Meta is taking its Ray-Ban Display glasses beyond the US. Sales began in Canada and the UK on September 23, 2026. Pre-orders will open progressively in France, Italy, and Germany ahead of an October 13 launch. US customers can also order the glasses online for the first time.
The September 23 announcement pairs the expansion with new navigation features, an on-glasses Explore app, and a preview of a photorealistic version of your face for WhatsApp calls. Its expressions are generated from your voice.
The features have different schedules. The glasses are reaching new countries now, while the hologram is slated for US early access later in fall 2026.
Canada and the UK Get Sales First, Europe Follows
Meta says online ordering and retail sales started September 23 in Canada and the UK. The retail locations it names are in Vancouver, Toronto, and London. Online ordering also began that day in the US, where the Display glasses were already available.
In France, Italy, and Germany, pre-orders will open progressively from September 23, with online ordering and retail sales scheduled for October 13. Meta lists retail locations in Paris, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich. The progressive pre-order schedule does not guarantee that every customer in those three countries can place an order immediately.
Prescription lenses have a separate timetable. Meta says options through EssilorLuxottica optical retail stores are due October 13 in France and Italy, and later in the year in Germany. The announcement gives no new country-by-country price for the Display glasses.
The five-country expansion gives more people access to the hardware. It does not establish that every software feature announced alongside it will work in those countries at launch.
Walking Directions Will Point to Landmarks
Meta is adding several features to the Display glasses’ existing heads-up navigation. The most immediate dated update covers cycling and public transit: users will be able to ask for directions by voice and see cycling turns or real-time transit departures on the display. Meta says those features will start arriving later in September in the US and Canada.
Walking directions will also refer to visible landmarks. Meta gives the example of telling someone to turn at a yellow house instead of relying only on a street name. That could help when a street sign is missing or hard to spot.
Meta’s navigation description does not give landmark-based walking guidance the same US-and-Canada rollout date as cycling and transit directions. It also does not show how reliably the glasses identify landmarks across different streets and conditions. Broad coverage and dependable performance remain unproven.
Hologram Calls Animate a Captured Face From Speech
For its upcoming WhatsApp calling feature, Meta says a wearer first makes a short self-capture in the Meta AI app. The capture creates a photorealistic digital version of their face. During a call from Ray-Ban Display, a model uses what the wearer says and how they say it to infer expressions for that likeness.
The person on the other end sees a generated representation. The glasses do not project a free-floating person into the room, and Meta says the hologram’s expressions come from voice, not a live view of the wearer’s face.
The feature could make glasses-based calls more personal. A wearer can speak hands-free without holding a phone in front of their face, while the recipient gets more than audio alone. How convincing or appropriate the generated expressions feel in ordinary conversations remains an open question. Meta calls the likeness photorealistic, but its announcement provides no independent assessment of visual accuracy.
Hologram is planned for WhatsApp early access for US Ray-Ban Display users later in fall 2026. Meta has not announced a general availability date or a rollout in the five newly added countries. The required face capture also raises practical questions about control of the resulting likeness that the announcement does not answer.
Explore Puts a Discovery App on the Glasses
Meta plans to add Explore, an app for browsing experiences built for Ray-Ban Display. People will be able to find and use those experiences on the glasses and through the Meta AI app, with activities intended for learning, exploring, and playing.
Explore could give the display uses beyond Meta’s own navigation, messages, and calls. The announcement names no launch date, substantial catalog, or developer access. It also does not establish whether every experience runs locally without a connection. Its value will depend on what people can find and do when it arrives.
Other additions have narrower or less definite availability. Expanded calendar controls, including viewing meeting attendees and responding to invitations, are available in English in the US. Mirrored phone notifications are coming soon, with controls for choosing which notifications appear. Meta also describes curated Threads Community Feeds and reposting from the glasses. The international hardware launch does not give these software additions a simultaneous worldwide release.
Ray-Ban Meta Audio Is Not the Display Model
Frequently Asked Questions
4 questions
1Where Are Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Available?
Meta says sales began in Canada and the UK on September 23, 2026, alongside the start of US online ordering. Pre-orders in France, Italy, and Germany were set to open progressively from that date, with online and retail availability scheduled for October 13. Retail sales are limited to the cities Meta named in its announcement.
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Sources
- September 23 announcementabout.fb.com
- Ray-Ban Meta Audioabout.fb.com
