Meta now allows the camera of its AI glasses to automatically stop when someone covers the recording light during an ongoing recording. AR Vice President Alex Himel announced the software update on August 27, 2026, on Threads. This is the company’s second intervention in two months against covert filming with the glasses.
Update closes gap during ongoing filming
So far, the red blinking LED of the glasses only prevented the start of a recording: those who covered the light beforehand could not film at all. Some users circumvented the protection by recording openly and only covering the light during the process – the camera then continued to run unnoticed. As Himel writes on Threads, the camera will now automatically stop recording as soon as the light disappears in the middle of the process.
The update is already being rolled out gradually; the company does not specify a fixed end date for all devices. The current Ray-Ban Meta and Meta Smart Glasses models with a camera are affected; the update is distributed through the regular app and firmware distribution and costs nothing extra. According to Himel, only a tiny minority attempts such circumventions – a claim that cannot be independently verified and serves as evidence for him that the previous protective measures are already effective.
At the same time, he announces further updates that will make the display light more reliably warn of ongoing recordings in the future – Meta has not yet provided specific technical details on this.
Second intervention after July update faces criticism
In July 2026, Meta had already rolled out an update that deactivates the camera as soon as the glasses detect the LED as physically damaged or manipulated. The current update adds to this protection with the software trick of covering it afterward. The company also says it is removing marketplace listings that promote disabling the LED, and threatens providers of such modifications with account suspensions or legal action.
Critics, according to Gizmodo, still dispute that the gap is completely closed: cheap stickers make the light hardly visible in daylight, and drilled-out LEDs shown in online videos are said to still allow unnoticed filming. Meta states that anyone circumventing the built-in protection in this way violates its own usage policies. The company is also supplementing the technical measures with an awareness campaign featuring a billboard in Los Angeles, which is to be expanded to other cities.
The trigger for the ongoing debate was numerous reports of covert recordings in bars and public spaces, where individuals – often women – were filmed without consent, and the recordings subsequently circulated online.
Data protection authorities in Germany still see risks
The camera-based Ray-Ban Meta glasses without a display remain regularly available in Germany; the newer display model is still missing from the entire EU market due to EU regulations on batteries and AI technology. The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection, Thomas Fuchs, considers a nationwide sales ban “quite possible” after his authority’s own review, as the possession and sale of disguised recording devices are legally restricted.
His authority says it is already imposing fines for unauthorized recordings with the glasses in public spaces. The Federal Network Agency would be responsible for a possible nationwide ban, which it says it is reviewing. The British justice system has also already reacted: since August 11, 2026, courts in England and Wales have banned wearing the camera glasses in courtrooms.
It will be crucial whether software updates like this are enough to convince regulators, or whether a hardware requirement for visible labeling will ultimately be needed. The Federal Network Agency has not yet announced a date for its decision; its findings are likely to shape the future course for camera glasses in Germany significantly. For buyers, this means for now: legal certainty will only come from a regulatory decision, not from the software update alone.
