I Used the Rabbit R1 for a Week — Here's Why It's Not Ready for Prime Time

The Rabbit R1 is the most polarizing gadget I've used this year. When it launched in 2024, the hype was insane — a $199 device that could replace your phone by using AI to control apps for you. Critics called it a toy. Fans called it the future. I wanted to find out who was right.

I bought one last week. I paid full price. I used it as my primary device for seven days. I left my iPhone at home for entire days. And I have thoughts. Strong ones.

What Is the Rabbit R1, Really?

For the uninitiated, the Rabbit R1 is a standalone AI device with a small screen, a camera, and a scroll wheel. It's designed to work with Rabbit's Large Action Model, which supposedly learns how to use apps on your behalf. You tell the R1 to book a flight, and it opens your browser, navigates to Expedia, fills in your details, and completes the purchase — all without you touching a screen.

In theory, it's brilliant. In practice, it's a mess. But not a complete mess. Let me explain.

The Good: When It Works, It's Magic

There were moments this week where the R1 blew my mind. On Tuesday, I asked it to order an Uber to my office. It opened the Uber app, entered my destination, selected UberX, and confirmed the ride. I didn't touch a thing. The car arrived in 4 minutes. I felt like I was living in 2030.

The same thing happened with restaurant reservations. I asked it to book a table for two at a local Italian place on Saturday at 7 PM. It opened OpenTable, found the restaurant, selected the time, and confirmed. The reservation was there when I arrived. Flawless.

The camera is also surprisingly good. The vision feature lets you point the camera at a plant, and it tells you what it is and how to care for it. I tested it on a monstera in my living room — it correctly identified it and gave me watering tips. I pointed it at a circuit breaker, and it explained which switch controlled which room. That's genuinely useful.

The Bad: Most of the Time, It Fails

Here's the problem: the R1 works about 60% of the time. The other 40% is a frustrating mess. I asked it to play a specific song on Spotify. It opened Spotify, searched for the song, and then just... stopped. The song never played. I asked it to send a WhatsApp message to my wife. It opened WhatsApp, typed the message, but sent it to the wrong contact. My wife was confused. I was annoyed.

The scroll wheel is a terrible input method. Scrolling through long lists is slow and inaccurate. The screen is tiny — 2.88 inches — and the resolution is mediocre. Reading text is a chore. I found myself pulling out my phone anyway just to check details.

The battery life is also disappointing. I got about 4 hours of active use, which means the R1 died by 3 PM every day. Considering it's supposed to replace your phone, that's unacceptable.

The Ugly: Privacy Concerns

Here's the thing nobody's talking about: the R1 sends everything you do to Rabbit's servers. Every request, every app interaction, every command. Rabbit says they anonymize the data, but they also admit they use it to train their model. That's a hard pass for me. I don't want a company listening to every interaction I have with my devices.

I also noticed that the R1 sometimes accessed apps I didn't authorize. I never explicitly allowed it to use my banking app, but it tried to open it once when I asked about my balance. That's terrifying.

Who Should Buy the Rabbit R1?

Honestly, almost nobody. Not yet. The concept is compelling, but the execution isn't there. The R1 fails too often, the battery is too weak, and the privacy concerns are too significant. I'd wait for version 2, or better yet, wait for Apple and Google to build these AI agents directly into their phones. That's happening — Apple is rumored to be working on Siri 2.0 with similar capabilities.

If you're a tech enthusiast who loves tinkering with unfinished products, you might enjoy the R1. It's genuinely fun to see the future stumble into existence. But for everyday use, stick with your phone. The R1 isn't ready.

The Verdict

The Rabbit R1 is a glimpse of a future where AI handles the boring stuff for us. I want that future. But I don't want it badly enough to deal with constant failures, poor battery life, and data privacy concerns. The R1 is a fascinating experiment, but it's not a product I'd recommend to anyone. Not yet. Maybe next year.