Meta says its smart glasses privacy update will stop recording if LED is covered

Meta says its Meta smart glasses privacy update will stop the camera when a wearer covers the capture LED during an active recording. The change targets a workaround that could conceal the light intended to tell people nearby that photos or video are being taken.

Alex Himel, Meta’s vice president of augmented reality, said in a Threads post that the fix is starting to roll out. The company’s claim has not independently established that the update prevents every form of covert recording, but it addresses one specific way users had evaded the indicator.

What recording-light workaround does Meta’s update close?

Meta’s glasses already prevented a recording from starting if the front LED was blocked, according to reporting by The Verge and Engadget. Users could instead begin recording while the light was visible, then cover it after capture had started.

Himel said the revised software will cause the camera to stop if the light is covered while recording is underway. The LED blinks during photography or video recording and is intended by Meta to alert bystanders that the wearer is capturing something.

The second privacy-related change in under two months

The update follows a separate change announced a little over a month earlier. That measure disabled the glasses’ cameras when the company detected physical tampering with the recording light, The Verge reported; Engadget described the newer release as Meta’s second privacy-related software update in less than two months.

Himel said Meta plans further updates meant to help the capture LED reliably signal when photos or videos are being saved to a wearer’s gallery. He also said only a small minority of users try to evade those protections, a company assessment that has not been independently verified.

Meta promotes the capture LED

Alongside the software rollout, Meta has begun an awareness campaign in communities where sales have been popular, company spokesperson Albert Aydin told The Verge. A billboard in Los Angeles depicts the glasses with the message: “The camera lets you capture the moment. The light lets everyone around you know when you do.”

A Meta video makes the same case, saying the LED signals photo and video capture and that no light means no capture. The campaign explains the company’s intended warning signal; it does not itself demonstrate that the signal cannot be bypassed.

What the update does and does not address

The change covers the timing-based tactic of obscuring the LED after a recording begins. It comes amid reported concern and backlash over covert filming, harassment and recordings made without consent involving the glasses.

Engadget reported that Meta has not stopped every method used to record surreptitiously and that inexpensive accessories designed to bypass the recording light remain available. Instagram has also banned accounts belonging to some creators behind such videos, according to Engadget.

This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.