Apple Smart Glasses Face WWDC 2027 Delay as Privacy Concerns Force Camera Rethink

Can Apple make smart glasses that aren't a constant privacy threat?

As Apple prepares to launch its first smart glasses, the company is also wrestling with how to address consumer privacy concerns, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman reports that Apple has pushed back the launch target from early 2027, with the glasses now set for unveiling at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2027 and actually becoming available by the end of the year. That delay allows Apple to work on the product itself, and on the messaging around privacy. It sounds like the company has noticed the concerns around Meta's smart glasses -- sometimes decried as "pervert glasses" -- being used to make non-consensual video recordings. That could be a bigger issue for Apple, which constantly emphasizes privacy in its marketing. Among other things, Apple will reportedly try to emphasize privacy-friendly features like on-device processing, as well as the absence of facial recognition. The company will likely steer clear of using customer recordings to train AI models, and it's unlikely to follow Meta's reported practice of using contractors to review customer footage.

Apple Smart Glasses May Be Delayed Over Privacy Concerns

The wait for Apple smart glasses may just have gotten a little longer. Following privacy concerns around existing smart glasses, Apple has decided to push its reveal from late 2026 to WWDC 2027, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Codenamed N50 internally, Apple's first smart glasses are expected to provide hands-free access to Siri, play music, make phone calls, and also have AI-powered camera features that allow wearers to get more information about their surroundings. Whether the camera can capture photos and videos is still being debated within Apple, and company executives are taking time to refine Apple's privacy messaging, Gurman says. Privacy has been one of the biggest hurdles for smart glasses, with concerns that wearers could record people without their knowledge or consent. Meta's glasses have always had a capture light to indicate when its Ray-Ban glasses are recording, but users found ways to hide or remove the light altogether. Following backlash, Meta tightened its safeguards by blocking the camera for anyone who tampers with it. Last week, the company also said it would take down Instagram videos that feature wearers harassing strangers in public places. Apple's smart glasses are expected to feature similar safeguards, Gurman says. Apple may also distinguish itself with its privacy policies. By default, the company will process its AI features on the device and avoid features like facial recognition. It won't use recorded videos for AI training or send them to third-party contractors, the report adds. As for the camera's capabilities, Apple has reportedly considered limiting it to AI features. Instead of capturing photos or videos, the camera would only analyze the wearer's surroundings and help AI tools respond to related queries. Apple executives have also mulled removing the camera altogether, Gurman says, adding that they tested a prototype without the tech during development. Both those concepts, however, are unlikely to hit the market as a key appeal of smart glasses is their ability to record first-person videos and share them on social media. For now, Apple's smart glasses have been pushed from late 2026 to WWDC 2027, Gurman says. While the product was initially expected to become available early next year, it will now ship by the end of 2027.

Smart Glasses Are the One Privacy Nightmare Apple Can't Solve

Even if Apple is one of the only major consumer tech companies without a pair of smart glasses officially in the pipeline, there are strong signs pointing to a future where its face-worn computer exists. The biggest sign is reporting from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who recently detailed a behind-the-scenes debate on what exactly Apple will offer the world of smart glasses. Unsurprisingly, that internal discussion is around the biggest hot-button issue: privacy. Specifically, Gurman's reporting suggests that Apple is working to address the camera on smart glasses, which is arguably the most fraught feature on any pair. Unlike Meta and its AI glasses, Apple seems to be intent on ensuring the camera on its smart glasses doesn't wind up earning the company a reputation as a tool for spying or otherwise encroaching on user privacy. To do that, it's reportedly considering a couple of non-Meta approaches to hardware. In one iteration, Apple is reportedly prototyping camera-less glasses that would avoid the privacy pitfalls of most smart glasses entirely. This would position Apple's offering as something closer to smart glasses made by companies like Even Realities, which focus more on AI features like transcription and translation as well as other more productivity-focused use cases like notifications for emails, calendars, and text messages. Alternatively, Apple is also considering including a camera but not allowing it to take photos or videos. That approach would address problems with people using smart glasses to secretly record others but still allow for people to use smart glasses for computer vision-based features -- translating text on a page, identifying objects in your environment, vision-based navigation, etc. While both of those are valid approaches to smart glasses and even have precedent in today's spectrum of hardware you can buy, there's one big issue -- there's a solid chance they're a death sentence for the company's public reputation. As useful as AI can be in smart glasses, it's not quite the killer feature yet. Having used Meta AI at length, it can still be hit or miss. Don't get me wrong, Meta's Muse Spark model is a massive improvement over previous generations in terms of accuracy and in how natural responses feel, but the use cases aren't always obvious. Most people -- myself included -- still have to work to figure out how and when to incorporate computer vision, which can take away from the intended magic of it all. The problem gets worse when you look at the competition. Meta, of course, sells smart glasses with cameras on them capable of taking high-resolution photos and videos, but so do Samsung's and Google's glasses. The reason for that is that -- based on my own use of smart glasses and monitoring how other people are using them -- it's still the most marketable feature. Sure, photo and video capture appeals to glassholes who want to discreetly record other people without their knowledge, but they also appeal to normal people who want to record action sports and other kinds of non-icky videos hands-free. In order to make smart glasses that appeal to the masses, Apple has an impossible choice: it can make its hardware privacy-friendly, or it can make a pair that sells. That's a tough ultimatum for most tech companies (aside from maybe Meta, which doesn't seem to care as much about the privacy side of things), but for Apple, it's even tougher. Apple has long staked much of its brand on caring about privacy, so any deviation from that ethos is a big deal -- one that could jeopardize the brand's entire reputation. It's hard to count Apple out in any capacity when it comes to consumer tech, but smart glasses are an entirely new gadget with totally different constraints. When it comes to smart glasses, it looks like Apple is going to have to risk a glasshole reputation or die trying.

Apple targets WWDC 2027 for smart glasses but is still deciding on the camera question

Apple is aiming for a WWDC 2027 smart glasses unveil and is debating whether to include a camera amid the privacy backlash Meta created Apple is currently aiming to unveil its first smart glasses at next June's Worldwide Developers Conference, with a consumer release by the end of 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. But the company's engineering and marketing teams are still wrestling with a question that will define the product: whether its glasses should include a camera at all. The teams developing the device, code-named N50, within Apple's Vision hardware group see privacy as the top priority, Gurman reported on Saturday. That caution is a direct response to the backlash Meta created. Meta has sold more than seven million pairs of its Ray-Ban smart glasses, but the product's camera has become a lightning rod for privacy complaints, with women being secretly filmed in public and Kenyan data workers reporting they were asked to review intimate footage captured by the devices. Apple executives are acutely aware that simply entering the same category risks undermining a privacy reputation the company has spent more than a decade building. Apple is planning safeguards that go beyond what Meta and Samsung have offered. The company will favour on-device processing, eschew facial recognition, and avoid anything resembling Meta's proposed "super-sensing" mode, which would continuously analyse a wearer's surroundings without activating the recording indicator light. Apple also does not plan to follow Meta's practice of having contractors review footage captured by its glasses, having already dealt with a similar controversy around its Siri voice assistant. One option Apple executives have debated would include the full camera system but disable photo and video recording entirely, limiting the cameras to feeding visual data into AI tools that identify objects and places. Another prototype eliminates the camera hardware altogether, retaining hands-free Siri access, music playback, and phone calls without any recording capability. Both approaches would sacrifice what has made Meta's glasses popular: effortless first-person video of holidays, children, and sporting events. The privacy problem is not theoretical. Apple is entering one of the most important product cycles in its history, with the 20th anniversary iPhone, a second-generation foldable, camera-equipped AirPods, and new Macs all expected in 2027. Courtrooms across New York State have already banned smart glasses, Royal Caribbean has barred them from casinos, restrooms, and children's areas, and Samsung has called the privacy situation an "industry-shared problem" requiring a collective fix. The glasses were originally targeted for introduction later this year under the N50 code name, but Apple delayed the timeline partly to refine its privacy message. The company knows from experience that good intentions do not prevent misuse: its AirTags, designed to locate belongings, quickly became associated with stalking. Camera-equipped glasses will inevitably face similar problems, and Apple will likely spend years updating software and working with regulators to address them.

Apple eyes WWDC smart glasses launch with a focus on privacy

Apple plans to avoid facial recognition features while focusing on smart glasses after shelving a lighter Vision Pro model. Having reportedly shelved plans for a cheaper and lighter version of Vision Pro, Apple is currently focusing all of its augmented-reality efforts on a pair of smart glasses. According to a new report, these are slated to be unveiled at WWDC in June 2027, and would have arrived sooner if it weren't for privacy concerns. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman lays out the particular difficulties which have dogged the so-called "Apple Glasses" project. As he explains, products in this field made by Meta and (to a lesser extent) Samsung and Google have become associated with surveillance and intrusive non-consensual video recording, but Apple stands to lose far more than those companies if it launches a pair of smart glasses because so much of its brand is built around privacy. "Consumers remain uneasy around people wearing camera-equipped glasses, unsure whether they're being recorded during conversations at work, restaurants or other public places," Gurman writes. "In most cases, those fears are probably unfounded. But years of headlines about Meta's privacy practices, viral social media posts and broader skepticism toward always-available cameras have left many people wary of the category." Such wariness, then, isn't confined to Meta's products; it has created a more general distrust which affects smart glasses launched by any company. In order to combat this, and to safeguard a pro-privacy reputation a decade in the making, Apple plans to emulate the safety measures introduced by rivals. There will be a light to indicate when the device is recording video, as on the glasses currently being developed by Samsung and Google, and a feature which disables recording if that light has been tampered with. But Apple's measures need to go further, Gurman says. Pro-privacy marketing specific to Apple's entry to the market will include emphasising on-device rather than datacenter-based processing, and steering clear of facial recognition and "super-sensing"-style continuous monitoring features. Unlike Meta, Apple will choose not to have outside contractors review footage shot by its smart glasses, nor to have that footage used to train AI models. Most drastic of all, Gurman speculates, Apple could launch a set of smart glasses without a camera at all. This, he acknowledges, would undercut much of the appeal of the category, but it would still offer a convenient hands-free device for phone calls, music playback, and AI assistance. Or, if Apple doesn't want to go quite this far, it could include the hardware for a camera but hard-code limits on what this camera could be used for: namely, that it wouldn't record video or still images at the user's behest. It would act as a data collection tool for the onboard AI assistant, generating information about the user's surroundings, but wouldn't store the imagery for future perusal. There are other possible approaches. The analyst Max Weinbach responded to Gurman's article by proposing the idea of a "privacy beacon." This would be a Bluetooth signal broadcast by AirTags or other devices which either consents to or declines video surveillance. "If I enable that feature any smart glasses that record near me would put a full body blur over me," he explains. But this would require widespread agreement among different companies and likely regulators, and the establishment of a standardized protocol. It's clear that Apple's smart glasses will be a challenging launch, from a marketing, PR and even cultural standpoint as well as a technical one. Gurman believes the device will be shown off at next year's WWDC in June 2027, but won't become available for sale until later in the year. For all the latest news and rumors, bookmark our regularly updated Apple Glasses superguide.

Meta smart glasses were the best tech I took on my honeymoon, but privacy concerns kept them from being as frictionless as I wished they could be

It's probably fair to say Meta is facing serious public backlash to its AI glasses. Musician Lorde took time at a recent concert to tell her audience, "Don't get the glasses," many online are branding them "pervert glasses," and activist group Everyone Hates Elon has put up spoof adverts for the glasses featuring Jeffrey Epstein wearing a pair (note: the story behind a paywall). I myself have been unsure if I'll keep using my Meta glasses, despite their utility making them one of my favorite gadgets I've tested while working at TechRadar. Meta has rebutted with new measures to combat misuse of its glasses. It recently patched its specs to prevent modders from using the camera despite disabling the recording light, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently announced harassment videos shot using Meta glasses will be banned from the platform -- with some high-profile accounts already getting the boot. Among the folks still in love with the Meta glasses, however, is my wife Izzy. When I suggested taking a pair each with us on our recent honeymoon to Tenerife, she wasn't convinced -- despite them being our only sunglasses without my prescription lenses in them -- but she wore the white-and-gold Oakley HSTN specs nearly all the time we were abroad. I was also testing out a pair of the Ray-Ban Meta Optics styles for an upcoming review, and time and again the glasses proved themselves useful. Our trip confirmed how awesome these glasses can be when used right, and why a middle ground needs to be found to maximize privacy and utility before things get out of hand. An all-in-one AI supertool Of course, the primary reason to rely on Meta glasses is their built-in tech. Whether we were lounging on a sunbed, strolling through the streets and past the beaches of Los Cristianos, or kicking back with a drink in the evening, we both loved the open-ear speakers that let us enjoy our podcast or playlist of choice without tuning out the world. For hours on end, I enjoyed Radio 1 through BBC Sounds, while Izzy drifted between Spotify hits, and both pairs lasted a good length of time battery-wise -- with touch controls making it super simple to control the tunes when needed. The AI translations came in clutch several times as well. It offered quick advice on what phrases to use when we realized our limited selection of "Hola," "Gracias," and "Por favor" wouldn't cut the mustard. Meanwhile, Look and Ask helped Izzy decipher which of the unrecognizable shampoos and conditioners would be best for her hair after a travel mishap saw the supply we packed leak into her travel bag. The AI could read the Spanish labels to her to help identify and filter out ingredients she knows to avoid, and we ended up buying a few extra bottles of the conditioner she found to bring home after she fell in love with it. It can't be understated how useful the smart specs are simply as sunglasses too. My Optics pair features Transitions XTRActive lenses, transitioning fast from clear to shaded as I moved between indoor and outdoor spaces, which was super handy for someone like me who wears glasses all the time. Meanwhile, the polarized gold HSTN lenses were perfect for Izzy as she spent hours of her day baking in high-UV weather. Thanks to the charging case, my specs rarely ran out of battery, but even when they did, I could still rely on them just fine as stylish shades. Of course, the controversial aspect is the camera. Beyond the AI assistance, it was helpful for snapping quick photos and first-person clips for the travel vlog I'm looking to cut together. Though whenever I went to snap a photo, I had flashes of the story about Meta contractors who claimed to have seen intimate moments captured through the specs. Shots of either of us in swimwear went nowhere near the glasses' snapper, and I kept a careful eye on who was in the background of any shots I did take. We were also a little worried that someone might not like us using the glasses at all in their presence, though thankfully no one took any issue with us. These fears and considerations do create points of friction when it comes to using Meta's glasses -- or any smart glasses, for that matter. While the Facebook company is the best-known for smart eyewear right now it is far from alone, and while it's making efforts to clean up its public perception smart glasses will be tarred with the same brush if any brand steps out of line. I also don't think Meta's efforts are perfect so far, at least not yet. I'd like to see more work across social and hardware platforms to root out smart glasses misuse; I believe better, more thorough privacy rules are necessary to make it crystal clear what data is and isn't shared with Meta and its staff, and I'm not convinced I could trust it with the immense amount of data its rumored super sense feature would capture from my daily life -- blunders like its Instagram AI image use plan and backtrack don't fill me with confidence in its AI decision making. At the same time, my week falling back in love with the Meta glasses, and my wife loving her Oakley smart specs, proves there's something really fun and useful about the tech that I equally don't want to see taken away or banned outright. With other brands joining in on intelligent eyewear -- recently Samsung demonstrated its own pairs at Galaxy Unpacked -- it's clear the tech industry is storming ahead, just as it has with exciting emerging technologies in the past. I just hope a middle ground can be found, because smart specs represent a serious privacy nightmare beyond other gadgets we've relied on. If the tech doesn't hold itself to account, we could see even more regulation and public backlash than we've seen already, and that could kill off my favorite tech sector of recent years before it has a chance to thrive. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Apple AI glasses are set for 2027 debut, report claims

Everyone is getting in on the smart glasses arms race, including Apple, apparently. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg has a new report on Apple's planned entry into the smart glasses market, a move that has been rumored for some time. According to Gurman, Apple will unveil the device at next year's Worldwide Developers Conference, a nominally software-focused event Apple holds every June. Presumably, the glasses would then be available for purchase sometime before the end of 2027. It's still unclear exactly what form Apple's glasses would take. Meta and Samsung, among others, have created a template in recent years for glasses that include cameras for photography and video, and for showing the world to an onboard AI assistant, but that obviously comes with plenty of privacy concerns. Gurman said Apple is mulling over removing cameras entirely or removing the ability to take photos and videos, with the cameras serving solely to provide context for an AI assistant. The glasses will also reportedly not include any displays, which has been true of most existing smart glasses to date. After the fairly resounding failure of Apple Vision Pro, it would have been reasonable to think that Apple would hold off on releasing any more face-worn devices for a while, but evidently not.

Meta's Attempted Crackdown on AI Glasses Perverts Is Already Failing

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Meta knows its AI-powered camera equipped spectacles are widely seen as "pervert glasses." And though it professes to be cracking down on creeps using them to record people without their consent, whatever measures it's taking clearly aren't working. After Meta announced this month that it would ban users using the glasses to film themselves harassing strangers, a recent investigation by Oligarch Watch still found hundreds of these videos on its platforms. Many of them are from sleazy "pickup artists" who approach women in public, making sexual or degrading comments and recording their buttocks or breasts. In one viral video on Instagram, a pick-up artist who goes by "_mypointofvue" films himself approaching an underaged girl in a shopping mall. "I'm 17," the girl says, seemingly unaware that she's being recorded, when he asks her age. "That's crazy. I can't do nothing with you, baby," he replies, grumbling that he "can't believe that ho was 17." He then pulls out his phone on camera to do an ad for a crypto-based online casino. In another Instagram video, a man who goes by Justin uses his Meta glasses to zoom in on a woman's buttocks as she orders coffee, before repeatedly asking for her contact information and being shut down each time. "Shawty had the gyat," he wrote in the caption. The user, according to Oligarch Watch, has posted dozens of similar videos since Meta announced the crackdown. Another popular pickup artist who goes by "moreno.rizz" recently shared a video of himself approaching a woman by saying, "Excuse me, have we f*cked before? I'm just kidding. I just thought you were really pretty." The harassment can sometimes be even more blatant. Another pick-up artist called "dkdanny" boasts over half a million followers, and in some of his most popular videos that rack up millions of views, he wears Meta glasses while insulting the weight of random women on the street. "You don't get to talk, OK," he tells one woman. "You already look big enough. Don't talk big, too." The clear privacy risks posed by Meta's glasses have been a heated topic since the devices debuted. The company has used big-name celebrity endorsements and run heavy marketing campaigns to improve how they're perceived, but it's not winning everyone over. Earlier this month, Instagram head Adam Mosseri addressed the harassment being carried out using the smart glasses, vowing to crackdown on it "every way we can." Some of the accounts that Oligarch Watch referenced in its reporting seemed to have been taken down after it was published, but that's only a drop in the ocean -- and one of the world's largest tech companies relying on random journalists to police abhorrent content on its platforms clearly isn't a serious strategy. Meta told the publication in a statement that its glasses that it "built privacy into the camera for the glasses from the ground up," including an LED that lights up when the glasses are recording. It did not, however, address the fact that there are many workarounds to this small deterrent. More on Meta: This New Meta "Advertisement" Is Absolutely Brutal

Instagram cracks down on growing 'pervert glasses' problem with Meta Ray-Bans | Fortune

Some people fear heights. Others fear the dark. Some increasingly fear ending up in a stranger's Instagram Reel, recorded without their knowledge by a pair of what the internet has taken to calling "pervert glasses." These would be the same Ray-Ban Meta glasses that Mark Zuckerberg has spent years pitching as one of AI's first breakout consumer products. It turns out the glasses can answer questions, translate language, capture photos, livestream hands-free -- and record videos surreptitiously. Instagram is cracking down on videos recorded using Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, whose built-in camera allows users to capture photos and videos hands-free, after prank videos and clips of pickup artists secretly recording women in public spread across social media. The trend has fueled privacy concerns around the glasses and earned them an unflattering nickname online: "pervert glasses." "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down," Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in response to a question on his Instagram Stories last week. Meta has also removed creator accounts that violated the policy. The move underscores the challenge for Meta: convincing consumers that AI-powered glasses can become an everyday device without sacrificing privacy. This controversy adds to a growing list of Meta's privacy challenges, expanding the debate from the company's data practices to how people are using its AI-powered glasses in public. Privacy has become Meta's biggest hurdle After introducing four new AI glasses in 2025, Meta and partner EssilorLuxottica expanded the lineup again in June 2026 with three new Meta Glasses frames in 26 styles starting at $299. That expansion comes as demand accelerates: shipments of smart glasses without display surged 167% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026 to roughly 2.25 million units, while Meta captured 69.2% of the market. But as the glasses have become more capable and more widely adopted, questions about privacy have grown alongside them. Earlier this year, Fortune reported on a lawsuit alleging that contractors in Kenya were reviewing interactions including highly sensitive footage voluntarily shared by users, including videos of people using the bathroom, undressing and handling financial documents. Meta has pushed back on those concerns. The company told Fortune it has "built privacy into the camera for the glasses from the ground up." The company said in an emailed statement the glasses include a white LED that flashes whenever users capture a photo or video and cannot be turned off to help wearers and bystanders feel more comfortable. In a July 7, 2026, blog post, Meta reiterated that photos and videos captured with the glasses remain private unless users choose to share them. Every pair includes a recording indicator light that cannot be turned off. The company also said it has updated the glasses to automatically disable the camera if it detects that light has been physically tampered with or destroyed. "There's this kind of a mismatch between the expectations we have in public and the privacy concerns people have," Thorin Klosowski, a security and privacy activist at the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Fortune. Historically, people have been able to tell when someone was taking a photo because they were holding up a smartphone or camera. Smart glasses make that much less obvious. From AI assistant to hidden camera In March 2026, Wired reported that aspiring influencers and pickup artists have been using Meta's smart glasses to secretly record unsolicited interactions with women before posting the footage online, often without the women realizing they had been filmed. The backlash is beginning to spill into the real world. Earlier this month, U.K. convention organizer Monopoly Events banned Meta glasses and other wearable recording devices from its Comic-Con events, the BBC reported, after attendees and celebrity guests raised concerns about covert recording. To Klosowski, those incidents show how the privacy debate surrounding AI glasses has evolved. Previous concerns centered on Meta's data practices. Now, he said, people are equally worried about how everyday users are employing the devices in public. Smart glasses create a fundamentally different privacy challenge than smartphones because bystanders often have little indication they may be recorded. "With the glasses, it's just fundamentally, completely, utterly different," Klosowski said to Fortune. "Unless you're literally in front of them, you don't know whether it's recording or whether they're taking photos." Privacy advocates say those concerns could become even greater if smart glasses eventually incorporate facial recognition. In April, 75 civil liberties organizations, including the ACLU and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, urged Meta to halt plans to equip its smart glasses with facial recognition technology, warning it could make stalking, harassment and surveillance significantly easier. Apple bets on privacy Meta's privacy challenges could also create an opening for competitors. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple is planning to unveil its first smart glasses at WWDC next June, with privacy as a central focus. The glasses will include on-device AI processing while avoiding facial recognition and always-on recording. Apple did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. Similar to Meta's glasses, Apple's are expected to include cameras, speakers and microphones for features such as music, phone calls and notifications from Siri. Whether that approach ultimately resonates with consumers remains to be seen. Klosowski said privacy could become a major selling point as more companies enter the smart glasses market, adding, "We'll have to wait and see what competitors are actually doing in practice to see if that works." Klosowski also said he hopes society doesn't simply accept constant recording in public as inevitable. "I hope that there is not just a general giving up toward the inevitability of everyone having a camera strapped on their face all the time."

How Apple Might Try to Make Its Smart Glasses Less Creepy

Apple's issue reflects an industry wide concern over privacy implications of camera-armed smart glasses. Apple is expected to reveal its smart glasses, codename N50, at WWDC 17 in June 2027, which gives the company nearly a year to wrestle with the thorniest problem facing smart glasses: how do you uphold a commitment to privacy while selling a product that contains a hidden camera? Like industry leader Meta's line of Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses, Apple's first smart glasses are expected to focus on AI, audio, and onboard cameras (display models are expected at a later date.) But Meta's glasses are at the center of a growing cultural firestorm for the camera feature, with people calling Metas "pervert glasses," creating guerrilla marketing campaigns against them, and banning them from a growing number of locations. According to a Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman, Apple is considering releasing smart glasses with a full camera system that can't be used to take pictures or record video. The camera system would be used only for feeding visual information to Apple's AI tools, with no way for users to share that information. Apple's commitment to privacy Privacy (either respecting or exploiting) is no doubt at the forefront of every smart glass manufacturer's design decisions, but it's a particularly thorny issue for Apple, given its carefully cultivated image as "privacy first" company. Apple has spent years making data security a pillar of its identity, whether by repeatedly publicly proclaiming it as a "fundamental human right" or stressing on-device processing. Releasing a pair of glasses many would regard as spy glasses could effectively undermine Apple's reputation, even if every other privacy option (no sharing content with third parties, as much on-device processing as possible, etc.) is as robust as possible. This isn't the first time Apple has been here. When it launched AirTags in 2021, the company built in anti-stalking features like unwanted-tracker alerts, audible chirps, and tools to locate a hidden tag, all to prevent the device from being used to secretly monitor people. But within months, the devices were reported in stalking and domestic abuse cases, prompting lawsuits, news investigations, and the general view of AirTags as tools for creeps. The lesson: good intentions and good engineering are no match for people's worst instincts. According to consumer research, taking quick videos and pictures is one of the primary reasons people are buying smart glasses in the first place: a February 2026 Counterpoint Research report highlights that enhanced video performance and photography are the most frequently praised features of the Gen 2 Meta glasses. If consumers are facing a decision between Meta glasses, soon-to-be-released Samsung/Google smart glasses, and Apple glasses, how many would choose the one that doesn't have a camera? Other possible privacy solutions for smart glasses While I have no idea what other possible solutions to the privacy problem Apple is considering, if I had to guess, I'd say they've discussed these ideas:

Apple delays its smart glasses to build privacy features rivals don't have

Apple's smart glasses have been pushed back again. The device, codenamed N50, was previously expected to be revealed later this year ahead of an early 2027 launch. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is now targeting a reveal at WWDC in June 2027, with a late 2027 release to follow. Gurman reports that teams developing the glasses within Apple's Vision hardware group are delaying the release due to privacy concerns with smart glasses. The report adds that Apple is working on several hardware and software privacy features not available on current smart glasses products. On the software side, the company is expected to adopt a similar approach to Meta's recent update, which remotely turns off the camera if the recording indicator light is tampered with. Apple is also planning to process AI features on-device rather than in the cloud, will not send footage to human reviewers or contractors, and will not use recorded video for AI training. More dramatic options have also been considered internally. Apple explored building a version with no camera at all and tested a prototype without one. Another option discussed was including a full camera system but restricting it from taking photos or video, limiting it purely to AI scene analysis. Both are considered unlikely to ship, as the camera is central to the device's appeal. The glasses will otherwise feature speakers and microphones for music, calls, and Siri, alongside AI functions. The delays also come as smart glasses face increasing scrutiny over privacy. Meta's Ray-Ban glasses have been at the centre of several controversies, from contractors reviewing intimate recordings captured without consent to users tampering with the recording indicator light to film others secretly. New York recently banned smart glasses in schools, while hospitals have introduced similar restrictions. Considering everything around smart glasses, Apple's caution is hardly surprising. As much as people are eager to see a serious competitor to Meta, shipping later with stronger privacy protections is probably better than rushing into the same controversies everyone else is trying to escape.

Apple Reportedly Delays Smart Glasses to WWDC 2027 to Strengthen Privacy

Apple will likely avoid facial recognition on smart glasses Apple is expected to showcase its first smart glasses with a strong emphasis on privacy at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2027. The company is preparing to enter the AI-powered smart glasses segment while attempting to address growing privacy concerns surrounding camera-equipped wearable devices. The Cupertino-based tech giant is reportedly refining both the hardware and its privacy framework before the product reaches consumers later in 2027. The company is also evaluating multiple camera configurations as it seeks to balance artificial intelligence features, user convenience and public trust. Apple Plans Privacy-First Smart Glasses to Take on Meta According to the latest Power On newsletter by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple now plans to unveil its first smart glasses at WWDC 2027 before releasing them to consumers by the end of the year. The revised schedule is expected to give developers additional time to adapt applications for Apple's new wearable platform. Apple had originally targeted an earlier introduction for the device. Still, the launch timeline has reportedly shifted as engineering and marketing teams continue refining both the product and its privacy safeguards. Gurman says privacy considerations now guide much of the work across the teams developing the smart glasses, with Apple also creating new hardware and software protections that are not available on its current devices. The company is expected to position its smart glasses differently from existing products in the category, particularly Meta's offerings, as it seeks to preserve its long-standing reputation for protecting user privacy. According to Gurman, concerns surrounding Meta's privacy practices have made some consumers uneasy about wearing or being around camera-equipped smart glasses. The newsletter says many people remain concerned about the possibility of being recorded during conversations in workplaces, restaurants and other public spaces. Although mobile phones have more capable cameras, camera-equipped eyewear often attracts greater scrutiny because recording is less obvious to people nearby. Several organisations and venues have already introduced restrictions on smart glasses. Bloomberg reports that some courtrooms in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have restricted or banned their use. Royal Caribbean has also prohibited the devices in casinos, restrooms and children's areas, while some schools, hospitals, gyms and entertainment venues have adopted similar policies. Apple is expected to introduce protections similar to those already adopted or planned by rivals. These measures could prevent recording if the indicator light appears to have been tampered with. Samsung is also said to be developing comparable safeguards for its Android XR smart glasses in partnership with Google and Warby Parker. Alongside these safeguards, Apple is reportedly making several software-related privacy decisions. Gurman says the company is expected to rely more heavily on on-device processing, avoid facial recognition features and steer clear of continuous environment analysis features similar to Meta's reported super sensing mode. Apple is also unlikely to use customer recordings to train artificial intelligence models or rely on contractors to review user footage, following earlier criticism related to Siri quality control. Apple is also said to have explored multiple camera configurations during development, including one concept that removes cameras altogether. Another retains cameras solely to interpret the surroundings for AI-powered features while disabling photo and video capture. Gurman says the version currently considered most likely to reach the market would retain conventional cameras while adding stronger privacy protections. The newsletter notes that removing photo and video recording could weaken one of the biggest attractions of smart glasses, as first-person photo and video capture has become one of the main reasons consumers buy Meta's devices. It also suggests Apple's current artificial intelligence capabilities alone may not provide enough value to support a camera-free product. Gurman compares the challenge with Apple's experience following the launch of AirTags, which were designed to help users locate belongings but later became associated with stalking incidents. The report says Apple is expected to continue updating software, policies and safety measures if similar misuse emerges after the smart glasses launch. The smart glasses are expected to feature built-in speakers and microphones for music playback, phone calls and Siri interactions without requiring AirPods. Artificial intelligence features are also expected to help users identify objects, understand their surroundings and navigate more easily. The smart glasses are expected to be part of a broader wave of Apple hardware planned for 2027. Gurman says that roadmap also includes the twentieth anniversary iPhone, a second-generation foldable iPhone, new smart home devices, updated AirPods and refreshed Mac models.

Apple delays smart glasses over privacy concerns, wants to avoid Meta's mistakes: Report

Apple is said to be considering two different ways to make its glasses more privacy-friendly. 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. Also read: OpenAI finds AI agent leaving escape notes for its future versions: Report 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. Also read: OpenAI and Sam Altman under legal scrutiny after ChatGPT gives dangerous medical advice: What happened 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.