Meta pauses plan to rate limit Conversation Focus on smart glasses after user backlash

After backlash, Meta pauses plan to 'rate limit' its smart glasses

Remember when Meta was planning to charge a $20 monthly subscription fee for the smart glasses feature that lets people hear each other more clearly -- even though that feature runs locally on your glasses and doesn't require the cloud? Meta has paused those plans, spokesperson Tyler Yee confirms to The Verge. The company is not giving up on the idea of a subscription fee for certain features -- that's still moving forward. Yee confirms that "some premium features will be subscription-based over time." But Conversation Focus, the accessibility feature, "will remain available for free through our Early Access Program for early testers while we work on a better approach." Here's one of the company's statements to The Verge: Meta's AI glasses pack a lot of value for free, and some premium features will be subscription-based over time -- and conversation focus is one we want to make sure we get right. We heard the feedback so we're pausing its subscription test for now. Conversation focus will remain available for free through our Early Access Program for early testers while we work on a better approach. The most ridiculous part of Meta's original plan was the "rate limits." Meta made it sound like it needed to charge a subscription for Conversation Focus because running that service had an incremental cost, to the point that even paid subscribers would only get 15 hours of Conversation Focus per month. That was easy to disprove: When I disconnected my own Meta Ray-Bans from the internet, the feature kept on working. But Meta isn't actually promising to abandon those "rate limits." I asked: "Given that Conversation Focus is on-device and Meta understands the backlash, is the thinking that it will no longer be rate-limited?" Meta's answer: "We don't have any more details to share, but its subscription test is currently paused and we're still exploring all our options for the best approach." Yee says that "not all" premium features will be subscription-based, though. He hints the reason Meta is charging a subscription is so it can subsidize the price of hardware, not to maintain the features themselves: We sell hardware at accessible prices to get AI glasses into the hands of as many people as possible and they pack a lot of value for free, so some premium features will be subscription-based over time. Charging power users for expanded use of premium features is how we sustain this strategy and keep investing in breakthrough capabilities. I don't know if I would call my $299 Meta Ray-Bans "free." But I do know that Meta keeps angering people who don't like its glasses, so it'd be risky to anger those who do like them, too. I suspect the company has already decided that Conversation Focus will stay free, but is saving that announcement for later -- to balance out the reveal of other features that will indeed cost money.

Meta Pauses Plan to Cap Free AI Glasses Feature at 3 Hours Per Month

UPDATE 7/25: Following backlash, Meta has paused a test that caps the conversation focus feature to three free hours per month. "Meta's AI glasses pack a lot of value for free, and some premium features will be subscription-based over time -- and conversation focus is one we want to make sure we get right," Meta tells The Verge. "We heard the feedback, so we're pausing its subscription test for now." Meta has made conversation focus available through the company's Early Access Program for early testers while it works "on a better approach." Original Story 7/1: Meta has taken the first step in nudging customers of its AI glasses toward a paid subscription. As The Verge reports, the company has slapped a 3-hour monthly cap on its Conversation Focus feature. To use it for up to 15 hours requires a $20-per-month Meta One Premium plan. The feature, announced alongside the Meta Ray-Ban Display in September, uses the on-device speakers to amplify the voice of the person you're speaking to. Meta began rolling out Conversational Focus with a software update in December, and you can enable it via a voice command or in the Meta AI mobile app. Conversational Focus can be especially useful in situations where you're speaking to someone in a loud environment, such as a busy cafe or a street, or if you have a hearing impairment. According to The Verge, the feature uses on-device tech and can function without an internet connection, making the cap a little surprising. On its Help Center page, Meta reiterates that its AI glasses don't require a subscription and that the free monthly usage applies only to certain features. For now, the page only mentions "rate limits" for Conversation Focus; we reached out to Meta about limits for other features. For any free feature, the usage limit will be refreshed each calendar month. And if you've paid for a subscription, the expanded usage limit will be updated with each billing cycle, Meta adds. The Meta One plan for AI glasses is still being tested and is limited to certain regions, including the US and Canada. It adds increased Meta AI limits and also unlocks benefits included with Facebook Plus, Instagram Plus, and WhatsApp Plus subscriptions.

Meta Is Rethinking Subscriptions on Its Smart Glasses

If there's one way to rub people the wrong way, it's introducing subscriptions where there previously were none. Meta pulled that very agitating lever earlier this month by announcing plans to start "rate limiting" its smart glasses. As quickly as it introduced that soft paywall, however, Meta is putting it back in the bag -- at least temporarily. According to The Verge, Meta is pausing its plans to add rate limits to a feature called Conversation Focus, which uses AI and the smart glasses' microphones to help you better hear someone you're talking with. For full context, a Meta spokesperson makes it clear in a statement to The Verge that subscriptions are not being ruled out entirely -- there are still plans to paywall certain features down the line -- but its plans to start with Conversation Focus have been paused, and for good reason. Starting the subscription plan with Conversation Focus was a strange choice. For one, the feature works offline, meaning there's no burden on Meta's servers for using it. That makes a "rate limit" for power users odd at best. As I pointed out earlier this month, Conversation Focus is a tool that's likely to be used by people who are hard of hearing, even though it's not explicitly marketed as an accessibility feature. It's worth mentioning that since the planned rate limits on Conversation Focus were announced, Meta has been sued by a group of employees who say it used AI to target people on medical, parental, and family leave for layoffs -- emphasis on the medical part. That's to say that, optically, this may not be a great time for Meta's Conversation Focus subscription even if it's not explicitly an accessibility feature. Meta tells The Verge that its rate limits are being introduced in an effort to subsidize hardware, but whether we'd see reduced prices on smart glasses with tons of subscriptions in them is anyone's guess. For now, anyone who uses Meta's smart glasses can look forward to more agitating news down the line.

An accessibility paywall on Meta Glasses could be good news for Apple Glasses

Ray-Ban Meta Glasses and the latest cheaper non-designer option are sold on the basis of the built-in AI features, but in early July the company announced a "ridiculous" limit on the free usage you can make of an accessibility feature. Effectively, Meta has retroactively applied a paywall to a hardware product it already sold to customers. Update: The social network has now said it is "pausing" plans to paywall the feature - see the end of the piece. Meta first started rolling out the Conversation Focus feature in December of last year. Whether you're eating at a busy restaurant, commuting on the train, or catching your favorite DJ's latest set, conversation focus uses the open-ear speakers on your Al glasses to amplify the voice of the person you're talking to. You'll hear the amplified voice sound slightly louder, which will help you distinguish the conversation from ambient background noise so you can stay tuned into the moments that matter. You'll also be able to easily adjust the amplification level by swiping the right temple of your glasses or through your device settings to match the volume of your environment. That's a smart use of AI, and one of the best things about it is that it uses on-device processing, meaning that privacy isn't compromised and mobile data isn't needed. However, The Verge reports that Meta is now applying a limit to how much you're allowed to use the feature without paying extra for it. This week, Meta quietly announced that your glasses' Conversation Focus feature will soon be limited to three hours of use per month, unless you pay for a $19.99 Meta One Premium subscription. This is doubly unacceptable. First, as the site's Sean Hollister points out, because the feature works on the device, there is no use of Meta servers and therefore no possible justification for charging for it. Second, this is an accessibility feature, and some may have purchased the glasses specifically for that reason. When asked for comment by The Verge, Meta said that the limit "currently" applies only to the Conversation Focus feature, implying that other AI features may be rate-limited in future. The company told us that it doesn't consider it to be an accessibility feature given that it is intended for use by those with normal hearing. I would argue that this is semantics, as some struggle more than others to hear conversations in noisy environments. All this may be good news for the upcoming Apple Glasses - it helps provide another reason for consumers to buy their AI-powered glasses from a more reputable company even though the upfront cost is likely to be higher. The company has always said that it never seeks a return on investment for accessibility features, rather viewing this as a way to contribute to a better world. Apple Glasses are expected to launch at some point next year. Update: Meta told The Verge that it has paused plans to limit access to Conversation Focus, but has not given up the idea of paywalling some features for the glasses. We heard the feedback so we're pausing its subscription test for now. Conversation focus will remain available for free through our Early Access Program for early testers while we work on a better approach.