How to get the most out of your Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses

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Tech companies always seek to make devices more portable, convenient, and useful. Take the smartphone, which puts all the functionalities of a computer in the palm of your hand.

Wearables go further than this by providing the smartphone’s benefits through products you can slip on. The latest of these innovations is intelligent eyewear that can provide a completely hands-free user experience.

Allied Market Research reports that the value of the smart glasses industry is expected to grow from $5.8 billion to $9.4 billion between 2024 and 2029 alone.

That’s due to these products’ ability to combine what both regular smartphones and glasses can do, allowing for applications in everything from everyday use to healthcare, entertainment, and even construction.

Although market leaders like Vuzix and Lumus have some great smart glasses out already, there’s arguably only one that provides true mass appeal.

Meta smart glasses were first hinted at in 2017, and the product was finally released thanks to a partnership with Ray-Ban, a leading eyewear company.

The result? The Ray-Ban Meta is a cutting-edge smart glasses model that is now available in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

Wondering what it has to offer? Read on to learn more about these tech-savvy frames and how to use them. 

About the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses

In 2021, Facebook rebranded as Meta, expanding its focus beyond social media to emerging technologies. Since then, it has significantly invested in virtual reality (VR)—not only by creating the Metaverse but also by developing VR headsets with Oculus.

Thus, smart eyewear was the next logical step in Meta’s expansion, and it ended up collaborating with arguably the biggest name in eyewear leader Luxottica’s portfolio: Ray-Ban.

Though its claim to fame came through the release of the Aviators, the brand is now known as one of the most innovative companies on the market. That’s easily seen in Ray-Ban’s prescription sunglasses.

Ranging from iconic frames like the Wayfarer to the Clubmaster, this collection gives wearers the opportunity to stylishly correct and even enhance their vision through additional polarized, Transitions, and Chromance lens technologies.

These are also available for Ray-Ban’s non-prescription models, allowing its eyewear to cater to various users. That’s why it’s no surprise that it’s expanded its collection through its latest partnership with Facebook’s parent company, Meta.

The resulting Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are lighter and more fashionable than many comparable products on the market.

With ultrawide 12MP cameras, a five-mic system, and an accompanying Meta View app, users can send and receive calls and texts, take photos and videos, enjoy social media integrations, and even try out the model’s AI assistant, all hands-free.

Here’s a quick briefer on how to get the most out of these features.

How to get the most out of them

Calls and texts

Use the “Hey, Meta” voice command to send a call or text. For example, you can say: “Hey Meta, send a text message to Sarah.”

The glasses will ask you to confirm if they’ve selected the correct person, after which they will connect you for calls or ask you to voice out the message you want to send.

You can also have it use a specific platform by saying something like, “Hey Meta, call Theo on WhatsApp.” To facilitate voice-activated calls and texts, ensure your phone gives the Meta View app access to your contacts list.

To seamlessly receive communications, open the Meta View app, tap the Home icon and SEE ALL option, then scroll to Learn about gestures & LEDs to enable the glasses’ LED to flash once you receive a call or text.

The frames will read messages aloud, while calls can be responded to by saying, “Hey Meta, answer,” or “Hey Meta, decline.” However, emergency calls, such as those to 911, can only be made on your phone. 

Photo and video capture

To physically capture photos and videos, simply use the frames’ capture button, which you’ll find above the Ray-Ban logo on the temples.

You can also do so hands-free by tapping the Settings icon on the Meta View app, selecting the Voice option, and turning on the Voice controls feature. That will allow you to say, “Hey Meta, take a photo/video” and “Hey Meta, stop.”

The glasses’ LEDs will turn on during the recording, allowing others to know when you’re recording and preventing any privacy issues.

On a full charge, you can take roughly 500 photos and 100 30-second videos. These will then be saved in JPEG and MP4 formats. You can access these files on the Meta View app. 

Uploads and live streams

Given Meta’s ownership of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, you can use the Ray-Ban Meta to upload and live stream what you see and capture.

From the Meta View app’s settings menu, tap Communication to select which social media platforms you want to connect your glasses to.

You can then post photos and videos or upload them to Instagram and Facebook’s Story and My Day features via voice command.

However, take note that doing so will not allow you to edit or preview your post before uploading. You can delete any posts you make with the glasses on your phone.

Meanwhile, you can use the Ray-Ban Meta’s live stream feature for up to 30 minutes at a time. Using your phone, tap the “+” symbol on Facebook or Instagram, select Live, tap Next, and look to the left side of your screen for a glasses logo you can use to connect your frames.

Finally, select Go Live to start sharing your perspective in real-time.  

AI assistance 

One of these smart glasses’ latest features is also among their most unique. A recent software update means you can now leverage Meta’s multimodal AI to ask them what you’re looking at.

You can use that feature to identify landmarks, plants, and even food at the grocery store. The Ray-Ban Meta’s AI assistant can also address more advanced questions, allowing it to translate foreign languages, summarize text, and even generate captions for social media posts.

To activate this feature, navigate to Meta AI on the Meta View app’s settings menu and switch on the Camera use option.

Ray-Ban and Meta encourage you to ask complex questions, so feel free to pose open-ended queries like “Hey Meta, describe what I’m looking at,” “Hey Meta, give me a recipe I can use these ingredients for,” and “Hey Meta, write a poetic caption for this photo.”

Share Your Thoughts!

What do you think about the rise of smart eyewear like the Ray-Ban Meta? Are you excited about the possibilities of hands-free technology in your daily life? We’d love to hear your opinions!

Leave a comment below or join the conversation on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Let’s discuss how these innovative devices are changing the way we connect, capture moments, and interact with the world around us.