Guide
Recording conversations with an AI wearable: what to know in Europe.
Some AI wearables record what you hear and turn it into notes. That is useful, and it also captures people who did not agree to it.
In short. Recording a private conversation without the other people’s consent is a criminal offence in some European countries, Germany among them. A device that listens only while you press it, to hear your own request, is a different thing from one that records the room. Check how a device listens before you wear it at work or among friends. This is general information, not legal advice.
How AI wearables listen
| Device | How it listens |
|---|---|
| Friend (pendant) | Always listening while connected |
| Bee by Amazon | A button turns listening on and off; it listens through the parts of your day you choose |
| Plaud NotePin | A button starts and stops recording; made to capture meetings and conversations |
| Sandbar Stream (ring) | Records only while you press its touchpad, according to its maker |
| Lychnos Ring (in development) | The microphone has power only while you hold the button, to hear what you ask |
Sources, checked 3 November 2026: friend.com and The Gadgeteer, 31 July 2026; Amazon’s announcement and TechCrunch, 15 October 2026; Plaud’s NotePin comparison; Sandbar’s FAQ. Features change; if something here is out of date, write to hello@neaion.com and we will correct it.
A recorder and an assistant are different tools. A recorder is for afterwards: what was said and who promised what. An assistant is for now: you ask, it answers. Both can be useful; they ask different things of the people around you.
What the law says, in broad terms
- Germany. Section 201 of the Criminal Code makes it an offence to record the privately spoken words of another person without authorisation, with up to three years in prison or a fine (§ 201 StGB).
- The GDPR. A recording of people who can be identified is personal data. The regulation does not apply to purely personal or household activity (GDPR, Article 2(2)(c)), but recording at work, or for a business, can bring it in.
- Other countries draw the line elsewhere; some allow you to record a conversation you take part in. The rules also differ for phone calls, meetings and public places.
- At work, employers and works councils often set their own rules, and many meetings forbid recording.
The simplest rule works everywhere: say that you are recording, and ask first.
Questions to ask before you wear one
- When is the microphone on? All the time, while connected, or only while you press?
- Can the people around you tell? A light, a sound, or nothing at all.
- Where do recordings go, and for how long? Can you delete them, and is the audio kept or only the text?
- Who else can read them? The company’s staff, its partners, the training of its AI?
- What if the company is sold? After Meta bought Limitless, its pendant stopped being sold on 5 December 2025, and in the EU and the UK its service ended too (TechCrunch; more in the Limitless pendant alternative).
How Lychnos Ring handles it
Lychnos Ring is an assistant, not a recorder. Its microphone gets power only while you hold the button: a switch in the hardware, not a setting. What you say goes over the ring’s eSIM to our cloud in the EU, where it becomes text, and the clip is deleted right after; no voice is kept. In those seconds it may also hear a voice nearby, as any microphone would, but it is not built to record meetings or the people around you. More in privacy by design and hold to talk versus wake words.
Questions
Is it legal to wear an AI pendant that records?
It depends on the country and the situation. In Germany, recording other people's privately spoken words without their consent is a criminal offence. Ask the people around you, and check how the device listens. This is general information, not legal advice.
Does Lychnos Ring record conversations?
It is not built to. Its microphone works only while you hold the button, to hear what you ask; the clip becomes text in our cloud in the EU and is deleted right after.