Meta Portal
Ranked 7 of 19 smart speakers by recommenders
Recommended for easy family video calls, with good hardware, camera tracking and speaker quality. Critics say Meta ended support and the software raises privacy concerns.
Recommended for easy family video calls, with good hardware, camera tracking and speaker quality. Critics say Meta ended support and the software raises privacy concerns.
33 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 16
- approval share
- 52%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good hardware and industrial design
“Good hardware, decent usecase, killed within a ~year of its release.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Muse Spark Open” “The hardware is very nice but the software cannot be trusted.”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “Yep Meta Portal is very very nice industrial design”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” - Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices”
- Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices”
- Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices”
Easy family video calls
“Your product helped our kids stay connected to their grandparents and cousins during the pandemic.”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “It was so much better than laptops and webcams for family videocalling.”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “they worked really well at bringing the family together across distance”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “Meta Pauses Employee-Tracking Program Following Internal Data Leak” - Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices”
Camera tracking and speaker quality
“I loved their camera tracking and picture frame along with their speaker quality.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of bricking them” “the speaker is not half bad! It has good hardware.”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Privacy concerns and spyware accusations
“Buying a camera and mic appliance from the least trustworthy company in the world”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “Spy on your grand parents from the convenience of your kitchen counter top!”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “Meta Pauses Employee-Tracking Program Following Internal Data Leak” “buying a piece of Spyware from the least trusted company in the world”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” - Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices”
Locked down, no third-party apps
“they disabled every feature on other than Messenger and WhatsApp calls that I can now only use as a bluetooth speaker”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “The problem here is that devices being locked down is something being fought against”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “no 3rd party story for FaceTime, Zoom, Google... was a real problem for most folks”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView” Support ended, no security updates
“portal was killed, even though the next gen device was actually a really great media device”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “running an EOL version of Android and isn't getting security updates”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Meta enables adb on deprecated Portal devices” “Good hardware, decent usecase, killed within a ~year of its release.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Muse Spark Open” - Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Meta VR Glasses”
Other smart speakers people recommend
The four most recommended other smart speakers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siri | 165 | 715 | 19% | 12 | 7 yrs23 owners | — |
| Amazon Alexa | 45 | 131 | 26% | 11 | — | — |
| Bose SoundTouch smart speakers | 37 | 18 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| Google Assistant | 33 | 64 | 34% | 10 | — | — |
| Meta PortalThis page | 17 | 16 | 52% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
34 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Good hardware, decent usecase, killed within a ~year of its release.”
“no 3rd party story for FaceTime, Zoom, Google... was a real problem for most folks”
“my Portal, Oculus, and Glasses are now bricked”
“They tried to do a phone, tried to make a kitchen videophone”
“This is like the stupid Meta Portal.”
“afaik nobody really bought it”
“Spy on your grand parents from the convenience of your kitchen counter top!”
“they worked really well at bringing the family together across distance”
“the people actually making the decisions higher up do not care”
“Your product helped our kids stay connected to their grandparents and cousins during the pandemic.”
“I couldn't care less about whatever latest hardware junk Meta is hawking”
“Tying it to horizon says all I need to know.”
“It's insane that you can still buy the things.”
“which was a great product, badly managed”
“The hardware is very nice but the software cannot be trusted.”
“Too bad because it looks like a neat device.”
“I don't think there has been another product, then or since, that fitted that use case as well”
“the portal is great hardware”
“It was so much better than laptops and webcams for family videocalling.”
“I just fired up my two portal gen 2 in the closet, updated them and the adb setting just worked. The adb UI is a little jank”
“They were easy to use and _so_ natural to talk to boomer parents.”
“portal was killed, even though the next gen device was actually a really great media device”
“Meta/Facebook has tried and failed to build hardware products”
“The problem here is that devices being locked down is something being fought against”
“running an EOL version of Android and isn't getting security updates”
“Buying a camera and mic appliance from the least trustworthy company in the world”
“I always liked the hardware”
“buying a piece of Spyware from the least trusted company in the world”
“Yep Meta Portal is very very nice industrial design”
“the speaker is not half bad! It has good hardware.”
“we don't care about this product anymore”
“they disabled every feature on other than Messenger and WhatsApp calls that I can now only use as a bluetooth speaker”
“Portals from FB/Meta, which were really nifty”
“I loved their camera tracking and picture frame along with their speaker quality.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.