The term "smart glasses" can refer to a lot of different things you can wear on your face, from augmented reality displays to live-streaming cameras to voice assistant-equipped headphones, all built into what (usually) looks like a regular pair of specs. Some smart glasses are surprisingly useful and some are downright gimmicky, but there's no denying they're part of a burgeoning category of tech aiming to usher us into the future.
With that in mind, we've gathered the best smart glasses we've tested so far. Read on for our top picks, followed by a comprehensive breakdown of the different types of smart glasses on the market.
Table of Contents
Viture Pro XR Glasses
Best Video Smart Glasses
Why We Picked It
We're still far from fully functional, self-contained augmented reality glasses that can scan your surroundings and provide live updates and contextual information based on what you're looking at, but the Viture Pro XR Glasses let you at least enjoy a big, bright display projected in front of your eyes. Essentially, these glasses serve as a portable USB monitor. Plug them into any compatible device and see a 1080p picture for gaming or getting work done.
Who It's For
If you're simply looking for a pair of smart glasses that replicate the experience of looking at a large monitor, the Viture Pro XR Glasses our top pick.
PROS
- Bright and colorful picture
- Relatively wide field of view
- Doesn't require prescription lens inserts
- Dimming privacy lenses
CONS
- Mixed reality features are underdeveloped
Rokid Max
Widest Field of View
Why We Picked It
The Rokid Max is one of our favorite pairs of AR glasses for two reasons. First, they have the widest field of view we've seen at 50 degrees, which means they offer the largest picture available. Second, they have separate focus adjustments for each eye just like the Viture smart glasses, so you can get a crisp picture even if you're nearsighted without buying additional prescription lens inserts. These are the only smart glasses with a wider field of view than the Viture Pro, though the Viture is significantly brighter and more vivid.
Who It's For
These glasses serve as a great personal display for anyone, so long as you own a supported device (or the appropriate HDMI, Lightning, or non-DP USB-C adapter) and you're not self-conscious about the design. The focus dials also support up to -6.00 prescriptions, a bit stronger than the -5.00 of the Viture Pro.
PROS
- Bright picture
- Wide field of view
- Focus adjustment dials
- Comfortable
CONS
- Limited augmented reality
- Slightly goofy looking
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses
Best Social Media Camera Glasses
Why We Picked It
Social media means sharing your point of view, and the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses let you do just that. These glasses have a 12MP camera to take photos, record video, or even live stream from your perspective. You can pop whatever you see right up on Instagram, or save it to your phone and upload it to your social network of choice. You can also make calls and listen to music on them, like the audio-focused Echo Frames, which do not have a camera.
Who It's For
This is a fun pair of smart glasses for anyone obsessed with sharing their experiences on social media, as long as you're aware of their limitations. Their 12MP camera is a big upgrade from the last generation's 5MP sensors, but these glasses still can't compete with even a midrange smartphone camera in terms of picture quality, and their video clips top out at 60 seconds. They exhibit the typical sound quality issues of all audio glasses, and their built-in Meta voice assistant is much more limited than Amazon's Alexa.
PROS
- Greatly improved camera quality from last gen
- Stylish design
- Responsive, intuitive controls
- Clear sound quality
- Built-in voice assistant
CONS
- Difficult to frame shots
- No advanced camera features
- Limited bass, lots of audio leakage
XReal Air 2
Best Stealthy AR Glasses
Why We Picked It
The XReal Air 2 is a capable pair of AR video glasses, especially if you don't wear corrective lenses. They're also the most stealthy and fashion-conscious. The red version is eye-catching and unique for this category, and the black version is unassuming with a flat matte finish. Either way, they don't give the impression of smart glasses at all. You can also spruce them up with optional sticker sets that change the outward-facing surfaces to one of six other colors.
Who It's For
This is a strong choice for anyone who wants a pair of AR glasses that will either go unnoticed or stand out with a pop of bright color. For $449, you can upgrade to the Air 2 Pro, which adds a lens-darkening feature similar to the Viture Pro XR. The Air 2 line isn't for nearsighted users, though; the glasses don't have focus dials like the Rokid Max or the Viture Pro XR, and prescription lens inserts from Frame of Choice, while well-made and functional, are pricey at an extra $149.
PROS
- Light, comfortable fit
- Bright and colorful picture
- Wide field of view
CONS
- No built-in myopia focus dials
- Prescription lens inserts are pricey
Amazon Echo Frames (3rd Gen)
Best Audio Glasses for Alexa Users
Why We Picked It
Audio glasses effectively fit headphones into their frame, aiming tiny drivers to project sound at your ears without actually fitting anything into or over them. Combined with beamforming microphones, they let you make phone calls and control voice assistants entirely through your glasses. The Echo Frames are Amazon's take on the category, and as you might expect from the name, they let you use Alexa. The microphones are crisp, too, though it's a shame the audio quality isn't that good.
Who It's For
There's a simple acoustic reality (or an engineering challenge, if you're more optimistic) that a tiny driver with a significant air gap between it and the ear cannot produce anything resembling bass, producing sound that's bright and hollow. The Echo Frames don't break the mold, but for voice-related tasks that don't need bass, like making calls or using Alexa, they work quite well. As a more style-minded option, Amazon also offers the special edition Carrera Smart Glasses with the same features and electronics as the Echo Frames, with sunglass or blue-light-filtering lenses. Just keep in mind that the Echo Buds With ANC also offer hands-free Alexa, along with active noise cancellation and much better sound quality, for about half the price of the Echo Frames.
PROS
- Look and feel just like regular glasses
- Built-in hands-free Alexa
- Well-balanced mids and highs
CONS
- Nonexistent bass response
- Case doesn't support charging
- Expensive
Nautica Smart Eyewear Powered by Lucyd
Best for ChatGPT Superfans
Why We Picked It
Like the Echo Frames, the Nautica Smart Eyewear Powered by Lucyd feature built-in microphones and speakers that let you listen to music, take calls, and talk to your phone's digital assistant. They have a more rugged build, longer battery life, and cost less than the Echo Frames, but what really sets them apart from the competition is ChatGPT integration. When paired with an iOS device, you can use the glasses to invoke the AI for answers through the built-in speakers and via text in the Lucyd app.
Who It’s For
If you like the idea of wearing ChatGPT on your face, go with the Nautica Smart Eyewear Powered by Lucyd over the Echo Frames. ChatGPT integration only works on iOS as of this writing (sorry, Android users), and it’s clunky enough that you’re usually better off accessing the AI through your phone. Moreover, Nautica’s speakers suffer from the same limitations as those on Amazon’s smart glasses, so those concerned with audio quality should skip both and opt for a pair of earphones such as the Echo Buds.
PROS
- Stylish, durable design
- More than 12 hours of battery life per charge
- Affordable
CONS
- Unintuitive ChatGPT controls
- ChatGPT integration not available on Android
- Flat, leaky audio quality
What Are Smart Glasses?
Smart glasses include any eyewear that contains electronic components and can do anything beyond correcting your vision or protecting your eyes. As you can imagine, that covers a wide array of devices that can do completely different things.
We can sort smart glasses down to a few specific types, with some overlap between them. Audio smart glasses have speakers built into the frame, allowing them to function as headphones. Augmented reality smart glasses use tiny projectors and lenses to display a picture as if there were a screen in front of your eyes. Social media-focused smart glasses feature built-in cameras to let you capture photos and videos, and even live stream.
There are some rarer types of smart glasses as well, like Ampere's Dusk glasses. They use liquid crystal lenses to provide an adjustable tint, switching from transparent to sunglasses with a tap or through an app. Some AR glasses like the Viture Pro and the XReal Air 2 Pro use a similar technology with less precise control. Their displays make them bulkier and less suitable for casually walking around.
While they have strong connections to computers and video games, blue-light-blocking glasses aren't actually smart glasses. They don't have any electronics inside and simply rely on lens coatings to reduce the amount of blue light exposure to reduce eye strain. They can be soothing but are not smart in the vein we're talking about here.
The Best Smart Glasses for Music and Calls
Audio tech is arguably the backbone of all smart glasses because it's available on most models. Audio-equipped smart glasses are headphones in glasses form, usually with small earphone-like drivers built into the temples that are angled to project sound into your ears. Paired with beam-forming microphones, they not only let you listen to music, but make phone calls and use voice assistants.
Their sound quality is often limited due to the nature of acoustics and how sound travels, which is why we've yet to find any audio-focused smart glasses all that compelling. Because there's a significant air gap between the drivers and the ears, bass is virtually nonexistent for these glasses. The mids and highs might come through well enough, but, as we witnessed on the Bose Frames Tempo and the Razer Anzu, you don't get much in the way of lower frequencies. You also don't get a much privacy because sound can leak.
Considering how expensive most smart glasses are, we prefer to see devices that can do something more useful than offering a mediocre audio experience.
The Best Camera-Equipped Smart Glasses
Social media is all about sharing, and for most shutterbugs, that means keeping your phone out with the camera app open. Camera smart glasses let you shoot, record, and stream whatever you see and hear without grabbing your phone. The idea first hit with the oddball Snapchat Spectacles, which went through three iterations but are currently dormant. Meta has picked up the slack, first with the Facebook and Instagram-friendly Facebook Ray-Ban Stories, and now with the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses.
These glasses have audio and video features, so you can use them as headphones. It's the camera aspect that really makes them appealing, though.
The Best AR Glasses
Augmented reality is technology that can project images over your surroundings, letting you see computer-generated information overlayed on the real world, like a personal hologram. It's a promising, futuristic concept that is still in development and requires a multitude of components like micro-displays, motion sensors, cameras, and processors to all work together. We've seen AR work in limited cases on phone screens in everything from Google Lens to Pokemon Go, and we've seen ambitious head-mounted displays like the Microsoft HoloLens offer early implementations of the full AR experience.
Current AR and XR (extended reality, mixed reality, or anything in the blurry ground between AR and VR) glasses are something of a misnomer. They use tiny projectors and lenses to display a picture in front of you, and with the help of some shaky mobile apps or optional accessories, they can even use built-in motion sensors to fix a screen in a physical location relative to you that stays put even if you move your head.
Here's the caveat: Without cameras or the ability to analyze your surroundings, they don't provide true augmented reality. They can't automatically display information based on what's around you. Instead, they just act as a head-mounted screen.
Still, they're useful if you can become accustomed to them. They work just like USB-C monitors, so you can plug them into almost any laptop, some Android phones, the iPhone 15, and (with an adapter) most devices that can output video over HDMI.
Fully functional augmented reality displays are slowly becoming common in commercial, educational, and industrial settings, but these headsets usually cost several thousand dollars and have limited software suites intended for specific tasks. We're still far away from AR smart glasses that can, say, recognize a cafe you're staring at and pop up its customer reviews. In the meantime, if you'd like a taste of true AR with apps and games you can actually use, the Meta Quest 3 is your best bet. It's a fully enclosed headset (meaning you shouldn't try to use it in public), but its color pass-through cameras let you see around you well enough to toss images and 3D models around a room.
Apple doesn't make smart glasses, but its Vision Pro is the most advanced AR/VR headset available, with support for eye-tracking, hand-tracking, voice control, and seamless mobile app integration, all in one streamlined package. Like the Meta Quest 3, though, you shouldn't wear it outside of the house, and at $3,499, the Vision Pro is out of reach for most people.
)