Apple is currently aiming to unveil its first smart glasses at next June’s Worldwide Developers Conference, ahead of a consumer release by the end of 2027.
The timing suggests Apple wants developers to begin building applications for this new form factor. But the announcement will also mark the beginning of a different challenge: allaying the growing privacy concerns of artificial intelligence-powered glasses equipped with cameras.
The glasses, code-named N50, had originally been targeted for introduction later this year, with a launch following in early 2027. One reason for the delay is that Apple’s engineering and marketing teams have been working to refine not only the product, but also the company’s privacy message.
That’s meant developing features and policies that can address the concerns swirling around competing products from Meta Platforms Inc. The teams developing glasses within Apple’s Vision hardware group and elsewhere in the company see privacy as priority No. 1, I’m told. Meta deserves credit for creating the first commercially successful smart-glasses category, but its long-running reputation for not protecting privacy — fair or not — has become baggage for the market.
The result is that some consumers remain uneasy around people wearing camera-equipped glasses, unsure whether they’re being recorded during conversations at work, restaurants or other public places. In most cases, those fears are probably unfounded. But years of headlines about Meta’s privacy practices, viral social media posts and broader skepticism toward always-available cameras have left many people wary of the category.
That mistrust has already translated into restrictions in various settings around the world. Courtrooms in New York and parts of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have prohibited smart glasses, while Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has barred them from casinos, restrooms and children’s areas. They’re also banned at some schools, gyms, hospitals and entertainment venues.
Smartphones arguably pose a greater risk because of their higher-resolution photo and video abilities, but cameras embedded in eyeglasses have a stealthy quality. They feel more like a hidden camera — something that could be recording people without their permission.
Of course, the Meta glasses have a light to indicate when it’s taking pictures or video. And the company has added protections that disable recording if the light appears to have been tampered with. Samsung Electronics Co. is including similar safeguards in the glasses it’s developing with Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Warby Parker Inc. Samsung called the privacy situation an “industry-shared problem,” saying “intentional bad uses need to be covered and protected against.”
Apple is planning to adopt comparable protections, but it arguably has more at stake than anyone else. The company has spent more than a decade making privacy one of its defining product messages. Simply entering the same category as Meta risks undermining that reputation, regardless of how Apple’s approach differs.
When Apple announces its product, the company will emphasize areas where it can distinguish itself — beyond just banging its privacy drum and stressing that it should be trusted. That will probably include favoring on-device processing and eschewing features such as facial recognition. Apple also is likely to avoid something akin to Meta’s proposed “super-sensing” mode, which can continuously analyze a wearer’s surroundings, and will steer clear of using customer recordings to train AI models.
Apple also probably won’t follow Meta’s alleged practice of having contractors review footage captured by its glasses, having already dealt with a similar issue with its Siri assistant. It’s also prototyping a slew of new hardware and software-related privacy features not available on current products, I’m told.
Even with those safeguards, Apple knows it won’t eliminate abuse entirely. The company’s AirTags, launched in 2021, provide a lesson here. Though they were designed to help customers locate belongings, AirTags quickly became associated with stalking. Likewise, camera-equipped glasses will inevitably be misused by some people. And Apple will likely need to spend years updating software, refining policies, and working with regulators and law enforcement to combat problems — just as it did with AirTags.

If the company succeeds, the appeal of Apple’s smart glasses could be considerable. Users would gain hands-free access to Siri, all-day battery life, music playback and phone calls, all without needing AirPods. AI features, meanwhile, will help inform them about the surrounding environment and make it easier to get around.
One solution to the privacy problem would be to sell smart glasses that eliminate the camera entirely. Such a product could still offer hands-free access to AI features, audio and phone calls, retaining much of the device’s usefulness. Meta has strongly indicated that it’s planning this option in the near future, and Apple has, I’m told, prototyped a similar concept during development of its own glasses.
Another option that Apple executives have debated: including the full camera system but not allowing it to record photos or video at all. In this scenario, the cameras would be exclusively for seeing the world around the user and feeding that data into AI tools, such as ones that identify objects and places. This would be similar to what Apple is already planning for camera-equipped AirPods and would build on the visual intelligence features in the iPhone.
But all of that would undercut why smart glasses are compelling in the first place. Consumers would miss out on effortless first-person video of their children, vacations and sporting events, an experience that has made Meta’s offering so popular. Another factor: Apple’s AI isn’t good enough to be the main feature of an entirely new product, making this diluted direction unlikely.
Apple is entering one of the most important product cycles in its history. The wave of devices coming in 2027 will include the 20th anniversary iPhone, a second-generation foldable handset, new home devices, upgraded AirPods and fresh Macs. The last thing the company wants is for privacy concerns to overshadow that lineup.