Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today the company is introducing additional hands-free features for its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. Today, Ray-Ban Stories users can answer calls, get message readouts, and send end-to-end encrypted messages with WhatsApp. One year later, Meta added the functionality to Facebook Messenger. Users will also soon be able to respond with voice commands to messages in Messenger or WhatsApp, Zuckerberg said.

With this latest update, WhatsApp users can make hands-free calls and send messages just by saying a command word like "Hey Facebook, send a message to…" or "Hey Facebook, call…." In addition, listeners will now be able to hear new messages in their WhatsApp. Once a receiver receives a new message, the glasses will say: "New message on WhatsApp from <name>: Is now a good time to talk?

" In the future, Meta will also allow users to answer incoming messages in Messenger and WhatsApp without lifting a finger. To do so, users will say the following: "Hey Facebook, reply" after the glasses read out a new message.

According to the firm, your personal messages and calls are automatically secured with end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp, Meta, or third parties, therefore cannot read or hear them. Any time a voice assistant identifies a voice command related to WhatsApp calling or messaging, neither the voice transcript nor the audio is stored on a server.

Meta also said it will be further enacting support for French and Italian speaking Ray-Ban Stories users on WhatsApp and Messenger this year.

Today's update will roll out to the Facebook View iOS and Android app in stages, and everyone should have it by the end of this week. Users should have the most recent app update and firmware installed on their glasses, Meta said. Meta introduces its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses-the fruit of a collaboration between Meta and EssilorLuxottica, the giant eyewear group-on September 2021. Equipment The device takes photos and record video using two onboard 5MP cameras, listens to music through built-in speakers near the frame and receives calls. The glasses must be connected to an iOS or Android device for full functionality, although users can take and store hundreds of photos or dozens of videos on the glasses before transferring media to their phones via Facebook's new View app.

The twin cameras allow users to share 3D effects with their pictures and videos once they upload them to the app.

Here are three of Ray-Ban's classic styles with several options in color and lens combinations. The Ray-Ban Stories is fully compatible with prescription lenses, however, polarized and transition lens will cost a little more, beginning at $299.

Meta claims that at the point of its launch, the device is a stepping stone for its AR ambitions and an effort to get users accustomed to wearing high-tech glasses. The new features are released at a time when Meta is reportedly curbing its ambitions for its AR glasses, according to a recent report from The Information. Reports indicate that the company had initially planned on releasing its first version of its AR glasses, codenamed Project Nazare, in 2024. According to reports, employees have been informed by the company that Meta has decided no longer to commercially release the AR glasses due to efforts in the cut back of heavy investments into its Reality Labs and AR/VR division. The strategy of the company will now be to just use the first version of the AR glasses as a demonstrator rather than necessarily trying to be a commercial product. Meta is now planning to make the second version of the AR glasses codenamed Artemis first priority, reported sources.