A ‘Meta One Premium’ subscription is now required for more hours of access to select advanced features of the company’s smart glasses, starting with Conversation Focus.
Until now, all built-in software features of Meta smart glasses have been entirely free to use. But as a Meta support page describes, the company is moving to a model where “certain features” have limited free usage and longer usage if you pay for ‘Meta One Premium’.
Meta One is the company’s subscription that offers extra usage and features across all its main services: Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Meta AI. Meta One started rolling out last month in select regions, with two subscription tiers and the following stated benefits:
Meta One Plus
• “Access to Facebook Plus, Instagram Plus, and WhatsApp Plus benefits, such as custom app icons, story previews and exclusive messaging enhancements, at a discounted price compared to subscribing separately.”
• More AI usage across eligible Meta technologies: Get more monthly AI usage allowance for eligible AI features in order to think deeper and create more:
• Generate more images and videos: Get more access to advanced image and video models for image and video generation and editing.
• More advanced Meta AI reasoning: Get more detailed answers to your questions and complex tasks with Thinking modeMeta One Premium:
• Premium plan includes benefits from the Plus plan, and more:
Expanded AI usage across eligible Meta technologies: Get expanded monthly AI usage allowance for eligible AI features in order to think deeper and create more.
• Generate more images and videos: Get expanded access to advanced image and video models for image and video generation and editing.
• More advanced Meta AI reasoning: Get more detailed answers to your questions and complex tasks with Thinking mode
According to TechCrunch, Meta One Plus will be priced at $8/month in the US, while Meta One Premium will be $20/month.
(Meta One should not be confused with Meta Verified, a separate per-platform subscription that offers a blue checkmark on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.)
According to the support page, Meta One Premium will also offer 15 hours of Conversation Focus, compared to 3 hours for non-subscribers.
Conversation Focus is an accessibility feature that amplifies the voice of the person in front of you. It started rolling out in early access back in January, the result of more than six years of research into “perceptual superpowers” at Meta.
Meta Glasses Get ‘Conversation Focus’ Early Access
Meta is rolling out the Conversation Focus accessibility feature to the Early Access program of its smart glasses in the US & Canada.
Despite the widespread outrage already seen around this decision, we should point out that many consumer tech devices require a subscription for select features.
PlayStation and Nintendo Switch consoles require a subscription for cloud saves and on-platform multiplayer. Most smart home cameras require a subscription for detection of people, pets, and vehicles. And many fitness wearables require a subscription for the most advanced tracking features.
The rational distinction driving the outrage, however, is that most of the aforementioned features leverage the company’s server, whereas Conversation Focus runs locally.
Facebook Researching VR/AR ‘Hear-Through’ Technology For ‘Perceptual Superpowers’
Facebook researchers are investigating AR glasses featuring “hear-through” technology powered by specialized in-ear monitors for “enhanced hearing.” The technology “would be able to recognize different types of events happening around you: people having conversations, the air conditioning noise, dishes and silverware clanking. Then using contextualized AI, your AR
Still, it could be argued that this is Meta trying to recoup its massive research investment into features like this, and to make its massively capital intensive smart glasses project into a more sustainable business element in the long term.
Meta may also simply be running an experiment, as it often has with pricing, to gauge the public reaction to adding smart glasses features to its subscription.
We’ll keep an eye out for any signs of further features being added to the Meta One subscriptions.
