Ray-Ban Stories to Let Users Make Calls, Hear, and Send Messages With WhatsApp

Ray-Ban Stories will now let users make calls, hear, and send messages with WhatsApp. The announcement was made by Mark Zuckerberg via a Facebook post where he also added that the users will also be able to direct reply to Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp messages with voice commands. The Ray-Ban Stories shades were launched by Meta (then Facebook) and Ray-Ban together in September 2021. The Ray-Ban Stories shades can take pictures and video upon the wearer’s voice commands, and the frames can also connect wirelessly to Facebook’s platform through an app.

Ray-Ban Stories, the smart glasses from Meta, has now integrated WhatsApp calling and messaging features to its interface. Mark Zuckerberg, via a Facebook post, announced the new feature. Zuckerberg mentioned that with the hands-free features on Ray-Ban Stories, users will be able to make calls, hear, and send end-to-end encrypted messages with WhatsApp, as well as directly reply to Messenger or WhatsApp messages using voice commands. The feature will be available on the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android and iOS.

To recall, the Ray-Ban Stories shades were launched by Meta (then Facebook) and Ray-Ban together in September 2021. The starting price of the smart glasses at the time of launch was set at $299 (roughly Rs. 21,970). As mentioned earlier, the Ray-Ban Stories shades can take pictures and video with the wearer’s voice commands, and the frames can also connect wirelessly to Facebook’s platform through an app. Cameras of Ray-Ban Stories are built into the front of the frames, while the arms are designed to act as directional speakers for listening to calls or streamed audio.

“We need the user to feel completely in control of their capture experience,” said Facebook Reality Labs product manager Hind Hobeika. “And, similarly, we need people around them to feel comfortable that these smart glasses exist and always be in the know when a capture is happening,” Hobeika added, referring to filming.