What is Meta AI? The assistant, the app and the glasses

1. What Meta AI is, in plain words

Meta AI is the AI assistant Meta builds into its apps and its glasses. Meta’s announcement of the European launch, dated March 19, 2025 and checked October 31, 2026, calls it “an intelligent and conversational assistant” for asking questions, going deeper on topics of interest and getting how-to help. You ask in text or, in some places, by voice.

That announcement says people reach it across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and tells them to look for “a new blue circle icon”. It also says the chat “will also include access to information from the web”, which is future tense in that post. A second announcement, dated April 29, 2025, introduced a Meta AI app and said it was built with Llama 4 at that date. Which model sits behind the assistant is Meta’s to say and can change, so this guide does not track it.

The name covers more than one product, which is where most of the confusion comes from. The next section separates three of them.

2. Three products share the name

Meta uses the name “Meta AI” for the assistant in its apps, in the Meta AI app and on its glasses. The table sets the three places apart using Meta’s own pages, all checked October 31, 2026.

In practice they connect. Meta’s April 2025 post says a conversation can start on the glasses and continue in the app or on the web, but not the other way round. Our Meta glasses app guide covers pairing and settings; this guide stays on what Meta AI is.

3. What Meta AI can do, by place

What you can ask depends on where you are using it, and Meta’s help page for the app says some features are limited to certain countries and languages. These are the uses Meta’s pages describe.

• In Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.Chat for questions and how-to help; Meta said the chat will also include access to information from the web. In group chats you type @MetaAI followed by a prompt; Meta said this starts on WhatsApp, with Messenger and Instagram Direct to follow. Meta’s post also says you can use Meta AI to generate results across a range of content, from reels or posts from your friends and followers, and its example is asking for content to plan a trip.
• In the Meta AI app. Voice-first conversations, a Discover feed where you can see how others use Meta AI and remix their prompts, and a History tab. Meta says the assistant can remember your preferences and edit photos imported from your glasses when you ask it to.
• On glasses.After you say “Hey Meta” (or tap and hold the touchpad) on Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta or Meta Glasses, Meta’s usage page lists asking it to describe what you are seeing, translate text, scan a QR code, call or message contacts on Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram, control media and volume, check battery, send pictures, and ask factual questions, for suggestions or for creative writing. The same page says that with a connected fitness app you can ask about past workouts.

For a fuller list of what the glasses do and where they fall short, see what Meta glasses do and the sourced Meta glasses features guide.

4. Countries and languages: dated snapshots

For the glasses, Meta’s help center lists 17 supported countries (checked October 31, 2026); for the apps, the figures we found are dated announcements, so each row below carries its date. We did not find a single current Meta page that lists every country and language for the assistant in the apps (searched October 31, 2026), so treat those rows as snapshots and check the Meta AI chat in your own app.

The extra glasses languages come with limits. Meta’s help page says calling, messaging and sharing from the glasses, live AI and choosing Meta AI voices may be unavailable in them, that questions about your surroundings and connected third-party apps may take longer to answer, and that the glasses must be connected to Wi-Fi to use an additional language. If you mainly want translation on glasses, our Meta glasses translation guide covers that feature separately.

5. The Meta AI app: username, voice recordings and Discover

The Meta AI app is the phone app that holds the assistant and, for Meta’s glasses, the controls. Meta’s help page, titled “Meta View app is now the Meta AI mobile app”, says the following, as we read it on October 31, 2026:

• Glasses. The Devices tab pairs and manages glasses, and you can pair up to 7 devices. Paired devices, settings and media carried over from Meta View automatically.
• Username. A Meta AI username is required; first and last names are optional. It is how you show up in the app and on Meta.ai, and Meta says your Meta AI profile information is publicly visible when you share prompts to the Discover feed.
• Voice recordings.Meta says voice conversations are stored by default and may be used to improve AI at Meta and other Meta products. The option to switch storage off is no longer available, but you can delete recordings in the app’s settings.
• Discover and History. Meta says your conversations are not public unless you choose to share them to the Discover feed. History shows past prompts from your glasses and the app in one place; Meta says it will not be available in other destinations such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
• iPad. Meta says the iPad app takes the Meta AI mobile app name, but that the Meta AI assistant will not be available directly in the iPad app.

6. What Meta AI sees: photos, voice and chats

On glasses, a question about your surroundings sends a photo. Meta’s help page says that when you ask, “your glasses will send a photo to Meta’s cloud to be processed with AI”, and that you can review the request, the image and the response in the Meta AI app under Menu > Chats. Saying “Hey Meta, look and…” tells it to take a photo for its answer.

That page (checked October 31, 2026) does not describe whether the photos are stored long term or used to train AI, or how to turn camera use off. Voice is covered in the section above. Weather and other location questions on glasses need location services, according to Meta’s usage page. For the apps on your phone, read the photo permission each one asks for before you grant it. Meta’s Privacy Center page returned no readable text when we fetched it on October 31, 2026, so nothing here rests on it. Our Meta glasses privacy guide goes through what Meta stores from the glasses and what you can change.

7. Meta AI on glasses: which glasses and what you need

Meta’s help page on using Meta AI says to activate it on Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta or Meta Glasses by saying “Hey Meta” or tapping and holding the touchpad. That page names Meta Ray-Ban Display too but gives no activation steps for it. Meta’s supported-countries page names Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, Oakley Meta Glasses and Meta Ray-Ban Display with Meta Neural Band. Meta’s April 2025 post says the Meta AI app is now the companion app for its AI glasses, so setup and settings run through that app on your phone.

Support is by country (the 17 on Meta’s list above), and the extra languages carry the limits already described. For how the hardware works, see how Meta glasses work, and for phone compatibility see do Meta glasses work with iPhone.

8. Where OXIVUE fits: camera glasses that do not run Meta AI

OXIVUE is not a Meta product, and OXIVUE frames do not run Meta AI. They have no display and take no prescription lenses, and they pair with their own free companion app rather than the Meta AI app. The M02C($109 at checkout) has a voice-activated visual assistant that can describe what you look at, a Sony IMX219 8 MP camera, IP65 protection against dust and water jets (not immersion) and a weight of about 41 g. OXIVUE does not publish which AI model powers the M02C’s voice-activated visual assistant.

Capture on OXIVUE frames starts only with a visible touch on the temple, and you should ask before you record people and check the law where you are. If your main reason for reading about Meta AI is to avoid a Meta account, our guide to smart glasses without a Meta account compares the options.

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