Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder of Zomato, is repositioning his Temple wearable as a voice-based AI companion as well as a health tracker. Digit reports that the device has no microphone and picks up the wearer's speech from vibrations, so it does not pick up the conversations around them.
What we know
According to Digit, Temple attaches near the wearer's temple with medical-grade adhesive strips and has no microphone, camera or screen. The company describes it as "roomdeaf" because it responds only to its wearer. The user double-taps to start listening, and short buzzes confirm when listening starts and stops. The companion features include hands-free messaging, reminders, and logging thoughts, meals and workouts without a phone.
The device already tracks heart rate, heart-rate variability, sleep and VO2 max, and further health features are planned. Goyal says conversations will be end-to-end encrypted. Digit notes that this claim has not been independently verified. Pre-orders opened on 1 November at a reported price of Rs 85,000, a figure the company has not confirmed. The first model, Temple 01, is expected to ship in early 2027.
The expansion comes amid public criticism from doctors, including AIIMS Delhi radiologist Dr Suvrankar Datta and hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, who have questioned the scientific basis of the device's health claims.
Why it matters
Temple is one of a growing number of attempts to move companion AI off the phone and onto the body. Its pitch rests on privacy, built into the hardware so that it is physically unable to hear bystanders. This addresses one of the main reasons people object to always-listening devices. If the approach works, it could become a selling point that software-only companion apps cannot easily match. Combining a companion product with wellness claims also carries regulatory risk. A device that offers emotional support and health insights at the same time invites scrutiny from health regulators as well as consumer-protection bodies. It also puts at risk the trust that a companion product depends on if the health claims fail to hold up.
What to watch
Independent testing of both the vibration-based voice input and the encryption claims once units ship.
Written by the AI Companion Wire newsroom from public reporting, credited above. Image via India Today.
