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Meta is adding ridiculous ‘rate limits’ and a soft paywall to its smart glasses
BusinessWednesday, July 1, 2026 at 01:00 AM

Meta is adding ridiculous ‘rate limits’ and a soft paywall to its smart glasses

Source: The Verge AI
Curated Summary

Meta is introducing a monthly usage limit for the Conversation Focus feature on its smart glasses, restricting free users to three hours.

To exceed this limit, users must subscribe to Meta One Premium for $19.99 a month, which raises the cap to 15 hours.

Critics argue this rate limit is unjustified because the feature runs entirely on-device without using Meta's servers or requiring an internet connection.

The move comes as Meta faces financial pressure, including recent layoffs and cost-cutting measures like removing the Ray-Ban branding from its glasses.

This strategy marks a shift toward monetizing hardware features that were previously considered core, free functionalities.

The decision has sparked backlash, with many viewing it as an unnecessary paywall for a feature that does not incur server costs for the company.

Meta has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the rationale behind this specific limitation.

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via The Verge AI

#meta#smart-glasses#subscription-model#hardware

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