Meta is not well known for keeping your data safe. Meta, like a number of other technology companies, is in the advertising business. It wants to sell personalized advertisements to other companies to be placed on social media, which are personalized using the data it collects.
This is Meta’s core business model, and explains why the brand wants as much user data as possible. That’s without even getting into the data privacy scandals that Meta has been involved in over the years.
Naturally, putting the Meta’s camera and microphone on your face might raise some concerns. I admit, as a Meta skeptic, I was skeptical about buying into the Meta smart glasses ecosystem. But they are the best, and because of that I overcame my secret fear. However, I ensure that my Meta smart glasses data remains as private as possible using these three simple settings in the Meta AI app. Here’s how you can do it again.
I bought Meta smart glasses – three pairs of them, actually – for the “smart” features. By that, I mean the onboard camera, microphone, speaker, and Bluetooth capability. Although the brand heavily markets these wearables as “AI glasses,” I’m not really interested in putting the Meta’s AI on my face. To some extent, the AI is built right into Meta’s smart glasses, but there are a few things you can do to avoid accidental interactions and unwanted data sharing.
Specifically, the Meta glasses have wake-up words “Hey Meta” and “OK Meta” that activate the voice assistant when spoken. Any content captured or recorded during a Meta AI session may be used for training purposes or for personal review. For this reason, you don’t want Meta AI to be accidentally activated when your smart glasses think you said “Hey Meta” or “OK Meta.”
Fortunately, you can disable Meta AI’s hands-free mode in the app using these steps:
1. Open the Meta AI app.
2. Connect your Meta smart glassesand press the button gear settings for your glasses.
3. Tap Meta AI.
4. Press “Hey Meta” favorites.
5. Flip the toggle to the side “Hey Meta” turned off.
Now, you will still be able to activate Meta AI using the touchpad on the side of the right temple of your smart glasses. However, voice-activated Meta AI will no longer be available, and that’s great if you want to limit error triggers and minimize data sharing with Meta.
The goals of changing these settings are to keep as much data on your devices as possible and avoid sharing unnecessary data with Meta. There is no better way to do this than to disable 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 delete them manually from both your device and the cloud in the Meta AI app.
It is possible to avoid cloud processing and storage of photos and videos you take with Meta smart glasses with quick settings. This keeps everything on your device, meaning your photos and videos will not be sent to Meta’s servers. Here’s how to do it:
1. Open the Meta AI app.
2. Connect your Meta smart glassesand press the button gear settings for your glasses.
3. Tap Privacy glasses.
4. Flip the toggle to the side Cloud media turned off.
Cloud media processing may slightly improve the quality of your photos and videos recorded with Meta smart glasses, but I’d prefer to keep everything on the device for privacy reasons. You can always upload your captures to another cloud media service, such as Google Photos, for storage, enhancement, and editing.
Every product and service wants you to share more data, often to identify bugs and improve features. This is an excellent question, but I will always politely decline to share more data than is absolutely necessary.
There is some data that Meta defines as “important” and should be shared. Another category of data is called “additional data,” and this is defined 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 glassesand press the button gear settings for your glasses.
3. Tap Privacy glasses.
4. Flip the toggle to the side Share more data turned off.
Now, only the necessary data will be collected by Meta. Information about how you use your devices, including how often you use them, will not be shared.
I wish Meta would do more to address valid privacy concerns related to its products and services, which are the ones you wear on your face. Meanwhile, these three settings help you keep as much of your data as private as possible, so you can keep wearing Meta glasses without fear of sharing too much.
My go-to glasses for Meta
The Oakley Meta HSTN are my most used Meta sunglasses due to their stylish design and secure fit. I use them to record videos, take pictures, make calls, and listen to music — and I don’t have to sacrifice my privacy for these three settings.