# Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses

99 Hacker News commenters recommended Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses and 361 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 2 years (13 owners).

**Verdict:** Recommended for hands-free first-person video of kids, travel and sports, and as built-in headphones, but many distrust Meta with an always-on face camera and see social stigma.

## Why people recommend it

- Hands-free POV video recording (12 comments): "ever since a guy showed me a first-person go-karting video he took on his Ray-Ban Metas, I've been hooked on the idea of being able to record experiences like that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46739347)) "These are for travel videos (dense markets, or places where I can't logistically use a phone or camera)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46738794)) "you can now capture moments when your hands arent free (skiing, rollercoaster, tubing, kayaking, etc)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47147297))
- Capturing kids' spontaneous moments (6 comments): "they seem to be useful, if for no other reason than parents want to take picture of their children at a moment’s notice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48660484)) "I find them invaluable capturing my toddler. Having the spontaneous ability to record hands-free is indispensable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48839400)) "they're really fantastic. You can ask about fish you can see, or you can capture your kids in a moment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50143561))
- Doubles as headphones and headset (4 comments): "I have the meta glasses (never wear them outside because of the stigma), and the actual killer feature is the headphones" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49249966)) "Having my main pair of prescription glasses, covered by insurance, also be my Bluetooth headset is super useful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48930732)) "I use mine every single day, multiple hours a day. I can't imagine going back to AirPods." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46745791))
- Accessibility aid for low vision (2 comments): "The glasses become significantly less useful as mobility aids if you decide they're not allowed to have cameras in them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49511557)) "The accessibility features for blind and low-sight individuals is life-changing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48637273))

## What people warn about

- Privacy distrust of Meta (8 comments): "I find the camera creepy and do not trust meta enough to put anything they make on my face" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46739703)) "What person in their right mind would voluntarily walk around with "meta" or Google or Apple or any other surveillance camera and pay for doing so is beyond me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744642)) "These companies are so unlikable, I don't understand why they think people want to permantly mount their data collection systems right in front of their eyes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744897))
- Recording light easily disabled (4 comments): "Yes it's true people have figured out how to disable the safeguard, but we all agree the important thing as we try to sell millions more of these is that we tried, right?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49786294)) "Meta would not sell their shitty glasses without the light indicator and even with it, as it's trivial to hack there's large social pushback" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49295577)) "they are selling because you can drill out the 'recording' indicator light and use them to secretly record people to make creepy TikToks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48743255))
- Social stigma, seen as creepy (5 comments): "I have the meta glasses (never wear them outside because of the stigma), and the actual killer feature is the headphones" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49249966)) "Judging from the examples reported on in the article, Meta's smart glasses are either very easy to accidentally trigger or quite popular with actual creeps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47225516)) "These glasses are intended for anti-social and predatory uses, with a paper-thin pretence over the top that Meta doesn't understand their market." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49243081))
- Fears of future ads (3 comments): "this is just the pre-enshitification stage. Soon enough, to take advantage of those features you will have advertisements integrated into your view" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47227942)) "You have exhausted your monthly viewing time. You will be blind for the rest of the month unless you buy our special care package!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48745597))

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Meta+Ray-Ban+smart+glasses&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses", https://hackerapproved.com/p/meta-smart-glasses/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).