A recorder you can wear
The MemoriesBox device is a small pendant recorder worn at the collarbone. One press starts a recording; it holds 200 hours, runs up to three weeks on a charge, and pairs with a phone or plugs in by USB-C. It costs $79 at the early price, rising to $169, and ships in 2027.
Facts on this page verified
What it is
The MemoriesBox device is a pendant: a brushed stainless-steel rectangle about the size of a USB stick, on a fine chain, worn at the collarbone. It has one button on its side. Press it and it records. It costs $79 one-time at the early price, rising to $169, and it ships in 2027. That is the whole product, and the date is at the top on purpose. A pre-order page that hides its ship date has already told you something about the company.
It exists because the recording that matters most is rarely the one made at a desk. It is the one made at the kitchen table, on a walk, in the car, when somebody starts telling the story of the winter they left, and everyone present knows that nobody is going to say "wait, let me get my phone".
What it does
| Starts | One press of the side button. One press stops it. There is nothing else to learn |
| Holds | 200 hours of recording on the device itself |
| Runs | Up to three weeks on a charge |
| Pairs | With a phone, by Bluetooth, so what it recorded flows into the MemoriesBox archive |
| Transfers | By USB-C to any computer, the whole archive off in minutes, with no phone and no account |
| Is found | By GPS, if it is ever lost, from the app |
| Sits | At the collarbone, close enough to catch a voice that has gone quiet |
That last row is the design. A phone on the table hears the room. A pendant at the collarbone hears the person, including the person who now speaks more softly than they used to, and who does not want to lean into a microphone to be heard.
What it does that a phone doesn't
A phone waits to be picked up. A recorder waits to be switched on. An app waits to be opened. Every one of them puts the first move on the person least likely to make it.
47% of Americans regret not recording or documenting a conversation with someone who has since died, and 59% have never done it at all (YouGov, June 2022, n=6,090). Almost nobody fails to record because the equipment is missing. They fail because the recording never starts. A device that is already on the person, already charged, and needs one press, removes most of the reasons it never starts.
About 28% of older adults in the United States — 13.8 million people — live alone (Administration for Community Living, via the National Institute on Aging). In those homes there is nobody to hold the phone. The pendant does not need anyone to.
What it needs, and what it does not
| Needs | Does not need |
|---|---|
| One press | A smartphone, to record |
| A charge every few weeks | An app, to record |
| A phone or a computer, eventually, to move the recordings off | A subscription, to work as a recorder |
| A person willing to talk | A screen. It is designed without one |
The device works as a recorder for its whole life with no subscription at all: 200 hours on board and a USB-C cable to any computer. What a MemoriesBox subscription adds is everything that happens after the recording — carrying it into the archive, transcribing it, filing it into the 21 chapters, and building the voice from it. The two are separate purchases and they stay separate.
What it will not do
It will not record anyone who has not agreed to be recorded. The button is on the person wearing it, and pressing it is a visible act. We only ever build a voice from recordings a person made themselves, knowingly, while alive and taking part. If that is the thing you were quietly hoping to get around, this is the wrong product.
It will not chase anyone. There are no streaks, no reminders, no light that blinks because you have not recorded today. It waits.
It will not turn a recording into a summary and throw the original away. What the family gets is what was actually said, at the sample rate it was said at.
Who it is for, and who it is not for
It is for the person who talks — at meals, on walks, on the phone to a sister — and would never sit down to be interviewed. It is for a family that lives far away and wants a way to say "just press it when you think of something". It is for the person whose voice has gone quiet.
It is not for someone who wants a book: StoryWorth makes a better book than we do. It is not, on its own, a way to talk to the person later: that needs the archive, which needs the subscription. And it is not here yet.
Why it is not here yet
Hardware is slow, and we would rather ship a pendant that survives being worn every day for a year than a prototype in a box. The price is $79 now because we are asking you to wait; it rises to $169 when you no longer have to. If 2027 slips, everyone who reserved will hear from us first, and can cancel for a full refund. The terms are on /device/preorder.
Until then
MemoriesBox is an app first. Everything the pendant will record can be recorded today with the phone in your pocket, in the guided interview, and the archive it builds is the same one the pendant will feed. Start there, and reserve the pendant if you want the button.
The rest of these pages
- How it works: from the press of the button to a chapter in the archive.
- Reserve one: the price, the refund, the date, and what happens if the date moves.
- For a parent who doesn't use a smartphone: what the pendant changes, and what it does not.
- Setting it up for someone else: from far away, without it becoming a project.
- Built for hands and ears that have been working a long time: what we are designing against.
- Versus a voice recorder, versus a phone-call service, versus a smart speaker.
Questions people ask
What is the MemoriesBox device?
A pendant recorder worn at the collarbone: a small brushed-steel rectangle on a chain with one side button. One press records; it holds 200 hours, runs up to three weeks on a charge, pairs with a phone by Bluetooth and plugs into a computer by USB-C. $79 at the early price, rising to $169, shipping in 2027.
Does the device need a subscription?
Not to record. It holds 200 hours on board and transfers by USB-C to any computer with no account at all. A MemoriesBox subscription is what carries the recordings into the archive, transcribes them, files them into chapters and builds the voice.
Does it need a smartphone?
Not to record, and not to get the recordings off: USB-C to any computer does that. A phone is the easiest way to move recordings into the archive, by Bluetooth, and it is how you find the pendant if it is lost.
When does it ship, and what if the date moves?
- If that slips, everyone who reserved hears first, by email, and can cancel for a full refund at any time before it ships.
Can I record someone without them knowing?
No, and the pendant is designed so that you cannot: it is worn by the person recording, and the button is theirs to press. We only build a voice from recordings a person made themselves, knowingly.
Related: How the device works · Reserve a device · Every other way to keep a voice · The full comparison table
MemoriesBox is $139 a year, hosted in the EU, first 14 days free, cancel anytime. Start here.