Apple has reportedly delayed its smart glasses to spend more time improving privacy features. The move comes as Meta’s smart glasses continue to face criticism over privacy concerns. While Meta has found commercial success with its smart glasses, many people raise questions over the idea that the glasses can quietly capture photos and videos. Since the cameras are small, people nearby may not always notice when recording is taking place.
Meta has added some safeguards to address these concerns. For example, its glasses include a small light that turns on while recording or taking photos. The device can also stop recording if it detects that the light has been tampered with. However, these measures have not fully removed privacy worries.
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Apple now wants to avoid those same concerns by designing its glasses differently. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in a report that Apple’s Vision hardware team has made privacy its No. 1 priority.
Rather than asking people to simply trust the product, Apple is expected to focus on privacy-first features. These reportedly include processing data directly on the device instead of relying heavily on cloud servers, removing facial recognition, and dropping a Meta-like super-sensing mode that constantly analyses a user’s surroundings. Apple also reportedly plans to stop contractors from reviewing footage captured by the glasses.
According to Gurman, Apple is also “prototyping a slew of new hardware and software-related privacy features not available on current products.”
The report says Apple is considering two different ways to make its glasses more privacy-friendly. One option is to remove the camera completely. In that case, users would still be able to access AI-powered features, make phone calls and listen to audio, but the glasses would not be able to take photos or record videos.
The second option is to keep a camera but prevent it from capturing photos or videos. Instead, the camera would only collect information about the surroundings to support AI features.
Apple had originally planned to introduce its smart glasses later this year, as per the report. However, the company is now reportedly planning to unveil them at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June next year and launch them by the end of 2027.