Meta’s AI Glasses: Your Questions Answered

We’re answering frequently asked questions about our AI glasses and sharing the features we’ve built to help both the wearers of our glasses and the people around them feel comfortable.

Millions of people now use Meta’s AI glasses every day for listening to music and podcasts, hands-free photos and video, quick access to an AI assistant and so much more. 

This is one of the fastest-growing consumer products of our lifetimes. As more and more people get these glasses, we want to answer your questions about how they work, and share more about the ways we make sure both the wearer of the glasses and those around them feel comfortable. 

Whether you just got your first pair or you’re thinking about it now, here are answers to common questions we’ve been hearing. 

Who can see the photos and videos I take on my glasses?

You, and only you — unless you choose to share them. 

You can use your glasses as a hands-free camera. Photos and videos you capture with your AI glasses for your gallery are stored privately on your glasses. You choose when to import them to your phone. Once imported to your phone, they’re saved to your phone’s gallery just like any other photo or video you may take.

It’s up to you whether you choose to share them with your friends, post on social media, or use Meta AI. If you do choose to share them somewhere else — whether that’s one of Meta’s apps, or anywhere else on the internet — then it works just like anything else shared there. 

How do other people know the glasses are capturing a photo or video?

There’s a light on the front of every pair of our AI glasses that we call a capture LED. Whenever content is being captured for your gallery, this white light blinks to let people know you’re capturing content. For a photo, it blinks briefly, while for a video, it continues to blink for as long as you are recording. The capture LED has no off switch. 

It’s there so people around you know when you are taking a photo or video you could save to your gallery and share with others. While mobile phones and action cameras don’t have this on their cameras, ours have had them since day one. 

 

Why did Meta choose a white light for this feature?

We know that for wearable technology to succeed it must be trusted both by people who wear the glasses and the others around them. We looked at many options and found the white light delivered the best combination of visibility and experience. 

We also conducted significant testing to find the right level of brightness so they are visible even during the day and the right frequency of blinking for video. In addition to listening to feedback from millions of people who buy our glasses, we also continue to discuss these features and more with leading experts to keep improving on them.

What about playing a loud sound in addition to the light?

There is a shutter sound that the person wearing them can hear though it’s simply not practical to make that sound be heard at a distance. A light is also familiar from other personal electronics, like a laptop camera, or older generations of video recording electronics. 

Can’t people just cover up or disable the LED?

The camera is disabled when people try to do this. Beginning with our second generation of glasses, the camera is automatically disabled if we detect that the capture LED has been blocked. No photos or videos can be taken until we detect that the light is unblocked. 

Since the introduction of this safeguard, we’ve seen some people go beyond using tape to sophisticated efforts to modify or destroy the capture LED. We are continuously improving our ability to detect tampering, and now we’re updating the glasses to disable the camera if they detect the LED was physically tampered with or destroyed. No other kind of camera has done this and we’re proud to lead the industry forward.

What about people advertising LED tampering services?

In addition to disabling the camera on devices when tampering is detected, we work across Meta to remove ads, posts, and Marketplace listings that advertise these kinds of tampering services and we will take action, up to banning accounts that do this. We also take legal action against people or businesses that sell services designed for tampering with the capture LED — both on and off our own platforms. 

Will more privacy features be coming to glasses?

As our glasses become more capable and common, our teams continue to work on ways to make them even safer and more trustworthy. We set a high standard for our AI glasses because we believe it’s an essential component of any good technology.

You can read more about our privacy approach for Meta AI glasses here.

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