As someone who is largely (if not always) inseparable from my iPhone's camera, the desire to test out Meta's elusive AI glasses was a natural next step. To me, in theory, using the smart wearables would take away the undeniable glue keeping my fingers around my phone, and let me capture, navigate and communicate all while using a screenless device — which is pretty rare in today's world.
Over the course of a month, I got my hands on the Meta Oakley Vanguard glasses and the Meta Ray-Ban Wayfarer Gen 2 glasses, with higher hopes than most, seeing the pairs had gotten rave reviews from my colleagues across Tom's Guide and TechRadar. But within 24 hours of receiving the pairs, my perspective on what was supposed to be a cool, fun wearable gizmo turned a little sour. Let's dive into it.
Privacy concerns were rife from the jump
Meta was sued over privacy claims in early March, with users reporting concerns about the use of human contractors to review footage taken by the glasses. These reports surfaced less than 24 hours after receiving my review units, which was definitely not perfect timing. According to the reports, ICYMI, contractors at Sama, a Kenyan subcontracting firm employed by Meta, say some of the footage they're asked to review includes:
- People using the bathroom or changing clothes
- Users' credit card details captured mid-transaction
- Sexual content, either viewed or recorded by the wearer
- Footage of people in their bedrooms, captured after a wearer set down their glasses without turning them off
You might ask, 'well how does this happen?', but it's as simple as saying Meta's magic words. When a user says, "Hey Meta, what am I looking at?", that footage can be flagged and sent for human review. This happens as a way to train the AI model on analysing scenes/scenarios. However, this content isn't being captured behind users' backs; it's footage that users themselves triggered, but often without realising it would be seen by a human being overseas.
This is also largely outlined in Meta AI's T&Cs, which state that the company can "review your interactions with AIs" via "automated or manual (human) review." But that language is hidden deep within the document, and most users have never read it. And there's even further cause for concern as some Meta employees have confirmed that anonymity doesn't always work, so faces can remain visible to Meta workers when reviewing footage.
I tried my best to avoid unintentionally recording, and followed suggested best practices — like disabling cloud processing and checking privacy settings. Privacy concerns aside, my time with the Meta AI glasses didn't shape up to be everything I hoped it would be… and it all started with the app.
App-solutely not
Much like the invisible tether I have to my phone, there's an equally intricate link between the Meta glasses and the Meta AI app. As with most smart glasses, there is often a software component that ensures regular updates and pairs with the frames to use certain features, like live translation and navigation assistance. Crucially, the glasses need to connect to Meta's always-online app to work.
That often meant having the app open in the background of my phone, which led to multiple Meta-targeted ads across my social platforms, as well as random "suggested prompts" on my lock screen based on conversations I had or searches I made. This wasn't ideal, to say the least, but considering my every move online is already being tracked, it wasn't the most alarming.
In contrast, what made the targeted ads somewhat more troubling was the fact that tied in with the privacy footage revelations — where the glasses are recording to an extent even if they're not — was the feeling that the glasses could see everything I saw. And that was a hard thing to shake.
Sure, most people on the internet are aware of search history, cookies, tracking, and personal data use being leveraged to promote products, ideas or suggested searches. But being confronted by targeted suggestions based on what you're seeing immediately in front of you is a somewhat shocking wake-up call.
On top of that, the app itself is a disappointment, largely resembling a sad version of Gemini's Nano Banana image editor mixed with ChatGPT's monotone prompt page, and a splash of Meta products thrown in. It does keep a track record of your voice prompts that you've asked of the glasses in the side panel, as well as all of the images and videos you've taken. Of course, there are some rather fun settings which I really enjoyed — like changing my glasses' AI voice to John Cena — and other great app integrations, like checking your movement levels through Garmin or syncing your health data.
I will say, I needed to constantly have the app open to make the most of my time with the glasses, which wasn't necessarily a deal breaker, but it made me very aware of everything I was asking them to do. And I still couldn't fully get over that murky gut feeling.
Storage struggles
One of the biggest gripes I had with the app was the storage space it took up. Aside from cloud saving any footage I had recorded, the app itself took up between 500MB to 1GB of phone storage during my test period, with the latter being when I had a longer 3-minute video saved. That's around the same size as most streaming or video media apps with larger offline caches. Comparatively, AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini usually cap out at around 300MB.
Sure, if you have the means to purchase a phone off the rack with over 200GB storage, then it might not even matter to you. But as I've mentioned, my phone is my lifeline, so needing it to take photos or videos of review products is the most important thing in my job. At the time of the test period, I was using my tried and true blue iPhone 14 with 128GB storage, which was plenty fine for my needs. But unfortunately, due to Meta's app size, I did find myself having to delete a few lesser-used apps and images to accommodate its fluctuating size.
Unmatched visuals and audio
For everything I disliked and was wary of during my test period, there were features that I'm now missing, now that my test period has come to an end. Notably, the ability to film high-quality video and photos hands-free was unrivalled.
I enjoyed taking long walks around my local park, and got to capture my dog playing fetch without having to finagle my phone to get the shot. I even took them along to the Australian Hi-Fi Show to capture the atmosphere of the high-end speakers and audio equipment without feeling like I was blocking anyone's shot (or earshot) of the music being played.
I even enjoyed taking them on walks around the city and asking directions or recommendations of lunch spots nearby to Tom's Guide's AU office, and spoiler alert: I ended up finding a new matcha spot that I now go to every other week. I even asked about particular plants I walk past every day but didn't know the name of, and the glasses gave me the answer right away. It was pretty neat.
I also particularly liked the audio settings, especially in the Meta Oakley Vanguards during active activities like biking or running. My colleague Nico, who also tested the Vanguards, really liked the convenience of not needing an extra pair of headphones for either music during solo rides or runs, or navigating with Google Maps. Using voice commands to start and stop recording was also nifty, although he wished the prompts were louder as he sometimes didn’t know whether the recording had started or stopped, especially on a windy day.
One thing on Nico’s wishlist for the next models would be slimmer temples to make them fit in helmet vents when the Vanguards aren’t in use (just like analogue cycling sunnies) — although he admits it’s not a major dealbreaker, as there are still other ways of stowing the device away while still on the bike.
As for the Ray-Ban Wayfarer Gen 2s, it's not to say audio calls or listening to music was drastically different, but the sound does have more bleed-through when compared to the Oakley Vanguards.
But with that comes a healthy caveat — none of these activities listed are things that I necessarily needed smart glasses for.
Final thoughts
When it comes to my final take on Meta's AI glasses, I'd issue a word of caution before committing to a pair. Yes, they're really cool, they're a fun concept, and I'm sure there are a fair few people who would get meaningful use out of them.
From posting cool adventures like skiing or gorgeous landscapes directly to your Facebook or Instagram account, and feeling "more present" when taking photos or videos of growing kids or once-in-a-lifetime experiences, to live translating conversations from select languages and getting navigational guidance when in a new city, there's a lot to like about Meta's foray into wearable technology.
Having said that, users should know and intrinsically understand what they're signing up for before signing on the dotted line. You may find, as I did, that all the online tools and services we’ve all become blasé about are still — as they’ve always been — immensely intrusive, and privacy today is a rare and fleeting experience. It’s only when it’s all right in front of you, literally in your face, that you realise just how deep we are in this construct, and are we really the ones being served here?
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