Owners of Meta’s AI glasses are facing a new hurdle to fully utilise a built-in feature called ‘Conversation Focus’, which helps enhance hearing during face-to-face conversations. Users must now pay $19.99 per month, limiting access beyond three hours each calendar month unless they subscribe.

The social media giant claims this move is part of its experiments with subscription-based models for premium features while keeping core services free. However, some users feel cheated, questioning whether the paid access truly offers unlimited benefits or just a few extra hours.

Meta’s Conversation Focus was unveiled by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in September 2025 and has been hailed as an accessibility tool but also criticised for privacy concerns. The company is expanding its partnership with Ray-Ban for its own smart glasses line, priced from £269 in the UK, yet these devices have faced scrutiny over their covert filming capabilities.

While Meta maintains that users should not use their glasses as hearing aids or medical devices, the subscription requirement has sparked debate about whether convenience comes at a cost. As more tech companies look to monetise AI features, will we see similar paywalls in other products?