Meta Ray-Ban Display expands globally with online ordering, new navigation, and hologram avatars

Meta is rolling out a significant expansion of its Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, making them available in new countries and simplifying how people can buy them. The announcements came at Connect 2026 and represent a shift toward broader accessibility after the device sold out quickly following its initial US launch.

The company initially planned to bring Ray-Ban Display to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada in early 2026, but paused that rollout in January due to "unprecedented demand and limited inventory." Now, online purchasing is available without requiring an in-store demo to fit the Meta Neural Band. The glasses are available online and in select stores in the UK and Canada, with France, Italy, and Germany getting access on October 13. Pricing runs £749 in the UK, CA$1149 in Canada, and €899 in Europe. In-store demo locations will open in London, Vancouver, Toronto, Paris, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich.

Navigation on the device is becoming more natural and practical. Instead of referencing street names, the system now uses landmarks in your field of view, saying things like "turn left at the yellow house ahead." Meta is also adding cycling and public transport routing alongside the existing on-foot navigation. However, navigation remains limited to select cities, a constraint that Snap Specs and upcoming Samsung HUD glasses powered by Google do not share.

Phone notifications are getting better control. At launch, Meta Ray-Ban Display showed only notifications from built-in apps like WhatsApp and Messenger. A mirroring feature added months later showed all notifications without customization options. The new update lets users choose which notifications to see.

Discovering third-party apps built for the glasses has been difficult. Developers have created visual web apps controlled by the Meta Neural Band, but finding them required following developers on social media or using external aggregators. Meta is adding an Explore app "later this year" to surface and recommend the best experiences available on the device.

Video calling is getting a major visual upgrade through realistic hologram avatars. When taking WhatsApp video calls on Ray-Ban Display, the person on the other end will see a synthetic version of you instead of your first-person view. Setting up a Hologram involves scanning your face and providing about a minute of sample speech through the Meta AI app. Facial expressions are generated from the device's microphones in real time. This feature is coming "later this year" to US users in the Early Access program.

A dedicated Calendar app is also arriving on Ray-Ban Display, allowing users to see meeting attendees, accept or decline invites, and join calls directly from their glasses. The calendar integration expands on functionality Meta introduced for its displayless smart glasses last year. This feature will initially be available in the US only.

Meta is doubling the number of physical stores where Ray-Ban Display can be demoed, as the company works to restock the device following early sellouts.