Meta smart glasses app reportedly contains unreleased face-recognition system

3 min readJun 5, 2026 06:59 PM IST

The application is required for several features on Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses and has reportedly been downloaded more than 50 million times. (Image: Reuters)

Meta has quietly embedded face-recognition technology into the software platform that supports its smart glasses, according to a report that analysed the Meta AI companion app.

The feature, internally referred to as ‘NameTag’, is reportedly designed to identify people captured by the camera on Meta’s smart glasses and notify users when a recognised individual is detected. The technology has not been publicly released and remains inactive, but researchers cited in the report claim that key components are already present within the app.

According to the report, traces of the system began appearing in updates to the Meta AI app as early as January 2026. The application is required for several features on Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses and has reportedly been downloaded more than 50 million times.

The investigation found that three artificial intelligence models linked to the feature have already been deployed to users’ devices. One model detects faces, another crops facial images, and a third converts them into biometric signatures, commonly known as faceprints. These faceprints could then be compared with biometric data stored locally on a user’s phone.

Researchers, who reviewed the code, said the system appears capable of recognising individuals and generating notifications when a match is found. However, it remains unclear whose faces would be included in the recognition database, how those profiles would be created, or how many people could ultimately be identified through the technology.

The findings have renewed concerns among privacy advocates and digital rights groups. More than 70 advocacy organisations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, have previously urged Meta not to deploy facial-recognition capabilities in smart glasses, arguing that the technology could enable covert identification of people in public spaces.

Meta has disputed suggestions that the feature has been launched. In a statement cited by WIRED, company spokesperson Ryan Daniels said Meta has previously acknowledged that it is exploring such technologies and that no face-recognition feature has been released to consumers. He added that no final decision has been made regarding a public rollout and that the company is not building a central facial-recognition database.

Story continues below this ad

The development comes years after Meta shut down Facebook’s facial-recognition system in 2021 and deleted more than a billion stored faceprints following regulatory scrutiny and privacy concerns. The company later reached major settlements related to allegations of unlawful biometric data collection.