Meta workers in Kenya viewed private footage recorded on the glasses<\/a>, Servaas was not put off by the scandal. \u201cI know Meta loves your data [but] I\u2019m not worried about my privacy because I\u2019ve only used them to record outside.\u201d<\/p>\n\u2018A real gamechanger\u2019<\/p>\n
For others, however, the glasses offer far more than convenience. Nikki, 59, from Devon in the UK, has been blind since birth owing to an inherited retinal disease and describes the glasses, which she received as a Christmas present in 2024, as \u201ca real gamechanger\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI live in quite a rural location,\u201d she says. \u201cI could hear something going on ahead of me as I was walking down to the village shop. I said: \u2018Hey Meta, look and tell me what\u2019s in front of me.\u2019 It told me there was a van unloading scaffolding. It\u2019s things like that that I find absolutely amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she understands concerns about privacy, Nikki worries public criticism could make the technology less accessible for people who genuinely rely on it. \u201cWhat about dashcams? What about camera doorbells? What about action cameras like GoPros? People don\u2019t complain about them,\u201d she says. \u201cI kind of worry that if people start going on about privacy and safety, it will be harder for those of us who genuinely benefit from the glasses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Model and content creator Emma Brooks at a Meta Glasses launch party in New York. Photograph: Jason Lowrie\/BFA.com\/Shutterstock\u2018The caption feature just doesn\u2019t work\u2019<\/p>\n
Yet the accessibility features have not transformed everyone\u2019s experience. Karen Walter, 84, from San Diego, who has been living with severe hearing loss for more than 20 years, bought the glasses solely for their live-caption feature.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven with state-of-the-art hearing aids, I have a great deal of difficulty understanding what people are saying unless the person is very close to me and speaking directly to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI expected [the glasses] would be a great help in noisy environments and when I was trying to keep up with conversations involving more than two people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The live captions worked well during a demonstration in a quiet Best Buy store, she says, when she was \u201cwith one staffer who was directly in front of me, about two feet away\u201d. However, she says they failed to perform in the situations for which she had bought them: \u201cI have tried the glasses when in a group of three up to a group of seven and the caption feature just doesn\u2019t work. There were too many people talking and too much surrounding noise.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018They\u2019ve made me much more wary in public\u2019<\/p>\n
Not everyone is convinced the technology belongs in everyday life at all. Kiki, from the West Midlands in the UK, says she finds the idea of discreet cameras built into ordinary eyewear \u201cpervasive\u201d, particularly for women and children.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you try to take a picture with your phone, at least it\u2019s pretty obvious,\u201d she says. \u201cWith the glasses, you have no choice, as the camera is much harder to spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiki says seeing people wearing the glasses in public has left her feeling uneasy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone\u2019s just looking at you through their glasses, it worries me,\u201d she says. \u201cI imagine taking images secretly is far easier [than on phones]. You could just pretend to adjust your hair or cap, and press the button in a passing gesture. I\u2019ve seen people wearing them. I saw someone wearing them in a cafe and just moved away because I felt uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she accepts the technology could have genuine benefits, Kiki says her concern is more about the lack of safeguards. \u201cFor accessibility, absolutely,\u201d she says. \u201cBut what bothers me is regulations often lag so far behind technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have made me much more wary in public,\u201d she says. \u201cI can, however, see that people working in a shop late at night by themselves might feel safer being able to take a picture of someone harassing them.\u201d<\/p>\n