Omi AI Review: The Wearable Note Taker, Its App and Cost

Priya had three browser tabs open and three prices for the same necklace. One Omi page said $129. A second said $169. A third said $229. (Priya is a composite, not a real customer.)

She manages accounts for a packaging supplier in Columbus, and she wanted one thing: notes from client meetings without typing during them. The Omi AI wearable promised exactly that. But which price was real, and would she need a subscription on top?

This Omi AI review answers that. It covers what the device is, what the app does on iPhone, Android and Mac without the device, what each plan costs, and how Omi describes its own privacy.

One thing up front. This review is built from Omi's published pages, its help center and docs, its App Store listing and public reports, all read on November 12, 2026. We didn't test the device, and we won't pretend we did.

A second disclosure: ParrotNotes publishes this blog, and ParrotNotes is our phone app. It shows up near the end, for readers who decide they'd rather not wear a recorder. If that's already you, try ParrotNotes free and come back for the Omi facts.

Omi AI in one paragraph

Omi AI is a small open-source pendant, plus a free app for iPhone, Android and Mac, that listens to your conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries and to-do lists. As of November 2026, Omi's home page sells the device for $129 (crossed-out price $179). The Free plan comes with every Omi and includes 5 hours of cloud recording a month. Pro costs $29.99 a month or $269.91 a year.

The app also works with no device at all: you can record from the phone's own microphone. So the real question isn't only "is Omi good?" It's whether you need the necklace, or just an app on the phone in your pocket.

What Omi AI is: a necklace, an app and open-source code

Omi comes from Based Hardware, a San Francisco startup. TechCrunch covered its launch at CES in January 2025, when the device cost $89 and had just been renamed from "Friend." Prices have changed since, so every number here carries a date.

The Omi AI wearable

The device is a round pendant about the size of a coin. Here's what Omi's own pages list for it, as of November 12, 2026.

Two details matter in daily use. First, a battery of 10 to 14 hours means charging every night, and Omi's own comparison page says so. Bee, by comparison, lists 7+ days in our Bee AI review.

Second, the Omi AI necklace isn't a press-to-record device. Omi's pendant page calls it "always on and hands-free." Its help center says you press once to power it on, and a blue light means it's connected to the app and ready to record. That design has consequences for the people around you, covered below.

The Omi AI app on iPhone, Android and Mac, with no device

Here's the part many buyers miss. Omi's docs say it plainly: "The Omi app also works without a wearable."

Omi's help article on using Omi with a phone only describes how. On iPhone or Android, you open the app and tap the record button on the home screen. The app transcribes as you talk, then creates a conversation with a summary and action items. On a Mac, the desktop app records through the Mac's microphone.

The same article suggests placing the phone on the table for in-person meetings, and tells you to get consent from participants where required.

On the App Store, the app is listed as "Omi - Smart Meeting Notes" from Based Hardware. It's free to download, rated 4.6 from 156 ratings, and runs on iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch (checked November 12, 2026). We couldn't read the Google Play listing with our tools that day, so for Android we're relying on Omi's own "Android 7+" line.

So you can try the Omi AI app for nothing before spending $129 on hardware.

What Omi AI costs in November 2026

Omi's home page says "No subscription required," and that's true as far as it goes. The Free plan is real. But the limits are tight for anyone who wants all-day capture, which is the whole pitch of a wearable.

Source: omi.me home page, read November 12, 2026. Prices are US dollars before tax.

Five hours a month sounds like a lot. Spread across a month, it's about 10 minutes a day, and Omi's own comparison page describes it that way. An always-on device can use that up by the end of the first Monday.

What happens then? Omi's help center says "reaching the 300-minute limit does not stop Omi from recording." The audio is still saved. It's the processing, meaning transcripts and insights, that the cap restricts.

Year-one cost, worked out

Here's the arithmetic from the home page prices above.

So an all-day Omi user should budget about $400 for the first year, and about $270 a year after that. The $129 on the buy button is roughly a third of the real bill.

Not sure you need hardware at all? Download ParrotNotes free and record your next in-person meeting on the phone you already own. The free plan includes 100 minutes a month and an AI summary on every recording.

Where Omi's own pages disagree

Remember Priya's three tabs? She wasn't confused. On November 12, 2026, Omi's own pages gave different answers to basic questions. This table shows each one, so you know what to confirm at checkout.

Our reading: the home page is the newest, and older pages haven't caught up. The App Store release notes for version 1.0.590 point the same way, saying "Omi Pro is now the only plan offered."

Still, that's a reading, not a fact. The price that counts is the one in your cart, and the return terms that count are the ones in your order email. Take a screenshot of both.

One more caution on the compliance row. A claim on a product page isn't the same as a signed agreement or an audit report. If your work depends on SOC 2 or HIPAA, ask Omi for the report and the paperwork before you rely on it.

Omi AI privacy, and recording the people around you

What Omi says about your data

Omi's privacy policy was last updated on October 30, 2026. In its own words, the main points are these.

• Audio may be kept. "We may store conversation audio in encrypted form" for features such as playback, and you may be able to control this in settings.
• Transcription runs in the cloud by default. The docs say the app streams audio to Omi's backend, which sends it to a speech-to-text provider.
• Encryption. "Encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest (AES-256)," per the home page.
• Training. "Omi never uses your recordings or summaries for model training without your explicit permission."
• Deletion. Deleting your account locks it for 14 days, then removes the data. Deleting one conversation removes its transcript and any stored audio.

Omi is also open source. Its GitHub repository carries an MIT license and about 14,000 stars. The docs add that you can bring your own model keys, or run transcription on your phone or your own server.

That's a real point in Omi's favor, with one limit. The same docs say that "running your own production copy of Omi is not supported or documented." So most buyers will use Omi's cloud, like any other service.

The people who didn't choose to be recorded

An always-on necklace records more than its owner. Omi says so itself: the device is "designed to capture what you hear and say, so it can also pick up other voices nearby."

Omi leaves the legal side with you. Its terms state that "you are solely responsible for obtaining any required consents or notices." Its product page adds: "Always get permission to record others and follow local recording laws."

That's the right advice, so here's the general picture. In the US, federal law (18 U.S.C. 2511) allows recording when one person in the conversation consents. Some states go further and require everyone's consent. Our guide to one-party consent states lists all 50.

This is general information, not legal advice. And the law is only the minimum. Tell people before you record, show them the device, and switch it off when someone says no. A recorder nobody knows about isn't a note-taking tool. It's a trust problem.

What public reports say about the Omi AI wearable

We haven't worn the Omi AI wearable, so here's what people who have reported in public.

NBC News, March 2026. Reporter Brian Cheung wore several AI devices at once, Omi among them. He found the summaries useful: "The summaries were helpful to me." He also noted that Omi listens continuously unless the user powers it off, and that its recording light is small. So he told people himself that he was recording.

App Store reviews, November 2026. The rating is 4.6 from 156 ratings. The positive reviews shown praise the summaries, follow-up tracking and offline capture. The lowest-rated review shown reports frequent disconnects, unreliable recording, slow uploads and slow support.

Omi's own release notes. Version 1.0.590 says a pause or mute now persists after a Bluetooth drop, so the pendant won't resume recording on its own. A welcome fix, and a sign the pause control had a gap before.

Picture Marcus, a regional sales manager in Denver, trying the phone-only route first. (Marcus is a composite.) Four one-hour team meetings in two weeks would use 4 of his 5 free cloud hours. That tells him what he needs to know: a week of always-on capture won't fit the Free plan.

Omi AI wearable or the phone you already carry?

A wearable and a phone app do two different jobs. Keep them apart and the choice gets easy.

The Omi AI wearable is for ambient capture. You put it on, and it catches hallway chats, ideas on a walk and meetings you didn't plan. Nothing to start, nothing to remember.

A phone app is for conversations you choose to record. A client meeting, a site visit, a long interview. You press record in plain sight, and everyone at the table can see it.

ParrotNotes does the second job. It records in-person and long conversations on your phone, transcribes them, and writes the summary. It isn't a wearable, and it doesn't listen all day in the background of your life.

Notice that Omi's free allowance is bigger: 300 minutes against 100. If free minutes are all you care about, Omi's phone app wins that row. ParrotNotes costs less at the paid level.

If you're comparing devices instead, our guide to the wearable AI voice recorder category covers the wider field, and Limitless Pendant alternatives explains what happened to Omi's best-known rival. For apps only, see the best AI note taker for in-person meetings.

Planned meetings, not all-day capture? Get ParrotNotes on your phone and record the next one in plain sight.

Seven checks before you buy Omi

Run through these with the checkout page open.

1. Try the app first. Install the Omi AI app, record two real meetings from your phone, and read the summaries. It costs nothing.
2. Confirm the device price in your cart. Omi's pages showed $129, $169 and $229 on the same day.
3. Decide on Pro now, not later. If you want all-day capture, add $269.91 a year to the budget.
4. Read the return terms in your order email. The pages quote 30 days and 5 days. Either way, the help center says you pay return shipping.
5. Plan the nightly charge. Ten to 14 hours means it won't last a second day.
6. Keep it dry. Omi lists the device as not water-resistant.
7. Work out your consent habit. Decide how you'll tell people, and when you'll switch it off.

Elena, who runs a three-person design studio in Austin, stopped at check 7. (Elena is a composite.) Her clients share unreleased product plans, and she didn't want a device that listens by default. She records only the meetings where she's asked first, on her phone.

The verdict of this Omi AI review

Omi AI is an interesting product with an honest strength: the code is open, the Free plan is real, and the app works before you've bought anything. For someone who wants a record of their whole day, the Omi AI wearable is one of the few devices built for that. Our PLAUD NotePin review covers a press-to-record alternative.

The cautions are just as clear:

• The sticker price isn't the bill. Budget about $400 for year one with Pro.
• Omi's pages disagree with each other. Confirm price, plan and returns at checkout.
• Always-on means other people are recorded too. Consent is your job, by Omi's own terms.
• It needs a nightly charge and should stay dry.
• You can test the idea for free. Record from a phone first and see whether you want more.

If your week is planned meetings and not ambient capture, you may not need a necklace at all. Download ParrotNotes free, put your phone on the table, and say "I'm recording this so I can listen properly."