These New Smart Glasses From Solos Come With a Privacy Shield for the Cameras

# These New Smart Glasses From Solos Come With a Privacy Shield for the Cameras Source: [https://www.wired.com/story/these-new-smart-glasses-from-solos-come-with-a-privacy-shield-for-the-cameras/](https://www.wired.com/story/these-new-smart-glasses-from-solos-come-with-a-privacy-shield-for-the-cameras/) Smart glasses companySolos has long focused on audio\-only smart glasses\. On Tuesday, it announced two new pairs of glasses, one of which has a camera—but you can buy a separate accessory to hide the camera for privacy’s sake\. [Solos](https://solosglasses.com/)’ new smart glasses are the audio\-only AirGo A6 and the second iteration of its camera\-enabled glasses, the Solos AirGo V2\. The latter was first announced last year as an effort to directly “[outshine Meta](https://solosglasses.com/blogs/news/solos-airgo-v2-smart-glasses-outshine-meta-with-enhanced-features)\.” These $299 glasses do just about everything you’d expect from Meta’s new $299[Meta Smartglasses](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-new-smart-glasses-are-cheaper-colorful-and-meta-branded/), including photo and video capture, playing music, and interacting with an AI\-powered assistant that can see what you see\. They can be fitted with prescription lenses and have a 10\- to 12\-hour battery life\. The AirGo V2 glasses can also be paired with a new Privacy Kit, a set of clip\-on accessories that let wearers control what their camera glasses can access\. The clip\-on privacy shield blocks the cameras from view and from recording the world, allowing you to keep wearing the glasses in audio\-only mode\. There’s also a clip\-on polarized lens, and the full kit of modular options costs $79\. Selling a privacy kit as a clip\-on accessory is perhaps not the most effective way to stave off concerns about people running around with small, discreet cameras on their faces\. Having to buy a separate item, then clip it on and off every time you want to use or disable the camera, is a lot of extra steps that will likely keep people from bothering with privacy at all\. Also, there isn’t anything stopping bad actors from removing the clip\-on blockers later in an interaction—say, after entering an event that prohibits camera recording\. .jpg) Courtesy of Solos Smartglasses Solos’ first camera\-enabled glasses, the Solos AirGo Vision, launched in 2024\. WIRED put them in the “Don’t Bother” section of our[Best Smart Glasses](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-smart-glasses/)gallery, citing some decent design choices, albeit ones held back by middling media capture quality, frustrating touch controls, and a power\-hungry app that demands too many permissions\. All in all, the glasses haven’t quite reached the standard Meta has set with its popular[smart glasses](https://www.wired.com/story/best-meta-glasses/)\. Meta has been the dominant force in the smart glasses market, but other big companies are trying to fill in the cracks\. Google and Samsung have a partnership to build out Google's Android XR platform, with new glasses arriving later this year from eyewear brands[Warby Parker and Gentle Monster](https://www.wired.com/story/hands-on-with-all-of-google-new-upcoming-android-xr-smart-glasses/)\. Apple has reportedly been building its own smart glasses as well\. Some smaller companies are adjusting their target markets to counter Meta, like[Even Realities](https://www.wired.com/story/even-realities-even-g2-smart-glasses-and-even-r1-smart-ring/)and its[camera\-free glasses](https://www.wired.com/review/even-realities-g2/)\. Solos’ reemphasis on privacy comes after a period of widespread criticism of Meta’s glasses\. The devices have been called creepy “[pervert glasses](https://www.wired.com/story/the-rise-of-the-ray-ban-meta-creep/)” and were criticized after the company silently added[face recognition](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-smart-glasses-face-recognition-nametag-connections/)code to its glasses, then quickly[removed it](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-removes-face-recognition-code-meta-ai-app-smart-glasses/)after public outcry following a WIRED report\. Meta hasn’t done itself any favors since then, announcing last week that it will[start charging](https://www.wired.com/story/why-meta-is-charging-a-subscription-for-on-device-smart-glasses-features/)for features on its smart glasses that have previously been free\. Meta has acknowledged that a market for audio\-only smart glasses exists, as CTO Andrew Bosworth[said in a private Q&A session with media](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-new-smart-glasses-are-cheaper-colorful-and-meta-branded/)that he thinks there is “market demand for that product for sure\.” But Meta hasn’t moved away from its camera\-forward spectacles yet\. It may very well make audio\-only glasses in the future\. Until then, companies like Solos are eager to chip away at that market\.