I already paid $300 for Meta’s smart glasses — now it's charging $20 a month for a key feature

A front view of Meta Ray-Ban (gen 2) smart glasses — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

We’ve seen shrinkflation come to a lot of tech products this year, and now it’s Meta’s turn because one of its smart glasses' most important features is now being held hostage behind a paywall.

Conversation Focus helps a lot of people I know with their minor hearing problems, or in helping them to better understand conversations in loud, chaotic environments. It runs entirely locally on-device (no cloud AI needed), but that hasn’t stopped Zuck & Co. from rate-limiting it: no more usage unless you pay $20 a month for the company’s premium plan.

What are the rate limits?

As Meta states on its support page, “all AI glasses owners get free monthly usage for certain features.” However, when you reach the free usage limit, you’ll have to upgrade to the Meta One Premium plan for $19.99 per month.

Why this rate limit makes no sense

Meta Glasses by Kylie — (Image credit: Future)

As The Verge tested, Conversation Focus does not use Meta’s servers at all — it runs entirely on-device using those beamforming mics and “real-time spatial processing” to “amplify the voice of the person you’re talking to.”

I’ve made it clear that I’m annoyed at companies introducing rate limits on cloud AI features after you buy their product. That’s one thing, but to rate limit something that happens locally on your own hardware? That’s pretty messed up. It’s similar to when BMW attempted to charge a monthly subscription fee for turning on the heated seats.

Even more so when I think about the audience that benefits from this feature. I think back to attending AWE 2026, and how many people I spoke to who were using Conversation Focus because they were hard of hearing.

A woman (Lucy Scotting) wearing Meta Ray Ban glasses — (Image credit: Tom's Guide / Lucy Scotting)

Yes, this may not be a certified OTC (over-the-counter) hearing aid, and its purpose is more for amplifying voices in crowded scenes. But I’ve got some small hearing problems, and Conversation Focus has been a real help in busy places or even in quiet scenarios with my wife.

And now I only get three hours of it per month? This is quite a silly example of shrinkflation. I’ve reached out to Meta for comment, and will update if the company responds.

Where does it end?

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses — (Image credit: Future)

I know we all make the same “Ready Player One” references here — especially that moment where the corporation starts to pitch unremovable ads that block “up to 80% of the field of view without inducing seizures.”

This is, of course, a very dramatic exaggeration of deliberately harming the experience to make money…but is it? Meta is putting limits on people who simply want to hear better and putting it behind a paywall, and let’s not forget this is the company also where in many of its free products (like Facebook, Instagram, etc), you are the product via ads.

Does this mean ad reads within its Meta AI features — maybe directing you to the nearest KFC when you ask about the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona? Or a subscription fee for electrochromic transition lenses when you’re out in the sun? This is the company that did file a patent on creating an AI version of you based on your social profiles after you die.

So here’s my plea, Meta: there’s still time to reverse this decision. This feature works entirely locally on-device — a device we all paid at least $300 for. I know there will have to be some ways you need to make your money back on your cloud AI investments, but coming for Conversation Focus that uses none of that is a pretty big rug pull.

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Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.