Meta isn’t exactly known for keeping your data safe. Meta, like a handful of other tech companies, is primarily in the advertising business. It wants to sell personalized ads to other companies for placement on its social media platforms, tailored to you using the data it collects.
This is Meta’s core business model, and it explains why the brand wants as much user data as it can get. That’s without getting into the data privacy scandals Meta has been involved in over the years.
Naturally, putting a Meta camera and microphone on your face might raise some concerns. I admit, as a Meta skeptic, I had some qualms about buying into the Meta smart glasses ecosystem. But they’re the best, and I got over my privacy fears as a result. However, I make sure as much of my Meta smart glasses data remains private as possible using these three simple settings in the Meta AI app. Here’s how you can too.
I bought Meta smart glasses — three pairs of them, in fact — for the “smart” features. By that, I mean the onboard camera, microphone, speaker, and Bluetooth capabilities. Although the brand heavily markets these wearables as “AI glasses,” I’m really not interested in putting Meta’s AI on my face. To a degree, AI is built directly into Meta smart glasses, but there are a few things you can do to avoid accidental interactions and unwanted data sharing.
Specifically, Meta glasses have “Hey Meta” and “OK Meta” wake words that activate the voice assistant when uttered. Any content captured or recorded during a Meta AI session may be used for training purposes or even be manually reviewed by humans. For this reason, you don’t want Meta AI to be accidentally activated when your smart glasses think you’ve said “Hey Meta” or “OK Meta.”
Luckily, you can deactivate the hands-free Meta AI mode in the app using these steps:
1. Open the Meta AI app.
2. Connect your Meta smart glasses, then tap the settings gear for your glasses.
3. Tap Meta AI.
4. Press “Hey Meta” preferences.
5. Flip the toggle beside “Hey Meta” off.
Now, you will still be able to activate Meta AI using the touchpad on the side of your smart glasses’ right temple. However, voice-activated Meta AI will no longer be available, and that’s great if you want to limit accidental triggers and reduce data sharing with Meta.
The goals of changing these settings are to keep as much data on your devices as possible and to avoid sharing unnecessary data with Meta. There’s no better way to do this than by disabling the Cloud media feature on your smart glasses. When enabled, this setting shares your photos and videos to Meta servers for cloud processing. These are stored in the cloud for 30 days before being automatically deleted. You can also manually delete them from both your device and the cloud in the Meta AI app.
It’s possible to avoid cloud processing and storage of the photos and videos you take with Meta smart glasses with a quick settings tweak. This keeps everything on your device, meaning your photos and videos won’t be sent to Meta servers. Here’s how to do it:
1. Open the Meta AI app.
2. Connect your Meta smart glasses, then tap the settings gear for your glasses.
3. Tap Glasses privacy.
4. Flip the toggle beside Cloud media off.
Cloud media processing might slightly improve the quality of your photos and videos recorded with Meta smart glasses, but I’d rather keep everything on-device for privacy reasons. You can always upload your captures to another cloud media service, like Google Photos, for storage, enhancements, and editing.
Every product and service wants you to share additional data, usually to identify bugs and improve features. This is a somewhat noble ask, but I’ll always politely decline sharing data beyond what is absolutely necessary.
There is some data that Meta describes as “essential” and must be shared. The other category of data is called “additional data,” and this is described as “information about how you use your AI Glasses and Wrist devices.”
Thanks for asking, Meta, but no thanks. I disable additional data collection for my Meta wearables with these steps:
1. Open the Meta AI app.
2. Connect your Meta smart glasses, then tap the settings gear for your glasses.
3. Tap Glasses privacy.
4. Flip the toggle beside Share additional data off.
Now, only the data that is absolutely necessary will be collected by Meta. The details about how you use your devices, including how often you use them, won’t be shared.
I wish Meta would do more to address the valid privacy concerns associated with its products and services, namely the ones you wear on your face. In the meantime, these three settings help you keep as much of your data private as you can, so you can keep wearing Meta glasses without the fear of sharing too much.
My go-to Meta glasses
Oakley Meta HSTN are my most-used Meta glasses due to their stylish design and secure fit. I use them for capturing videos, taking photos, making calls, and listening to music — and I don’t have to sacrifice my privacy in the process thanks to these three settings.