## Meta Glasses: Will They Actually Give Me Real Independence as a Blind Person?

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* **Will I actually be able to use them outside in the street, or in unfamiliar places I visit?** Yes, you could prompt meta AI to describe your surroundings. I do this a lot when I'm out and about.
* **When I’m around people, will the glasses describe who they are and what they are doing without me having to ask?** No. You have to prompt meta AI with "Hey meta" each time. There is a thing called follow up mode, where it'll listen for a few extra seconds after it answers you in case you want to ask something else.
* **What about audio description for movies?** It doesn't offer audio description for movies. Even the live AI wouldn't really be sufficient for that.
as a person with some Hearing loss, will it be valyable for me? I don't have enough experience with this to answer adequately.

I have used it with my be eyes, but I haven't used it for ScribeMe.

I'm not sure the differences in the models. Maybe someone else can chime in, sorry about that.

First and foremost, go with the Sports model. They are wrap-around style sunglasses, which means they should be more comfortable and fit better on your face. I do believe they also have an action button, similar to the action button on the latest iPhone models. The ones I would recommend would be the Oakley vanguard, I believe that is the Sports model.

• They reportedly have the longest battery. I believe it's something like nine hours
• They actually have a water resistance rating
• They have an action button that allows you to program a single prompt so that you can have Meta perform that action without using your voice. For example, if you have a prompt asking Meta to describe something, assigning it to the action button means Meta will describe anything you are facing when you press the action button
• Wrap-around design ensures better comfort

As for independence, there is a lot of functionality you can get out of the Meta Smart glasses. While there are many features you can do on your iPhone by itself, the biggest trick to using your smart phone, is aiming. With smart glasses, you don't really have to aim, just keep your face pointed in the direction of the thing you want to scan/read/describe. Meta smart glasses also have a Live AI mode, although it is a battery sync, the AI will run in real time, allowing you to continuously ask questions without having to repeatedly say the phrase, "hey Meta," allowing you to transition from one query to the next smoothly. What this means is instead of trying to identify or describe things in an environment, such as a clothing store for example, instead of having to say, "hey Meta, what is this?", And, "hey Meta, what color is this," and, "hey Meta, what does this say?", You can simply go from query to query without saying the catchphrase. It's really for convenience, but trust me it's handy.

Meta Smart glasses are also good for helping you create calendar events, and reminders. The smart glasses can be reading a document, such as a letter you got in the mail. If there is a phone number in that document, you can interrupt the smart glasses and say something like, "hey Meta, call that number," and Meta will dial the number that's in the document. Of course it's handy for reading things like street signs and shop signs. Business hours printed on a door or window. Describing the color, make, and model of a vehicle, and even telling you if it has any markings on it describing it as a rideshare vehicle, such as Uber.

Meta can theoretically even read handwritten notes, although I have never tested this myself.

Meta smart glasses are really good for kitchen use. You can ask Meta to read food packages, including nutrition facts and expiration dates. If you're looking for cooking instructions, you can ask it just for that, and it will scan the package and only give you the cooking instructions and nothing else. You can also ask the AI questions like, "hey Meta, how long would I cook two boneless, skinless chicken breast in a conventional oven?", And Meta would give you precise instructions on this.

So, to summarize, Meta Smart glasses can be very beneficial, and give you some semblance of independence, but it will not replace your cane, or a guide dog.

hth. 😊

Firstly, I'm not sure what country you are in but just make sure that the features you are after are available to you. I'm in the UK and get most of the important stuff, but the release notes are always peppered with "only in the US and Canada". I think Australia and the UK get most things, but not so sure beyond that.

Secondly, a note on integration. The glasses can do lots of stuff on their own. There is a Meta AI app you need to have running all the time on your phone, but from there you can connect to WhatsApp, Be My Eyes, Spotify and various other things. This allows you to say "hey meta, be my eyes" to connect directly to a volunteer, for example, or to start a WhatsApp call with someone and then give them access to your camera.

I'm a little confused by what the Live AI thing is. I I don't think it's available in the UK. I do get a follow-on thing so I can ask more questions without saying Hey Meta again. Maybe the difference is that it is taking photos all the time in the other mode?

For Be My Eyes specifically, I believe you can only call a volunteer - I'm not aware of anything like Be my AI, service directory etc working with the glasses.

There is another type of integration which is driven the other way around. This allows other app developers to use the glasses camera from their own apps using the Meta SDK. The only app like this I've tried is oorion. I believe the SDK still is in beta and can be a touch quirky but it's pretty good when it works.

For oorion, the way it works is I open the oorion app on my phone. At this point it connects to the glasses. I can then say "hey oorion" and issue it voice commands. Until I close the app, oorion is really the only thing in control of the glasses - I can't use Hey Meta until I quit the app. So I can say something like "hey oorion, find my cat" and it will take photos every few seconds and let me know if he can be seen. If so, you get a beep indicating where he is or it will say something like "I can see a cat sitting on a chair in front of you". It's impressive but a little hit and miss - sometimes it gets left and right muddled up and sometimes it seems to be pointing me somewhere and I still can't find the thing. This is the same if you are just using this app directly from the phone so it's nothing to do with the glasses. Shaun from Double Tap uses oorion and the glasses when out for a walk - he says something like "keep watching out for any obstacles on the pavement" or something and it will keep telling him if the coast is clear or not. (Note: he does not make out that this can be 100% relied on and it is definitely, definitely not a replacement for a cane/dog or good O&M skills but I think it gives him a little extra info he can then decide whether to make use of or not.

One other thing I noticed in oorion - it has a mode where it will read the text around you which is pretty good. But it does make a point of saying that the glasses camera is only so good for text and you might sometimes be better off using your phone, but it doesn't seem too bad to me.

Depending on your budget, the Meta glasses (ie not Ray-bans) might be worth a look. They are quite new and by far and away the cheapest. I think they might also have the action button and seem to be pretty comparable to the others. On Double Tap they were saying that the microphone had some initial (very bad) problems but that they might be fixed now so looks like a software thing.

Finally - in terms of the speakers. You wear them like normal glasses. The speakers are in the arms and fire into your ears. They do not sit inside the ears. I don't use hearing aids so can't comment on how well the two things work together.

I'm only speaking about what's available in the UK so this might be different depending on where you live.

Some opticians here sell the Meta glasses so might well be able to give a demo. Alternatively, there may be some blindness/low vision services near you that might be able to do it.

I know if I buy something online here I am entitled to send it back for a refund within a certain number of days if I don't get on with it, so that might also be an option. Companies like Amazon tend to make it quite easy to do this.

a staff at my group home, brought their Meta Ray band glasses in, and she offered everybody them, to try. . she let me try them out, and onistly, in my humble opinion, they are a waist of money. your phone does all they do, for cheeper and better. I was planning to purchase the Vangard ocleys, , but at that time, they were out of my price range.

The subject line says it all. If I were looking to buy a pair of smart glasses, though, I would wait for the soon to be available Echo Vision glass from Agiga. Better hard and soft ware, and made specifically to do more for blind people. I alredy have a pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and they work OK, but the Echo Visions have been preordered, and will probably fit my needs better. But whichever you choose, they will leave both hands free as opposed to always pointing your phone at what you want information about.

Careful Ramy, features might be an issue. I am from the Middle East, and as far as I can tell features other regions enjoy are not available for my region.

Hello, my recommendation is that you wait until this fall for the Android XR glasses to come out.
There are only a few months left. android XR will offer much more than what the other smart glasses can do today and what the promises of other glasses offer. If we pay close attention, Agiga Echovision offers only a few functionalities that you can count on the fingers of one hand, and to make it a little more decent, use the Google Gemini Business Enterprise with its own language foundation managed by Agiga team. The Android XR glasses will do many more tasks and will have a complete integration with your phone. Also here it should be noted that it depends on what operating system you use, but in this case with Android devices they will basically be wonderful.
the specialized labs department of Google DeepMind is also working on accessibility for people with visual impairments on its project Astra.
I will wait for these Google android XR glasses, although I have always been a fan of the Meta glasses. I hope this cell Waiting makes sense, as the upcoming Android XR glasses promise far tighter phone integration and vastly superior real-time multimodal capabilities through Project Astra. DeepMind’s focus on visual assistance could make them a much more capable, practical choice over existing options.

HI Ramy.
I've not had a chance to tcheck out the newer Oakley glasses or the adventurer ones from Meta, it's a financial thing, but I can tell you the Ray-Banns do not work so well directly with hearing aids. That said, even with my significant hearing loss, I'm able to use the first generation Ray-Banns in quiet settings. The speakers are very near my hearing aids, and so I am able to understand the speech output. My understanding is that the Oakley version of the glasses has louder output from the speakers though, so you may have more success with those. You are not able to reliably route audio to your hearing aids from these glasses. I'm unsure whether this remains the case with the Adventurer model. The Echovision glasses pair with my hearing aids and do deliver speech output directly to my hearing aids. However, like others have said, I have no idea what features are or aren't available in Egypt. Good luck!

I have not tried this yet but you can now get walking directions to where ever you wanna go if you're into hands free use like me. I'm only speaking as I'm in the US here and hopefully people of whom are in the US and I do believe Canada can chime in on this feature if they gotten it on their glasses and let me know how well it works. Man I do wish there was a program where we can trade in our old glasses for the newer models at least for a discount Lol.

Yes, your phone can do most things the Meta glasses can do. You do need a free hand to hold your phone though. So it depends on if you need to be hands free or not. I use my Meta Ray Ban glasses quite a bit when I'm out and about. I'd say they are more of a convenience than a necessity in my case though, as I can have things read or described with apps on my phone too. I really like having the glasses though.

If getting the Ray Ban glasses, I'd definitely recommend the generation 2, as they have much better battery life than the generation 1 glasses. I don't have any experience with the other styles.

If you aren't in the US, definitely make sure the services and AI features you need are supported in your area.

One advantage of the Echo Vision glasses is that you can pair them with bluetooth devices like headphones, speakers, and some hearing aids. So if you have hearing aids that support bluetooth, you may be able to get audio directly through them instead of the Echo Vision glasses.

Just bear in mind that these are only available in the US (and maybe Canada). At the moment anyway..

I can't afford these yet - I just bought an iPhone, but I'm planning to get a thing that mounts the phone on my chest using a neck band. I think it's designed to have the phone facing you against your chest, but you can tilt it back to use it - at least I think that's how it'll work I haven't gotten it yet. From my understanding it's meant for things like youTube videos and such.

The angle probably won't be quite the same - obviously it's a bit lower down than glasses but it does deal with the problem of having to hold the phone. I'll be interested to see how well it works in practice.

Yes, it is very nice to use the Meta glasses hands free. Very liberating.

Unfortunately the Meta glasses do not integrate very well with the iOS eco system. One can't route the camera input or microphone input to the phone. Thus, when you talk to the glasses you are only talking to the glasses and can't easily run Siri commands or have your phone process audio or video from the glasses. Very disappointing.

Also, as someone pointed out, you can't seamlessly integrate hearing aids with the glasses.

I do like my Meta Oakly glasses and do find them useful, but not essential, I would probably rely on them much more if they worked more seamlessly with iOS and my iPhone.

I'm looking forward to the release of the Apple glasses next year. I'm sure this will dramatically improve the experiences and usefulness for Apple users.

--Pete

Question for you, Peter!
Assuming that the Apple glasses will be released in 2027, have you thought about what accessibility features the Apple glasses will offer?
Because, being realistic, Apple doesn't have an artificial intelligence infrastructure or wherever apple call apple intelligence.
Would you be happy just using it for FaceTime video calls? Since the Apple ecosystem is very closed and possibly won't let you use the Apple glasses for Be My Eyes, Aira , or third-party apps. Well, regards. Hopefully, the famous integration of the Apple ecosystem doesn't turn into a complete disappointment for iPhone users.
Take a look what can the Vision Pro offer!

What I expect from the Apple glasses:

First, a bit of background. I've been using the iOS 27 beta for some time now. Apple Intelligence has its AI model now working on device. Yes, this isn't the most powerful model and Apple will send your request to the cloud if it is too complex, but the on device AI works very well as is in iOS 27. If you haven't tried iOS 27 and the new upgraded Siri and Apple Intelligence you will be impressed with what it can do.

With that in mind, here are my expectations about what the Apple glasses will offer:

1. The ability to use the camera from the glasses instead of the camera from the phone for hands free operation - Not currently capable with Meta glasses except for special apps that Meta allows like Aira and Be My eyes.

2. The ability to use the microphone from the glasses with the iPhone - Not currently capable with Meta glasses except for special apps such as Aira and Be My eyes.

3. Integration with the Apple eco system just as you have with the phone now. This means:
a. Be My eyes and Aira should work as it does on the phone but using the camera and microphone from the glasses.

b. Other apps will have access to the camera and microphone from the glasses unlike Meta glasses which lock down other apps.

c. Scene descriptions and follow up questions using "Live Recognition" from the glasses just as this is now possible with iOS 27 from the phone's camera and microphone using on device AI and cloud only if necessary.

One thing I would like to see is the ability to use video so one doesn't have to keep asking questions as one moves around and/or navigates. With on device AI this ought to be possible as a feature of the "Live Recognition" in iOS 27. Describing video could be a drain on the battery though, so not sure if such a feature would be implemented.

Anyway, that is just some of what I would expect from the Apple glasses.

--Pete

I am really curious to know what, if anything, apple will come out with. The problem they have is the Pervert Glasses tag that has been attached to the Meta Glasses. Apple isn't going to want anything like that kind of publicity. I hope they do come out with what we all want, but I am a little worried that it will end up being something different - maybe closer to air pods than a full on camera on your face. I know there are rumours of an air pods camera, but I think that is designed to fulfil a very specific use case and not to be a full-on camera you can do everything with. Anyway, time will tell.

Peter: Have you considered Echo Vision glasses from Agiga? They will be starting to be shipped near the end of this month, and they might meet your needs at a lower price. They will be able to connect to AIRA and Be My Eyes right out of the box, and will have Live Ai. Videos and pictures can be taken with them, and an external battery can be connected through USB. Price is roughly $600. Apple products always seem to be higher priced, so this might be something you would be interested.

"Hello, Peter is looking for ecosystem integration. For example, asking Siri,, texting, video calling friends or family, create Calendar events,( and sending emails. ETC.
Unfortunately, you can count the EchoVision glasses' features on one hand, and most importantly, they lack integration with any operating system.

One thing worth adding to this conversation: Meta recently opened the glasses to third-party developers (the Wearables Device Access Toolkit), so closing the gap between what Meta's own AI does and what blind users actually need no longer depends on Meta alone.

I'm a blind developer building one of those apps, called ai-vi. The first things going into it are the ones threads like this keep circling: reading exactly what's there - the full text, verbatim, and when part of it isn't readable it says so instead of inventing an answer (the curry-packet problem described in that wishlist thread is precisely what I'm designing against). And arrival help: reading building numbers and entrance signs so you're not left hunting for the door after the map says you've arrived.

It's early, but it's moving quickly now that the toolkit exists. Free, no account, no data collection, like everything I make. Happy to answer questions about what's realistic on the current hardware.