commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
- Sources on file
- View all sources →
Key facts
Type
Pricing (sources differ)
Availability
Maker funding (reported, unconfirmed)
Specs
Notes
Battery
Pricing
Function
Form Factor
Data & sources
Press releases
1
News coverage
2
Web sources
4
7 sources backing this record.View all →
Availability and pricing
- Availability
- Not disclosed
- Price
- $129 (actual sale price)as of 2024-07-31
- Units in field
- Not disclosed
- Sales model
- Not disclosed
- Lead time
- Not disclosed
Pricing
One-time purchase
$129 USDactual sale priceas of 2024-07-31
Price status: actual-sale-price = real published price at time of sale; manufacturer-target = vendor target, not yet realized; analyst-estimate = third-party projection, not a vendor figure; not-announced = no price on record.
Prices verified as of Jul 31, 2024
Deployments (1)
- Friend at New Yorkoperational
Friend AI pendant: honest-absence on meaningful deployment.
Friend on the deployment map
View the global mapWhere Friend is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Friend AI companion pendant
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Price point recorded: $129VerifiedJul 31, 2024
Actual sale price
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
at New York
Deployment-verified media (1)
Friend's reveal trailer for its AI companion pendant. An always-listening device that texts rather than speaks, and acts as a phone companion.
From deployment: New York
Safety record
No incidents on record for Friend.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Sources (7)
- https://friend.com/?page=hardware
- https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/30/friend-is-an-ai-companion-backed-by-founders-of-solana-perplexity-and-zfellows/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend_(product)
- https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/friend-is-a-dollar99-ai-necklace-that-wants-to-help-you-remake-the-movie-her
- https://decrypt.co/242629/friend-necklace-avi-schiffmann
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/tech/friend-ai-device-backlash-ceo-avi-schiffmann
- https://www.wired.com/story/friend-ai-pendant/
Mentioned on (1)
Registry pages whose text names Friend.
Companies (1)
Common questions
What is Friend?
How much does Friend cost?
Is Friend actually deployed in the real world?
Where is Friend deployed?
Can you buy Friend?
What are alternatives to Friend?
How does Friend compare to Bee AI Wearable?
Is Friend a top wearable?
What is Friend's maturity stage?
Is Friend safe?
What is the Friend AI pendant?
Methodology: Verified · 7 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-12
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-10-12
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: commercial
Lifecycle: active
Architectural position
Cohort: wearable
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 2
- secondary-industry-publication
- Industry publication
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 1
- knowledge-base
- Knowledge base
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Friend.Recent coverage
Friend in third-party press
Attention vs reality over time
Media mentions per month (area) against verified deployment events (dots). A press spike over a flat deployment line is the hype gap, drawn over time.
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Friend from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
3 Mexican men jailed for over 158 years for Australian, US surfer murders
A judge has sentenced three Mexican men to more than 158 years in prison each for the 2024 murders of two Australian brothers and their American friend, a case that tarnished…
New York man charged with rape and lethal fentanyl dosing of college student
<p>Prosecutors allege Moises Freire gave two students at FIT the opioid, saying it was cocaine, and raped one as she overdosed</p><p>A man raped a student at <a…
Will the price of gold continue to fall?
After two perfect trades yesterday 📈, I intended to wait for new opportunities, but ended up having a few drinks with a friend and went to bed early 🍻. Checking the market upon…
Vinci targets faster chip design and simulation with physics-driven AI
Simulation is a hardware engineer’s best friend, adept at finding issues in product designs and avoiding a disastrous deployment. Yet the process of orchestrating simulations has…
Justin Baldoni Makes Rare Public Appearance on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Following Blake Lively Legal Battle
According to Page Six, the actor attended ABC's dance competition with his wife and their two daughters as a guest of "longtime family friend" Julianne Hough, months after…
My Friend Has No Soul
The second iteration of the viral Friend AI necklace is louder and less interesting.
Billy Crystal says he no longer trusts God after losing home of 46 years then his longtime friend Rob Reiner
Billy Crystal says he no longer trusts God after losing his Pacific Palisades home in the wildfires and the death of close friend Rob Reiner.
My friend and I live thousands of miles apart. We take cruises together every year to maintain our relationship.
I stay in touch with my long-distance friend in another country by taking cruises together each year. They're fun, and they make planning easy.
Malcolm Pirece Jenkins – Oct. 17, 1986 – Oct. 4, 2026
In Loving Memory of Malcolm Jenkins Malcolm Jenkins was a beloved son, grandson, brother, father, nephew, uncle, and friend with a big personality and an even bigger heart.
Harris: Trump’s Russian fuel plan ‘reeks of weakness’
Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday criticized President Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, saying it “reeks of weakness.” “Donald Trump and his war in Iran are to blame…
Kelly Clarkson Responds After New York Store Denies She Got the ‘Pretty Woman’ Treatment: “You’re a Liar”
"It’s not that hard to be kind," she wrote after Art of Play shot down her version of events. "I never blast people but you my friend were an exception. Your store is really cool.…
We rode 12 rides at Disney World without paying for Lightning Lanes. The secret was leaving our kids at home.
My friend and I are both moms and left our seven kids at home to go to Disney World. We visited three parks, rode 12 rides, and loved every minute.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /models/friend-pendant.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/models/97d9fa67-9355-44c9-9b07-5bff221ce3b9
- Revision history: /models/friend-pendant/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Video
Trolling My Friend as the ANOMALIES in Animal Hospital! Today I'm trolling my friend Arkey by pretending to be one of the ANOMALIES in Animal Hospital! Watch until the end to see all of his reactions and SUBSCRIBE! Tha
Trolling My Friend’s Clan with REAL ADMIN in Rivals Today I'm trolling my friend Arkey's Clan with REAL ADMIN in Roblox Rivals.. Watch until the end to see all
A friendship like theirs 💗 Pokémon Horizons: Season 3, now playing on Netflix! SUBSCRIBE: https://bit.ly/2ZflIEC About Netflix Family: Welcome to the officia
It all started in the 2006 when 14-year-old Christina Hamilton walked into a criminal justice class, she had no idea she was about to meet the future biggest po
When you say hello to your girlfriend's friend and suddenly you're in the doghouse. 😂 A relatable stickman animation about the chaos of innocent gestures being
Reality vs attention
Friend draws attention at the 96th percentile but verifies reality at the 26th percentile among wearable robots. Hype Gap +70.1, 1st widest among wearable robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Strong recent media coverage and press activity. Thin deployment record; scale validation still in progress.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Oct 17, 2026