# Oakley Meta

> Source: https://aiwiki.ai/wiki/oakley_meta
> Updated: 2026-08-01
> Categories: AI Hardware, AI Tools & Products, Meta AI
> License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
> From AI Wiki (https://aiwiki.ai), the free encyclopedia of artificial intelligence. Reuse freely with attribution to "AI Wiki (aiwiki.ai)".

**Oakley Meta** is the second eyewear brand in Meta's [AI glasses](/wiki/ai_glasses) partnership with [EssilorLuxottica](/wiki/essilorluxottica), after [Ray-Ban](/wiki/meta_ray_ban_ai). Two products carry the name. Oakley Meta HSTN, announced on 2025-06-20 and on sale from 2025-08-26 at prices starting at $399, is a lifestyle frame built around Oakley's HSTN shape [1][2]. Oakley Meta Vanguard, announced at Meta Connect on 2025-09-17 and shipping from 2025-10-21 at $499, is a wraparound sports frame with a camera mounted between the eyes, an IP67 rating and direct integrations with Garmin and Strava [3]. Neither has a display. Both run [Meta AI](/wiki/meta_ai) as a hands-free [voice assistant](/wiki/voice_assistant) with a camera feeding its [computer vision](/wiki/computer_vision) features. Meta positions the pair as "Performance AI glasses", a category it says it created with the HSTN [1][3].

## The partnership announcement

Meta and EssilorLuxottica announced the Oakley collaboration on 2025-06-20 in a newsroom post titled "Introducing Oakley Meta Glasses, a New Category of Performance AI Glasses" [1]. That single post did double duty: it revealed the brand extension and introduced the first product, Oakley Meta HSTN, with its price, battery figures, water-resistance rating and preorder date. Later coverage sometimes separates a June "partnership reveal" from a July "product announcement", but Meta's own post carries the 2025-06-20 date and contains the product [1]. What happened on 2025-07-11 was narrower: preorders opened for the Limited Edition trim [1].

The launch was built around Oakley's athlete roster rather than a technology story. Meta named World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe and three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes as the faces of the campaign, with surfer Gabriel Medina, skateboarders Ishod Wair and Boo Johnson, and J.R. Smith also appearing, and it staged the debut at Fanatics Fest (2025-06-20 to 2025-06-22) and UFC International Fight Week (2025-06-25 to 2025-06-27) [1].

## Oakley Meta HSTN

The name is pronounced "HOW-stuhn" and comes from an existing Oakley frame style [1]. Meta sold a Limited Edition at $499, described as honouring 50 years of Oakley design, with gold accents and gold 24K PRIZM Polar lenses; the main collection shipped in six frame and lens colour combinations, all of which can be ordered with prescription lenses [2].

| Specification | Vendor-reported figure |
|---|---|
| Announced | 2025-06-20 [1] |
| Limited Edition preorder | 2025-07-11, $499 [1] |
| Full collection preorder | 2025-08-19 [2] |
| On sale | 2025-08-26, from $399 [2] |
| Camera | 12 MP, video up to Ultra HD (3K) [1][5] |
| Battery | up to 8 h typical use, up to 19 h standby; 50% in 20 min [1] |
| Charging case | up to 48 h additional [1] |
| Ingress protection | IPX4 [1] |
| Frame | Oakley O-Matter [4] |
| Lenses | Oakley PRIZM, Transitions options, prescription-ready [2] |

Reviewers treated the HSTN as a restyled version of the existing Ray-Ban hardware rather than a new class of device. Gizmodo's James Pero, writing on 2025-10-03, measured a drop "from 100% to 70% in about 2 hours" during a mixed session of podcast playback at 75% volume, a ten-minute call and some 3K video, and concluded that intermittent use would land near Meta's 8-hour claim while heavy audio use would fall an hour or two short [13]. He was less forgiving about positioning: the HSTN carries the same IPX4 rating as the first- and second-generation Ray-Ban Meta, costs $399 against the Ray-Ban's $379, and shipped without 60 fps recording, which a Meta spokesperson told him was coming "later this fall" [13]. "With a price premium over the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and a new pair of Oakley Vanguard glasses on the way, I'm left wondering who exactly the HSTN are for," he wrote [13].

## Oakley Meta Vanguard

The Vanguard is the product that justifies the second brand. [Mark Zuckerberg](/wiki/mark_zuckerberg) introduced it at Meta Connect on 2025-09-17, alongside [Meta Ray-Ban Display](/wiki/meta_ray_ban_display) and the [Meta Neural Band](/wiki/meta_neural_band), and Meta shipped it on 2025-10-21 at $499 [3]. The frame is a wraparound with Oakley's Three-Point Fit and three interchangeable nose pads covering low- and high-bridge fits, designed to sit under a cycling helmet or a hat [3].

| Specification | Vendor-reported figure |
|---|---|
| Announced | 2025-09-17 at Meta Connect [3] |
| Shipping | 2025-10-21, $499 [3] |
| Camera | 12 MP, centred above the nose bridge, 122-degree wide-angle lens, video up to 3K [3] |
| Capture modes | Slow Motion, Hyperlapse, adjustable stabilisation [3] |
| Battery | up to 9 h general use, up to 6 h continuous music; 50% in 20 min [3] |
| Charging case | up to 36 h additional [3] |
| Ingress protection | IP67 dust and water [3] |
| Audio | open-ear speakers 6 dB louder than Oakley Meta HSTN; five-microphone array tuned against wind noise [3] |
| Lenses | wraparound Oakley PRIZM; no prescription option [3][10][12] |

The IPX4-versus-IP67 gap is the clearest engineering reason the two products coexist. IPX4 covers splashes and sweat and carries no dust rating at all; IP67 adds a full dust seal and immersion resistance. Meta calls the Vanguard "our most water-resistant frames" [3]. Gizmodo used the same gap to argue that anyone actually doing action sports should skip the HSTN entirely [13].

Every battery, loudness and wind-noise figure above is Meta's own. Meta's small print, quoted by DC Rainmaker, states that the claims "were measured using pre-production hardware based on a mixed-use scenario" including 30 AI interactions, 13 photo captures, 5 video captures, a 10-minute hyperlapse, a 30-minute autocapture session and 120 minutes of audio playback [11].

Meta's product announcements name neither the processor nor the memory in either Oakley model. [Qualcomm](/wiki/qualcomm) does: its device pages describe Oakley Meta HSTN as "powered by the Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 Platform, the first Snapdragon XR platform purpose built for smart glasses", and give the same [Snapdragon AR1](/wiki/snapdragon_ar1) Gen 1 platform for Oakley Meta Vanguard [21]. The Guardian's teardown-free specification listing for the Vanguard gives 32 GB of storage, Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6, a 66 g frame and a 258 g case [10]; DC Rainmaker independently reports the same 66 g and 258 g weights and 32 GB figure [11].

## Sports data integrations

The Garmin link is what reviewers singled out. With a compatible Garmin device and Meta's Connect IQ data field installed, a wearer can ask Meta AI for live metrics ("Hey Meta, what's my heartrate?"), and the glasses light the status LED in peripheral vision when the wearer is inside or outside a target pace or heart-rate zone [3]. Autocapture records short clips automatically at distance milestones or when heart rate, speed or elevation rise [3]. Strava support is shallower: it overlays performance metrics on captured photos and video inside the Meta AI app for sharing [3]. Connecting Garmin Connect, Apple Health or Health Connect by Android produces post-workout activity summaries in the app [3].

DC Rainmaker noted an unusual technical detail: Meta was the first partner permitted to trigger a Connect IQ app installation directly from a third-party phone app, a capability Garmin told him would reach other partners in the first quarter of 2026. The related ability to add a data field to specific activity profiles came from Connect IQ API level 5.2 rather than from any Meta-specific arrangement [11].

Meta's marketing calls the whole idea "Athletic Intelligence" [3]. The shipping software feature is named Athlete Intelligence and arrived later, in the v21 update of 2025-12-16, together with voice-driven Garmin workout creation and Vanguard-specific Voice Shortcuts [8]. The same v21 release brought conversation focus to Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN in the United States and Canada through Meta's Early Access programme, but not to the Vanguard [7].

| Software update | Date | Oakley-relevant additions |
|---|---|---|
| v21 | 2025-12-16 | Athlete Intelligence (Garmin, Strava, Apple Health, Health Connect); Garmin workout creation by voice; Voice Shortcuts on Oakley Meta Vanguard [8] |
| v22 | 2026-02-03 | Live AI detailed responses on Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta HSTN and Oakley Meta Vanguard, US and Canada [8] |
| v23 | 2026-03-10 | Snow-sports tracking: real-time skiing and snowboarding stats when connected to a compatible Garmin device [8] |
| v25 | 2026-05-14 | Autocapture in Early Access on Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2), Oakley Meta HSTN and Oakley Meta Vanguard, US and Canada [8] |

On 2026-07-01 Meta added 18Birdies and Arccos golf integrations, letting a wearer start a round, log strokes and ask for club recommendations by voice. The feature is not Oakley-only: it covers Meta's displayless glasses generally, including [Meta Glasses](/wiki/meta_glasses), and is limited to the United States and Canada [9][17]. Meta credits its [Muse Spark](/wiki/muse_spark) model with parsing requests that do not match the documented phrasings [17].

## Markets and pricing

| Market | Date | Price |
|---|---|---|
| US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark (HSTN) | 2025-08-26 | from $399; Limited Edition $499 [1][2] |
| Above plus Switzerland and Netherlands (Vanguard) | 2025-10-21 | $499; £499, EUR 549, A$789 [3][10] |
| Mexico, India, UAE (HSTN); plus Brazil (Vanguard) | stated as "later this year" in 2025 [1][3] | not stated |
| Japan | 2026-05-21 | HSTN from JPY 77,220; Vanguard from JPY 96,580, both including tax [5] |
| Korea | 2026-05-25 | from KRW 690,000 [6] |

## Reception

Independent reviews of the Vanguard were unusually positive by smart-glasses standards, and unusually consistent about where the vendor claims break down.

Samuel Gibbs of The Guardian, writing on 2025-11-03, called them "the best smart glasses for sport I've ever tested" and praised the fit, the open-ear speakers and the Garmin work, while marking them down for a battery that cannot be replaced and a device that cannot be repaired [10]. His own measurement: after an hour-long run with music, repeated Meta AI queries, 14 auto-captured clips, 13 minutes of manual 1080p video and 14 photos, the glasses finished with 25% remaining [10].

DC Rainmaker's Ray Maker published a longer test on 2025-10-21 and bought his own pair afterwards, writing: "After more than a decade of trying smart glasses, we finally have one that doesn't suck" [11]. He was blunt about the 9-hour claim, calling it "pretty darn optimistic": shooting a lot of 3K video with autocapture on, he got roughly 90 minutes before the battery died, and 4 to 5 hours on lighter settings [11]. He also tested the wind-noise claim directly. Meta rates the microphone array for voice requests at up to 30 mph (50 kph), and Maker found it "starts to struggle pretty heavily after about 20-22MPH" for "Hey Meta" wake-word capture, though recorded voice quality at those speeds held up [11]. His main complaint was the Garmin autocapture, which "all it really seemed do is to take a bunch of random pictures at non-exciting times" [11].

Engadget's Karissa Bell scored the Vanguard 82 out of 100 on 2025-10-30 and confirmed the audio claim, getting "a little over six hours of audio on a single charge" [12]. She flagged that the Vanguard supports no prescription lenses of any kind, that replacement lenses cost $85, and that the product is "even more niche" than Meta's other glasses [12].

Cyclingnews' Will Jones reached a different verdict on 2025-11-20 under the headline "Technically brilliant, but undeniably creepy" [14]. He measured about 75% of the battery consumed in ninety minutes of heavy camera use, praised the automatic volume adjustment against wind noise, and then rejected the product on [privacy](/wiki/smart_glasses_privacy) grounds: "Being able to film people without them knowing, whichever way you square it, is creepy" [14]. His specific worry was the camera "set right between your eyes", which he found so subtle that "even with the recording halo around it, I am certain many people wouldn't know they are being recorded"; he judged that Ray-Ban models have entered public consciousness as recording devices while these "may fly more under the radar" [14].

That criticism has a hardware follow-up. Meta's glasses use a status LED with an ambient-light sensor that disables the camera if the LED is covered, but a market emerged for physically removing the LED. On 2026-07-08 Meta said it would push a mandatory firmware update that disables the camera when tampering is detected, apply it retroactively to already-modified units, remove listings for LED-removal services from Facebook and Instagram, and pursue legal action against sellers [16].

## Competition bans

Both products have run into sports governing bodies. Ironman's 2026 Global Competition Rules, announced in late February 2026 and effective for events after 2026-03-02, rewrote Section 4.04(c) to prohibit "Using any device (e.g., including without limitation, cameras, phone cameras, video cameras, glasses, etc.) to capture photographs, video, or other visual images during the Race", with disqualification as the penalty [18][22]. The 2025 text had banned cameras and video cameras only where Ironman had not granted permission and never mentioned glasses, although Ironman's own modification summary describes the 2026 edit as clarified verbiage rather than a rule change [22]. The rule covers Oakley Meta glasses along with bike- and chest-mounted action cameras, and drew criticism from professional triathletes [18].

In cycling, South African professional Willie Smit was disqualified on 2026-07-12 from stage 1 of the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai for wearing camera glasses, under a rule he said had been introduced that April. Cyclingnews identified it as UCI regulation 1.3.006 bis, which authorises image capture only from devices fitted to the bicycle, and reported that the glasses Smit vlogs with are the Oakley Meta Vanguard [23]. He posted that "a warning, fine or yellow card could have also been enough" and objected that handheld vlogging at the Tour de France remains legal, adding that "my glasses have absolutely no AI capabilities unless used with a phone" [20]. Gizmodo, covering the case on 2026-07-14, identified the glasses as apparently an Oakley Meta model but noted Smit never specified which [19].

## Commercial context

Meta and EssilorLuxottica have never published unit sales for either Oakley product. EssilorLuxottica told investors at its Q4 2025 results that the companies sold more than 7 million Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses during calendar 2025, more than triple the 2024 figure, without breaking out the Oakley share [15]. That remains the only unit figure tied to the line as of 2026-08-01, and it covers six months of HSTN availability and roughly ten weeks of Vanguard availability alongside a much larger Ray-Ban business. EssilorLuxottica's half-year results on 2026-07-28 reported that smart glasses revenue nearly doubled year on year in the second quarter, again without disclosing units [24]. Meta's [AI glasses market](/wiki/ai_glasses_market) position, and how much of it the Oakley brand contributes, remain unquantified in public sources.

## References

1. "Introducing Oakley Meta Glasses, a New Category of Performance AI Glasses." Meta Newsroom, 2025-06-20. https://about.fb.com/news/2025/06/introducing-oakley-meta-glasses-a-new-category-of-performance-ai-glasses/
2. "UPDATE: Oakley Meta HSTN Now Available." Meta Blog, dated 2025-08-26, carrying update notes dated 2025-07-11, 2025-08-19 and 2025-08-26. https://www.meta.com/blog/oakley-meta-ai-glasses-sports-wearables-hstn/
3. "Athletic Intelligence Is Here, Meet Oakley Meta Vanguard." Meta Newsroom, 2025-09-17. https://about.fb.com/news/2025/09/oakley-meta-vanguard-performance-ai-glasses-sports/
4. "Which AI Glasses Are Right For You?" Meta Newsroom, 2026-05-08. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/05/which-meta-ai-glasses-are-right-for-you/
5. "Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) and Oakley Meta Launch in Japan." Meta Newsroom, 2026-05-21. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/05/ray-ban-meta-ai-glasses-launch-in-japan/
6. "Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta Officially Launch in Korea." Meta Newsroom, 2026-05-26. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/05/ray-ban-meta-and-oakley-meta-officially-launch-in-korea/
7. "Updates to Meta AI Glasses: Conversation Focus, Spotify Integration, and More." Meta Newsroom, 2025-12-16. https://about.fb.com/news/2025/12/updates-to-meta-ai-glasses-conversation-focus-spotify-integration/
8. "AI glasses release notes." Meta Help Center, accessed 2026-08-01. https://www.meta.com/help/ai-glasses/1809764829519902/
9. "Elevate Your Golf Game With Meta AI Glasses, 18Birdies, and Arccos." Meta Blog, 2026-07-01. https://www.meta.com/blog/meta-ai-glasses-oakley-meta-hstn-oakley-meta-vanguard-18birdies-arccos/
10. Gibbs, Samuel. "Oakley Meta Vanguard review: fantastic AI running glasses linked to Garmin." The Guardian, 2025-11-03. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/03/oakley-meta-vanguard-review-fantastic-ai-running-glasses-linked-to-garmin
11. Maker, Ray. "Oakley Meta Vanguard In-Depth Review: We've Finally Arrived?" DC Rainmaker, 2025-10-21. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2025/10/oakley-meta-vanguard-review-finally-arrived.html
12. Bell, Karissa. "Oakley Meta Vanguard review: Sporty to a fault." Engadget, 2025-10-30. https://www.engadget.com/wearables/oakley-meta-vanguard-review-sporty-to-a-fault-183000829.html
13. Pero, James. "Oakley Meta HSTN Review: Sporty AI Glasses With a Confusing Game Plan." Gizmodo, 2025-10-03. https://gizmodo.com/oakley-meta-hstn-review-sporty-ai-glasses-with-a-confusing-game-plan-2000665789
14. Jones, Will. "Oakley Meta Vanguard AI glasses review: Technically brilliant, but undeniably creepy." Cyclingnews, 2025-11-20. https://www.cyclingnews.com/cycling-kit-accessories/i-really-wanted-to-like-the-oakley-meta-ai-sunglasses-but-they-left-me-feeling-like-a-creep/
15. Heaney, David. "Meta & EssilorLuxottica Sold 7 Million Smart Glasses In 2025." UploadVR, 2026-02-11. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-essilorluxottica-sold-7-million-smart-glasses-in-2025/
16. Heaney, David. "Meta Is Improving Its Smart Glasses Privacy LED Tampering Detection." UploadVR, 2026-07-08. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-improving-smart-glasses-privacy-led-tampering-detection/
17. Heaney, David. "18Birdies & Arccos Make Meta Glasses Act As Your AI Golf Caddy." UploadVR, 2026-07-07. https://www.uploadvr.com/18birdies-arccos-meta-glasses-ai-golf-caddy/
18. Dickinson, Marley. "Ironman issues competition ban on Oakley Meta Glasses." Canadian Running Magazine, 2026-02-24. https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/ironman-issues-competition-ban-on-oakley-meta-glasses/
19. Pero, James. "Smart Glasses Just Got a Pro Cyclist Nixed From a Race." Gizmodo, 2026-07-14. https://gizmodo.com/smart-glasses-just-got-a-pro-cyclist-nixed-from-a-race-2000785374
20. Smit, Willie. Post on X, 2026-07-12. https://x.com/williesmurfy/status/2076236499272823173
21. "Meta Oakley HSTN" and "Meta Oakley Vanguard." Qualcomm XR device finder, accessed 2026-08-01. https://www.qualcomm.com/xr-vr-ar/device-finder/meta-oakley-hstn and https://www.qualcomm.com/xr-vr-ar/device-finder/meta-oakley-vanguard
22. "2026 IRONMAN Competition Rules" (Section 4.04) and "2026 Rule Modifications Summary." Ironman, effective 2026-03-02. https://www.ironman.com/competition-rules
23. Ostanek, Dani. "Rider disqualified for wearing video-recording glasses during a race, complains of double standards with Tour de France filming." Cyclingnews, 2026-07-13. https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling/rules/rider-disqualified-for-wearing-video-recording-glasses-during-a-race-complains-of-double-standards-with-tour-de-france-filming/
24. Pero, James. "Smart Glasses Are a Hit Even as Privacy Concerns Pile Up." Gizmodo, 2026-07-30. https://gizmodo.com/smart-glasses-are-a-hit-even-as-privacy-concerns-pile-up-2000797361