Meta capped Conversation Focus, the Ray-Ban Meta feature that isolates the voice of whoever is talking to you, at three hours a month for free users in July 2026. Go past that limit and the feature stops working until the next billing cycle, unless you pay for Meta One Premium at $19.99 a month, which raises the ceiling to 15 hours. The feature runs entirely on the glasses, using onboard microphones and spatial processing. It never touches a server. The cap lives in the app.
That app is the real story behind every pair of smart glasses on shelves right now. The hardware gets the marketing, but the smart glasses companion app on your phone decides what the glasses can actually do: which AI models you can talk to, how translation and captioning work, whether firmware updates land on time, and now, how many hours of a feature you get before a paywall shows up. We tested the Android apps behind seven major smart glasses lines to see which ones treat the phone side of the experience as more than an afterthought.
What to look for in a smart glasses companion app
Start with media sync. Photos and video shot on the glasses need a fast, reliable path to your phone’s gallery, not a manual export step. Check how the app handles updates: prescription lens swaps, OTA firmware, and calibration should happen without a support ticket. Live streaming and voice control matter if you plan to broadcast or hand off commands hands-free.
AI assistant integration is the headline feature on most 2026 glasses, so look at which models the app actually connects to and whether that connection needs Wi-Fi or works offline. Translation and live captioning separate the accessibility-focused apps from the gimmick ones. Last, check battery reporting and firmware update cadence in the app. A glasses app that hides battery percentage or firmware version is a bad sign.
Quick comparison
| App | Paired hardware | Free features | Paid tier | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta AI | Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta | Photo and video import, live AI, translation, 3 hrs/month Conversation Focus | Meta One Premium, $19.99/mo, 15 hrs/month Conversation Focus | Deepest on-device AI feature set of any glasses app on this list |
| XREAL GlassesControl | XREAL Air, Air 2, One, Beam Pro | Firmware updates, AR app launcher, display calibration | Free | Shares algorithm libraries so individual AR apps stay lightweight |
| Rokid | Rokid Max, Rokid Air, Station | Display setup, firmware, AR app library | Free | One of the few apps built for tethered AR displays, not camera glasses |
| TCL RayNeo | RayNeo X2, X3 Pro, Air series | AI recording, teleprompter, live translation, GlassPay | Free | Bundles a teleprompter and a payment layer most rivals skip |
| Solos AirGo | Solos AirGo Vision | SolosChat basic queries, message readout, 1-to-1 translation | Subscription for expanded AI usage, a modest monthly fee | Routes requests to ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini from one app |
| Amazon Alexa | Echo Frames, Smart Glasses with Alexa | Full Alexa assistant, multipoint pairing, routines | Free | Alexa skills and smart home control built in, no separate account needed |
| Snap Spectacles | Spectacles (developer and creator program) | Pairing, phone mirroring, point-and-select control | Free, hardware access is limited | Controls Spectacles from the phone without touching the frames |
1. Meta AI
Meta AI is the app that pairs Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses to your phone. It was called Meta View until 2025, and it still handles the basics: photo and video import, live AI queries, real-time translation, and phone call captioning. Device settings, including firmware and battery status, live under the Glasses tab.
Where it falls short: Conversation Focus, the noise-isolation feature that made headlines in July 2026, is capped at three hours a month unless you add Meta One Premium. The app also requires a Meta account, and glasses can only stay paired to one account at a time.
Pricing: Free to download and pair. Meta One Premium runs $19.99 a month and raises the Conversation Focus cap from 3 to 15 hours; unused hours do not roll over.
Platforms: Android, iOS.
Download: Google Play
2. XREAL GlassesControl
XREAL GlassesControl handles firmware updates and app launching for XREAL Air, Air 2, and One AR glasses when they are tethered to an Android phone. XREAL retired its old Nebula phone app from Google Play in April 2026 and shifted the interactive interface onto the Beam Pro accessory, a pocket Android puck with the full Google Play Store built in. GlassesControl now covers the phone side: OTA updates, display calibration, and shared libraries that other AR apps borrow from instead of bundling their own.
Where it falls short: it is a utility, not a media hub. There is no photo gallery, no social sharing, and no AI assistant built in. Most of the actual computing now happens on the Beam Pro puck rather than the phone.
Pricing: Free.
Platforms: Android (tested on recent Samsung flagships).
Download: Google Play
3. Rokid
Rokid pairs Rokid Max, Rokid Air, and the Rokid Station dongle, the company’s line of tethered AR display glasses. The app manages screen setup, firmware, and a small library of AR-ready apps, and it is one of the few companion apps on this list built for a projected display rather than a camera-and-AI headset.
Where it falls short: there is no built-in AI assistant here the way there is on Rokid’s separate Glasses line. This app is about display setup and firmware, not conversation or translation.
Pricing: Free.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS.
Download: Google Play
4. TCL RayNeo
TCL RayNeo pairs the RayNeo X2, X3 Pro, and Air series of AI glasses. The app packs in AI recording, a teleprompter mode, live translation, a to-do list, GlassPay for tap-to-pay, and camera and media controls, more built-in tools than most rivals bother shipping.
Where it falls short: the feature list is wide but not always deep. Translation quality and the teleprompter’s text tracking lag behind Meta AI in daily use, and some tools only work on the newer X-series glasses.
Pricing: Free.
Platforms: Android, iOS.
Download: Google Play
5. Solos AirGo
Solos AirGo pairs Solos AirGo Vision smart glasses and routes requests to multiple AI models, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, from a single app. SolosChat handles image and voice queries, SolosTranslate covers 1-to-1 and continuous translation modes, and Whisper Messages reads incoming texts and WhatsApp notifications through the glasses’ speakers.
Where it falls short: running multiple AI backends from one app is convenient, but heavier use of SolosChat and continuous translation pushes most users toward the paid tier faster than a single-model app would.
Pricing: Free for basic SolosChat queries and message readout. Expanded AI usage and continuous translation need a modest monthly subscription.
Platforms: Android, iOS.
Download: Google Play
6. Amazon Alexa
Amazon Alexa is the companion app for Echo Frames and Smart Glasses with Alexa. It is the only app on this list that was not built specifically for glasses. It is the full Alexa mobile app, which means glasses owners get the entire Alexa ecosystem: skills, routines, smart home control, and multipoint pairing across up to eight devices, at no extra cost.
Where it falls short: the app has to stay open or running in the background for Alexa to work through the frames, and there is no glasses-specific AI camera or translation feature, since Echo Frames have no camera.
Pricing: Free.
Platforms: Android, iOS.
Download: Google Play
7. Snap Spectacles
Snap Spectacles is the companion app for Snap’s AR Spectacles, currently distributed through a developer and creator program rather than open retail. The app pairs the glasses to a phone in a few taps, mirrors the phone screen into the lenses, and lets you point, select, and scroll from the handset instead of relying only on hand tracking.
Where it falls short: the hardware itself is the bottleneck. Access is still limited to developers and select creators, so most readers cannot buy a pair outright yet, even though the companion app itself is public on Google Play.
Pricing: Free.
Platforms: Android, iOS.
Download: Google Play
How to pick the right one
If you already own Ray-Ban Meta or Oakley Meta glasses: Meta AI is not optional, it is the only way to pair them, so the real decision is whether Conversation Focus usage justifies Meta One Premium.
If you want a tethered AR display instead of camera glasses: Rokid for Rokid Max and Air, or XREAL GlassesControl paired with a Beam Pro puck if you want the full Google Play Store on the glasses themselves.
If you want the most built-in tools without paying anything: TCL RayNeo covers recording, translation, a teleprompter, and payments in one free app.
If you want to choose your own AI model rather than being locked to one provider: Solos AirGo is the only app here that lets you switch between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
If you already use Alexa and want the least new software to learn: Amazon Alexa turns Echo Frames into an extension of a system you likely run already, for free.
If you are a developer or creator testing AR software early: Snap Spectacles is worth applying for, even though general retail access is still limited.
FAQ
Do smart glasses work without an Android app? Basic functions like audio playback and answering calls usually work through standard Bluetooth pairing. Everything else, AI queries, translation, firmware updates, photo transfer, and any subscription-gated feature, requires the manufacturer’s companion app.
What is the best free smart glasses companion app? TCL RayNeo and Amazon Alexa both give full functionality at no cost. TCL RayNeo packs in more glasses-specific tools like a teleprompter and GlassPay, while Alexa’s free tier is really the entire Alexa ecosystem extended to a pair of frames.
Why did Meta start limiting Conversation Focus on Ray-Ban Meta glasses? Meta introduced a three hour monthly cap on the feature for free users in July 2026, positioning the higher 15 hour limit as a benefit of the $19.99 a month Meta One Premium subscription. The feature runs on-device and does not use Meta’s servers, which is why the cap drew criticism from users and accessibility advocates.
Can one phone pair with more than one pair of smart glasses? It depends on the app. Amazon Alexa and Meta AI both support switching between multiple paired devices from a single account, though Meta AI only keeps one pair of glasses active on a given Meta account at a time. Check each app’s device settings before assuming multi-pairing works.
Do smart glasses companion apps work on iPhone too? Most of them do. Meta AI, TCL RayNeo, Rokid, Solos AirGo, Amazon Alexa, and Snap Spectacles all ship iOS versions alongside Android. XREAL GlassesControl is the exception on this list, it is Android-only because it depends on Android’s app-launching and library-sharing model.
