Oakley Meta Glasses: First 20 Tips and Tricks

Quick summary: Here’s what I set up first on the Oakley Meta AI glasses. Open the Meta AI app, tap the glasses at the bottom right, then the gear in the top right.

Updates and general

1. Check for updates in Updates, and keep automatic updates on so new firmware installs on its own.
2. Know where restart and reset live: General walks you through a force restart, unpairing and a factory reset step by step.
3. Connect to Wi-Fi: tap Add network and pick your network so the glasses can download updates themselves.

Meta AI

4. Wake word: turn on “Hey Meta” so you can start a conversation hands-free. Keep in mind it uses more battery.
5. Wake sound: I keep it on so I hear when it’s listening.
6. Follow-ups without the wake word: the mic stays on for a second or two after an answer so you can ask a follow-up question.
7. Language, speed and voice: change the language (English for Australia or the UK, for example) and the speaking rate. I keep the speed in the middle because too fast or too slow both get annoying. My favorite voice is Awkwafina.
8. Cellular updates: turn this on so new languages or voices can download over cellular.

Communication

9. Connect your apps: connect your phone, Messenger, WhatsApp and the rest. Turn on announce messages and automatic message readout, and look for extras like share videos hands-free. Open each app’s settings, since there may be options you haven’t turned on.
10. Announce calls and pause announcements: announce calls tells you who’s calling. Pause announcements can default to 1, 2, 4 or 8 hours. I wish there was a 30-minute option, but you can say “pause notifications for 30 minutes” to Meta AI.

Connected apps

11. Touch-and-hold action: pick Spotify, Meta AI or none. If you turn off the wake word to save battery, set this to Meta AI so you can still reach it by pressing and holding the side.
12. More apps: set your default music app and connect others like Audible, iHeartRadio and Shazam. With Shazam you can ask Meta what song is playing, and it’s free.

Media

13. Video length: choose 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute or 3 minutes (3 minutes is the default and the max).
14. High resolution video: switch from Standard to High resolution for up to 3K30. It uses more battery: about 50 minutes of total recording in standard vs about 35 in high resolution.
15. Auto import while charging and clear cache: photos and videos move to your phone when the glasses charge. Clearing the cache frees space on your phone (mine was 1.4 GB) without deleting gallery media.

Audio, light and gestures

16. Audio: keep auto pause on so music stops when you take them off. I turn adaptive volume off because I want a steady volume, and the constant listening uses battery. Swipe the side or ask Meta to change the volume.
17. Early access and notification light: join early access to get features early (I have a separate video on that). I leave the notification LED on automatic.
18. Wear detection and capture button: keep wear detection on. Under Gestures, you can swap the capture button so press-and-hold takes photos and a tap takes video, or the other way around.

Privacy and accessibility

19. Glasses privacy: Share additional data must be on for early access. Turn it and cloud media off if you don’t want Meta processing your data. Leave microphone troubleshooting off unless people can’t hear you.
20. Be My Eyes and detailed responses: Be My Eyes (download its free app first) lets a volunteer see through your glasses to help if you’re blind or have low vision. Detailed responses makes Meta AI describe things in more detail.

Get them

• Oakley Meta and Ray-Ban Meta glasses from Meta