Meta is bringing third-party apps and games to its display glasses
Key takeaways
- Meta is opening up the glasses to third-party developers, who are now able to experiment with display-enabled apps as well as the device's Neural Band controller.
- With a 20-degree field-of-view, the glasses' display isn't totally immersive like other standalone AR glasses.
- The gap between idea and prototype has never been smaller.
Karissa Bell for Engadget When I reviewed the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, one of my top frustrations was that there were only a handful of apps that could take advantage of the frames' impressive display and they were all made by Meta. Now, that's finally changing.
Meta is opening up the glasses to third-party developers, who are now able to experiment with display-enabled apps as well as the device's Neural Band controller. The platform will work with apps that have an accompanying i OS or Android mobile app and will also be compatible with web apps, the company said in an update.
With a 20-degree field-of-view, the glasses' display isn't totally immersive like other standalone AR glasses. And it sounds like Meta is looking for apps that would be well-suited to the monocular display like "information overlays." For example, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth shared a video of one early app called "Darkroom Buddy," an interactive guide for developing film that could serve as a "glanceable" reference.