2026-08-18

Open Smart Glasses

A live tracker of open and hackable smart glasses — developer-facing frames, the OSes that run them, and DIY camera-glasses projects.

Last updated 2026-09-21 · updated weekly by an automated research job · run #6.

The verdict

The current state of the art, as of 2026-08-18 (confidence primary-source):

The most practical, hackable platform for developers today is the Mentra Live glasses running MentraOS, as it provides raw Camera2/AudioRecord/SensorManager access via a sideloaded MIT-licensed APK, ships now, and has a documented SDK. The Brilliant Labs Halo's openness claim remains unverified as its promised codebase repository is still not public.

What triggered or contributed to this call:

Contenders:

What this is, and how it works

This page is generated, not written. A scheduled job runs weekly on a machine in a homelab. Each run it:

  1. Searches the open web for both the products already tracked here and for category-level terms designed to turn up ones we've never heard of.
  2. Feeds those results to a language model along with everything already on this page, and asks it what is genuinely new. Finding nothing is an acceptable answer, and most runs should find little.
  3. Writes the result into a versioned JSON dataset (data/live-research/smart-glasses.json) and commits it. This page is re-rendered from that file.

So: a machine wrote the prose here. Every changelog entry carries at least one source link, and every item and entry carries a confidence label:

Those labels are always shown, including on the weak ones. A tracker that hides its own uncertainty is worse than no tracker.

What this is not. Not medical advice. Not a review site — nothing here has been tested in our hands. No affiliate relationships, no sponsored placements, nothing bought. Vendor claims are attributed to the vendor rather than restated as findings. Where a price, a date, or a regulatory status is unknown, it is left blank instead of guessed.

What's new

9 developments in the last 30 days, newest first.

MentraOS 3.0 launches, shifting apps to local phone execution.

Discovered 2026-09-21 · published 2026-08-17 · update · confidence: primary-source

Mentra announced MentraOS 3.0, which rebuilds the platform around fast, reliable local miniapps running on the user's phone, ending support for Cloud SDK miniapps.

Sources: Mentra Newsroom

User reports ongoing delays and frustration with Brilliant Labs Halo shipments.

Discovered 2026-09-21 · publication date unknown · negative · confidence: unverified

A Reddit user details a pattern of repeated shipment delays for the Halo glasses, citing company communications from December through March about build quality, software bugs, and supplier issues.

Sources: Reddit r/SmartGlasses

Brilliant Labs partners with Liquid AI to bring vision-language tech to Halo glasses.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

Brilliant Labs announced a partnership with Liquid AI to integrate vision-language technology into its Halo glasses, enhancing the device's AI capabilities.

Sources: Liquid AI press release

MentraOS GitHub repository details open-source components and supported hardware.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

The MentraOS GitHub repository confirms all components are open source under MIT license and lists supported smart glasses: Mentra Live, Even Realities G1 & G2, Vuzix Z100, with NIMO coming soon.

Sources: MentraOS GitHub

OpenGlass GitHub repositories detail ESP32-based hardware designs and software.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

Two OpenGlass GitHub repositories (BasedHardware/OpenGlass and OpenSQZ/OpenGlass) provide hardware designs, firmware, and software for DIY ESP32-based smart glasses, confirming the project's active open-source status.

Sources: BasedHardware/OpenGlass GitHub · OpenSQZ/OpenGlass GitHub

Meta publishes developer documentation for Wearables Device Access Toolkit SDK.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

Meta's developer blog introduces the Wearables Device Access Toolkit, allowing mobile developers to access camera, speakers, and microphone of Meta smart glasses for apps like first-person livestreaming or AI analysis.

Sources: Meta developer blog

Brilliant Labs states Halo is in mass production with first shipments scheduled for early August.

Discovered 2026-09-07 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

According to a July 23 post on X, Halo is in full-scale mass production, with the first units coming off the line and shipments scheduled for early August, aiming to ship all preorders within weeks.

Sources: Brilliant Labs (@brilliantlabsAR) on X

Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit SDK details published, allowing camera and microphone access.

Discovered 2026-09-07 · publication date unknown · discovery · confidence: secondary

Meta's SDK for its smart glasses allows mobile developers to access the camera, speakers, and microphone array, enabling features like first-person livestreaming or feeding camera imagery to AI models.

Sources: UploadVR article on Meta SDK

Google Intelligent Eyewear partnership details with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster emerge.

Discovered 2026-09-07 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: secondary

Google's upcoming AI glasses are being developed in partnership with Samsung and eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, combining AI functionality with their designs.

Sources: Warby Parker Intelligent Eyewear page · Gentle Monster Intelligent Eyewear page

The last 30 days

Brilliant Labs continues to struggle with its Halo glasses. Despite a July 23 vendor claim that mass production had begun for early August shipments, a user report on September 21 details a pattern of repeated delays stretching back to December, citing build quality and software bugs. The company announced a partnership with Liquid AI on September 14 to enhance vision-language tech, but the core "fully open source" claim remains false—the codebase repository is still "(coming soon)." For a developer, this is a product to watch from a distance; its openness is unproven and its delivery unreliable.

In contrast, MentraOS solidified its position as the most practical open platform. On September 14, its GitHub repository confirmed all components are MIT-licensed and listed supported hardware, including the Mentra Live glasses. The major shift came on September 21 with the launch of MentraOS 3.0, which moves app execution from the cloud to the user's local phone. This aligns with the hackable, vendor-cloud-free promise of the $349 Mentra Live device, which remains the strongest option for developers wanting raw Camera2 and sensor access today.

The DIY floor got a boost with the September 14 confirmation of active OpenGlass GitHub repositories providing ESP32-based hardware designs and firmware. For the big vendors, Meta released its Wearables Device Access Toolkit SDK, allowing mobile developers to access the camera and microphone of Meta smart glasses—a useful but closed ecosystem play. Google's announced Intelligent Eyewear, with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, remains a vendor-claim for a fall 2026 audio-only launch.

Written 2026-09-21 from the changelog below, not from a fresh search.

Drawn from:

The last year

The most concrete development for developers in the last year is the arrival of Mentra Live, a $349 Android-powered camera glasses that ships with USB and WiFi ADB enabled by default. Its device-side client is MIT-licensed and provides raw access to camera, audio, and sensor APIs without a mandatory vendor cloud. This makes it the most immediately hackable platform available, a practical win for open development even though the hardware schematics themselves are not open. MentraOS, the open OS layer it runs, has expanded its claimed hardware support list to include frames from Even Realities and Vuzix, though this remains a vendor claim.

The openness narrative suffered a clear setback with Brilliant Labs' Halo. Throughout the period, the company marketed Halo as "totally open source," but a check of its GitHub organization in August found no Halo-specific repository; its own hardware manual listed the codebase as "(coming soon)." The company announced firmware and SDK releases in late August and claims mass production shipments began in early August, but the foundational promise of open hardware and software remains unfulfilled. For a developer, this means the successor to the genuinely open Frame project currently offers no more verifiable openness than a typical closed vendor.

The big commercial players are defining the market context. Google announced its "Intelligent Eyewear" with Gemini, partnering with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster for an audio-only model this fall. Meta released a Wearables Device Access Toolkit, an SDK allowing mobile apps to access the camera and microphone on its Ray-Ban glasses for features like livestreaming. These moves from Google and Meta—both secondary reports—show the established path: proprietary hardware with controlled developer access. They set the capability and pricing baseline that open projects must compete against or differentiate from.

On the DIY floor, there was no visible activity from projects like OpenGlass, leaving the build-it-yourself segment quiet. Similarly, while companies like Iristick offer SDKs for their specialized glasses, there were no new findings about their accessibility or terms for independent developers. The year's momentum for practical, cloud-optional development consolidated around Mentra's Android-based approach, while the most prominent open-hardware advocate failed to deliver on its core claim.

Written 2026-09-07 from the changelog below, not from a fresh search.

Month Entries
September 2026 9
August 2026 7

The ones that mattered:

All time

The open smart-glasses field for developers is now split between two distinct, shipping approaches, with a notable broken promise and a quiet DIY floor.

The biggest negative finding is that Brilliant Labs’ “totally open source” claim for the $399 Halo glasses is false. As of 2026-08-17, the promised codebase repository is still “(coming soon)” and absent from their GitHub organization. The hardware manual confirms real sensors like a Bosch BMA580, but the core openness that defined their previous Frame model is missing. Until the repos appear, the Halo is just another proprietary-vendor device, making its $349 promo price compete directly against the established Meta Ray-Ban.

In contrast, Mentra has delivered the most practical hackability of the sweep with the Mentra Live. For $349, you get shipping glasses running Android 11 on a MediaTek chip, with USB and WiFi ADB enabled by default. The device-side client is MIT-licensed and provides raw access to the camera, audio, and sensors without a mandatory vendor cloud. This is not open hardware—no schematics are published—but it is a genuinely open OS layer you can sideload and build for today.

Mentra’s strategy is crystallizing around this phone-centric OS layer, MentraOS. Their supported hardware list now names the Mentra Live, Even Realities G1 & G2, and Vuzix Z100. However, a recent architecture shift is significant: their roadmap states apps will now run in a JavaScript runtime on the user’s phone, not on the glasses themselves. This reduces the glasses to a peripheral, which simplifies development but cedes control of the core compute platform to the phone vendor.

The DIY OpenGlass project and similar ESP32-based designs represent the theoretical floor for build-it-yourself camera glasses, but there is no verified activity or progress to report. They remain a blueprint, not a product.

For a developer deciding where to spend attention: if you want to experiment with raw sensor and camera feeds on a device you can order now, the Mentra Live is the only viable open option. If you were waiting for Brilliant Labs to deliver a true open-source successor to the Frame, the Halo is not it. The field’s central tension is now between Mentra’s pragmatic, phone-dependent open layer and the continued absence of a truly open, self-contained hardware platform.

Written 2026-08-18 from the changelog below, not from a fresh search.

How the field breaks down, by what we're actually tracking:

Tracked products

Available now. Price and regulatory status are blank where we have not read them on a primary source — they are never inferred.

Product Category Price Regulatory Confidence Last activity Links
Mentra Live open-hardware $349 not established primary-source 2026-08-18 Mentra Live · MentraOS asg_client (MIT)

Upcoming

Announced, no date.

Nothing in this bucket right now.

Coming Soon

Announced with a date, or an open pre-order.

Nothing in this bucket right now.

What We're Watching

Exists, unproven, or newly discovered. This is where auto-discovered items land.

Brilliant Labs Halo

Brilliant Labs' AI glasses, successor to the open-source Frame. The openness claim is NOT true as of 2026-08-17 — the company's own hardware manual says the Halo codebase repository is "(coming soon)", and the brilliantlabsAR org (21 repos) has no Halo repo. Same manual does name real parts: Bosch Sensortec BMA580 accelerometer, QST QMC6308 magnetometer, OTA-only updates via MCUboot + BLE, no license posted. $349 promo / $399 regular.

First seen 2026-08-18 · confidence primary-source · open-hardware

Why it's here: User reports ongoing delays and frustration with Brilliant Labs Halo shipments. (2026-09-21) — A Reddit user details a pattern of repeated shipment delays for the Halo glasses, citing company communications from December through March about build quality, software bugs, and supplier issues.

Sources: Brilliant Labs · Halo hardware manual — codebase repo "coming soon", BMA580 + QMC6308 · brilliantlabsAR GitHub org — 21 repos, no Halo repo (2026-08-17)

MentraOS

Open smart-glasses OS/app layer targeting multiple vendors' frames; the bet that glasses get an open Android moment.

First seen 2026-08-18 · confidence vendor-claim · os-sdk

Why it's here: MentraOS 3.0 launches, shifting apps to local phone execution. (2026-09-21) — Mentra announced MentraOS 3.0, which rebuilds the platform around fast, reliable local miniapps running on the user's phone, ending support for Cloud SDK miniapps.

Sources: MentraOS

OpenGlass

DIY ESP32-based camera-glasses design — the published-plans floor of the smart-glasses market.

First seen 2026-08-18 · confidence unverified · diy

Why it's here: OpenGlass GitHub repositories detail ESP32-based hardware designs and software. (2026-09-14) — Two OpenGlass GitHub repositories (BasedHardware/OpenGlass and OpenSQZ/OpenGlass) provide hardware designs, firmware, and software for DIY ESP32-based smart glasses, confirming the project's active open-source status.

Sources: GitHub

Google Intelligent Eyewear

Google's announced AI glasses with Gemini, coming in audio-only and display variants, starting fall 2026.

First seen 2026-08-24 · confidence unverified · electrical

Why it's here: Google Intelligent Eyewear partnership details with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster emerge. (2026-09-07) — Google's upcoming AI glasses are being developed in partnership with Samsung and eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, combining AI functionality with their designs.

Sources: Google Announcement

Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit

SDK from Meta that allows iOS/Android developers to access the camera, speakers, and microphone of Meta smart glasses.

First seen 2026-08-31 · confidence unverified · electrical

Why it's here: Meta publishes developer documentation for Wearables Device Access Toolkit SDK. (2026-09-14) — Meta's developer blog introduces the Wearables Device Access Toolkit, allowing mobile developers to access camera, speakers, and microphone of Meta smart glasses for apps like first-person livestreaming or AI analysis.

Sources: Meta Developers Blog

Iristick

Company providing an SDK for developing custom apps on its line of smart glasses, with access to cameras, displays, and voice control.

First seen 2026-08-31 · confidence unverified · electrical

Why it's here: No changelog entry explains this status yet.

Sources: Iristick Developers

Promising

Early-stage, but the evidence or the approach is genuinely interesting. The only editorial bucket on this page — an item only lands here with a reason recorded in the changelog.

Nothing in this bucket right now.

Open questions

Publishing what we don't know is the point. These are things the job is actively watching for; when one gets answered it becomes a changelog entry and moves down here to the answered list.

Answered:

Full changelog

Everything, newest first, grouped by the month we found it. Long by design — it's the receipts.

September 2026

MentraOS 3.0 launches, shifting apps to local phone execution.

Discovered 2026-09-21 · published 2026-08-17 · update · confidence: primary-source

Mentra announced MentraOS 3.0, which rebuilds the platform around fast, reliable local miniapps running on the user's phone, ending support for Cloud SDK miniapps.

Sources: Mentra Newsroom

User reports ongoing delays and frustration with Brilliant Labs Halo shipments.

Discovered 2026-09-21 · publication date unknown · negative · confidence: unverified

A Reddit user details a pattern of repeated shipment delays for the Halo glasses, citing company communications from December through March about build quality, software bugs, and supplier issues.

Sources: Reddit r/SmartGlasses

Brilliant Labs partners with Liquid AI to bring vision-language tech to Halo glasses.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

Brilliant Labs announced a partnership with Liquid AI to integrate vision-language technology into its Halo glasses, enhancing the device's AI capabilities.

Sources: Liquid AI press release

MentraOS GitHub repository details open-source components and supported hardware.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

The MentraOS GitHub repository confirms all components are open source under MIT license and lists supported smart glasses: Mentra Live, Even Realities G1 & G2, Vuzix Z100, with NIMO coming soon.

Sources: MentraOS GitHub

OpenGlass GitHub repositories detail ESP32-based hardware designs and software.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

Two OpenGlass GitHub repositories (BasedHardware/OpenGlass and OpenSQZ/OpenGlass) provide hardware designs, firmware, and software for DIY ESP32-based smart glasses, confirming the project's active open-source status.

Sources: BasedHardware/OpenGlass GitHub · OpenSQZ/OpenGlass GitHub

Meta publishes developer documentation for Wearables Device Access Toolkit SDK.

Discovered 2026-09-14 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

Meta's developer blog introduces the Wearables Device Access Toolkit, allowing mobile developers to access camera, speakers, and microphone of Meta smart glasses for apps like first-person livestreaming or AI analysis.

Sources: Meta developer blog

Brilliant Labs states Halo is in mass production with first shipments scheduled for early August.

Discovered 2026-09-07 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

According to a July 23 post on X, Halo is in full-scale mass production, with the first units coming off the line and shipments scheduled for early August, aiming to ship all preorders within weeks.

Sources: Brilliant Labs (@brilliantlabsAR) on X

Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit SDK details published, allowing camera and microphone access.

Discovered 2026-09-07 · publication date unknown · discovery · confidence: secondary

Meta's SDK for its smart glasses allows mobile developers to access the camera, speakers, and microphone array, enabling features like first-person livestreaming or feeding camera imagery to AI models.

Sources: UploadVR article on Meta SDK

Google Intelligent Eyewear partnership details with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster emerge.

Discovered 2026-09-07 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: secondary

Google's upcoming AI glasses are being developed in partnership with Samsung and eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, combining AI functionality with their designs.

Sources: Warby Parker Intelligent Eyewear page · Gentle Monster Intelligent Eyewear page

August 2026

Brilliant Labs announces Halo firmware and SDK release.

Discovered 2026-08-24 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

Brilliant Labs stated on X (formerly Twitter) that Halo firmware is now available, alongside an updated SDK and documentation.

Sources: Brilliant Labs on X

MentraOS 3.0 launch and legacy support end date announced.

Discovered 2026-08-24 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

Mentra's roadmap update states MentraOS 3.0 will launch on August 3, 2026, after which support for all Cloud SDK miniapps will end.

Sources: Mentra Roadmap Update

Google announces plans for 'intelligent eyewear' with Gemini for 2026.

Discovered 2026-08-24 · publication date unknown · discovery · confidence: secondary

Google announced at I/O 2026 it is developing two types of AI glasses: audio-only and display models, with audio glasses launching in fall 2026.

Sources: Google Blog · BBC News

Mentra Live smart glasses begin shipping.

Discovered 2026-08-18 · published 2026-01-15 · launch · confidence: primary-source

Mentra announced the shipping of its first smart glasses, the Mentra Live, on January 15, 2026. The glasses feature a 12MP camera, video-stabilized livestreaming, and an app ecosystem via MentraOS.

Sources: Mentra press release

MentraOS publishes official list of supported smart glasses.

Discovered 2026-08-18 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: primary-source

MentraOS documentation now lists supported hardware as Mentra Live, Even Realities G1 & G2, and Vuzix Z100, with NIMO listed as 'coming soon'.

Sources: MentraOS compatibility page

Brilliant Labs continues to market Halo as 'totally open source'.

Discovered 2026-08-18 · publication date unknown · update · confidence: vendor-claim

The company's product page and promotional content state Halo's hardware and software design files and code are on GitHub, but no Halo-specific repository has been found.

Sources: Brilliant Labs Halo page

MentraOS roadmap update shifts apps to run on the phone.

Discovered 2026-08-18 · published 2026-06-09 · update · confidence: primary-source

Mentra announced an architecture update where apps (miniapps) will run on the user's phone inside a local JavaScript runtime, rather than directly on the glasses.

Sources: Mentra roadmap blog post

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