"Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones" 4 June 2026

Meta has quietly embedded face-recognition technology for its smart glasses into an app downloaded to millions of phones, according to a WIRED analysis of the company's software.

Code discreetly added to Meta’s AI app over multiple updates this year shows that the feature, internally called “NameTag,” identifies people captured by the glasses’ camera and, when activated, alerts the wearer when it recognizes someone...

In April, more than 70 advocacy groups—including the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Privacy Information Center, and Fight for the Future—demanded Meta scrap NameTag, warning it would let stalkers and abusers silently identify strangers in public. “Our competitors offer this type of face-recognition product, we do not,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to WIRED at the time. “If we were to release such a feature, we would take a very thoughtful approach before rolling anything out.”..

...Privacy advocates argue that by embedding face recognition into a mass-market wearable platform, Meta could normalize a capability it previously pulled back amid privacy concerns...

..."Regardless of any sensational reporting, the facts are simple: We've said before we're exploring these types of features, and what you're seeing is just evidence of that exploration," says Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels. "Nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything. If we do decide to roll something out, we will take a thoughtful approach and do so with full transparency. One decision we can be clear about—we are not building a central face database."..