Meta’s glasses will turn off the camera if you tamper with the privacy light

Meta announced an update to its smart glasses that will disable the camera if the privacy LED light is tampered with or destroyed, following public backlash and reports of modders physically drilling into the light. The move aims to address privacy concerns amid growing scrutiny and bans on camera glasses in courts and other venues.

Amid public /column/961707/smart-glasses-ai-wearables-meta-surveillance-privacy backlash /column/881744/meta-smart-glasses-facial-recognition-rayban-privacy-wearables over its smart glasses, Meta announced https://about.fb.com/news/2026/07/metas-ai-glasses-your-questions-answered/ that it will be updating its glasses with a new feature that will disable the camera when it detects that someone has tampered with or destroyed the glasses’ privacy LED light. The update is meant to address modders who have taken actions such as physically drilling into the LED light /gadgets/942769/people-are-paying-to-get-rid-of-the-recording-light-on-their-meta-ray-bans . Meta’s glasses will turn off the camera if you tamper with the privacy light The company is rolling out an update following increased scrutiny of its smart glasses. The company is rolling out an update following increased scrutiny of its smart glasses. newsletter. She has more than 13 years of experience reporting on wearables, health tech, and more. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine. Optimizer /optimizer-newsletter Meta has previously tried to discourage tampering with the LED light. For example, starting with its second generation glasses, blocking the light with tape or other objects will trigger a prompt asking users to uncover the recording light. However, many modders have found https://www.reddit.com/r/RaybanMeta/comments/1ixfwmi/the only solution to remove the led on rayban/ various workarounds https://www.404media.co/how-to-disable-meta-rayban-led-light/ for that particular measure. Meta’s VP of wearables Alex Himel told The Verge that the privacy-focused update was on the way a few weeks ago after launching cheaper Meta Glasses without Ray-Ban branding /tech/954052/meta-glasses-hands-on-kylie-jenner-smart-glasses-price-battery-privacy . At the time, Himel acknowledged that the company was aware of increasing misuse alongside wider adoption of the devices. The update comes at a time when Meta is facing criticism online regarding reported plans to add facial recognition to its glasses /tech/878725/meta-facial-recognition-smart-glasses-name-tag-privacy-advoates , as well as reports of bad actors harassing young women https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/09/world/manfluencers-smart-glasses-intl using its devices. Privacy concerns have also led some public venues to mull banning the devices. Just today, Syracuse.com reported that New York State will begin banning camera glasses from all courtrooms later this month. This follows similar moves from Philadelphia courts https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-courts-ban-all-smart-ai-eyeglasses-violators-could-face-arrest/4374128/ , as well as cruise lines restricting smart glasses use https://go.skimresources.com/?id=1025X1701640&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Ftravel%2Fcruises%2F2025%2F12%2F13%2Fmsc-cruises-smart-glasses-ban%2F87737203007%2F in common areas. Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.