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Leave your AirPods at home.
While smart glasses remain a novel concept most successfully executed by the likes of sci-fi films, popular brands such as Ray-Ban, Amazon, Bose and more have developed their own versions for the real world. And, fortunately, you don’t have to be too tech-savvy to use them. Most smart glasses function like an ordinary pair of specs but with extra bells and whistles like built-in audio for listening to music or calling a friend. Some pairs are able to take photos and videos with the quick press of a button on your frames.
Though smart glasses likely won’t replace your prescription glasses any time soon, they’re a convenient gadget to have when you don't want to fumble around for your wireless earbuds or you'd like to hear surrounding background noise as you listen to music. Smart glasses with built-in cameras are useful for capturing and sharing photos and videos straight from your viewpoint!
At the Good Housekeeping Institute, our tech experts test consumer electronics ranging from the most popular e-bikes to smart home essentials such as smart plugs to smart light bulbs. To find the best smart glasses available today, our pros evaluated each pair in our Media & Tech Lab for ease of setup, comfort and design, audio and image quality as well as general ease of use. We also asked consumer testers to wear these glasses in the real world and give us their honest feedback. According to our testing, these are the best smart glasses in 2022.
Stick around after our picks to learn more about smart glasses and whether they’re right for you. If you're interested in smartifying the rest of your life, check out our guide to the best smart home devices from video doorbells to — yes, these are real — smart toilets.
If you want a pair of smart glasses to stream your favorite songs as well as snap a few videos while you’re out, look no further than Ray-Ban Stories. These frames sport a classic, trendy Ray-Ban style and come in various designs and color combinations, and our test engineer Alec Scherma was impressed with the built-in audio and picture quality. Though we found having to log in to Facebook and download the View app a bit of a nuisance, once the glasses were set up, pairing to our mobile device was seamless and all image captures were easily downloaded in the app. Our pros also like that these are available as both sunglasses and eyeglasses with the option of adding a prescription lens or blue light filter.
“The audio quality was much better than I expected, both on a voice call with a friend and when listening to music – similar if not better than my earbuds without that uncomfortable earphone feeling or the fear that they’ll fall off,” says Textiles Analyst Grace Wu. Though she found that the camera quality could be slightly improved and the material of the outer shell of the frames felt cheaper than other Ray-Ban models, she appreciated being able to hear the outside world, which isn’t an option with most earbuds.
Just open up these smart glasses and they’ll automatically connect to your paired device. Offered in two frame shapes and sizes, each pair also comes equipped with blue light filtering lenses for nights when you need to stay up late working, as well as polarized sunglass replacement lenses for when you need to take a call outside. We found the arms to be a bit bulky and the built-in speakers could have better audio quality, but the affordable price and all the bells and whistles make up for it. Our pros especially like how you’re able to access your smartphone’s voice assistant via touch controls. "These glasses offered a lot of the same functionality as the higher priced models and felt lightweight compared to some of the more expensive ones I've tried," says lab assistant Nikolas Greenwald.
If you're looking for top audio quality, these smart glasses from Bose are your best choice and outperformed other models on this list. Like other Bose speakers and audio devices, these smart glasses feature clear, quality sound that will make you want to throw on your sunglasses and go running outside. Plus, they’re polarized! While the sides are bulkier than most, our experts, like Chief Technologist Rachel Rothman, were impressed by the quality of the sound and performance. “When walking side by side, no one could hear my conversation or music!” she says.
Rothman does point out, however, that she would prefer a standard charger with these smart glasses (as opposed to a magnetic charging cable only intended for the glasses), while other testers found them to be less comfortable and stylish. Most, however, found the Bose Frames intuitive and easy to use. “They turned on easily and were super responsive. They also paired to Bluetooth quickly,” says Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab Director Nicole Papantoniou, who recommends them for busy parents who always have their hands full or even walking on a beach and exercising hands-free.
If you’re loyal to Alexa and are in the market for smart glasses, our pros recommend this 2nd gen pair from Amazon. While we wish these were offered in other design styles, you do get the choice between sunglasses (polarized and non-polarized), blue light filtering lenses or prescription glasses, so they’ll work for just about anyone. Best of all, you can ask Alexa (or even Google Assistant or Siri) to make a phone call, change the song or read out important notifications. Our testers found these lightweight and comfortable and super easy to set up. We like that the arms are thinner than other smart glasses and that there are physical buttons to turn the glasses on and off and adjust the volume.
“If you already use Alexa, these are extremely easy to add to your system," says one tester. "They connect to phones quickly and disconnect from audio just as quickly when removed and placed upside down. I found myself surprised that others couldn’t hear the programs or phone calls I was listening to through the glasses. I nearly forgot I was wearing them!” But while the buttons and swipe pad were mostly intuitive, our tester felt the commands could be more straightforward.
Our experts love that the Spectacles can take photos and video memories — as long as you have the Snapchat app. Our testers found it easy to import content from the glasses, download it into the app and then share it with friends. While the glasses' innovative design certainty isn’t for everyone — some testers found the smart glasses to be uncomfortable — we like that they come with a sturdy charging case that conveniently collapses when you're not charging the glasses.
Many of our testers found setting up the glasses to be intuitive and had fun making videos with the Spectacles, which come with a 3D viewer that brings content to life in VR. “I took some videos on a sunny day at the park, and when viewed through the 3D viewer, the videos look so vibrant and immersive. I think the glasses and 3D viewer are great for reliving a moment,” says Chiara Butler, Beauty & Health Reviews Analyst. She does point out, however, that you have to “stop fairly often to upload the memories to your phone to clear the glasses’ memory,” which can be a hassle, and the glasses can feel a bit gimmicky. “The fact that these glasses create 360 videos is pretty futuristic and unlike videos I’ve ever created, but it’s a very niche product that requires Snapchat,” says Eva Bleyer, an analyst at the Good Housekeeping Institute.
We love that you can get the Anker Soundcore Frames in multiple styles and the front frames are interchangeable! It makes them one of the more attractive and customizable smart glasses on this list. Our pros found the frames to be fairly slim, making the glasses comfortable and lightweight. Most testers found setting up and connecting to Bluetooth to be a breeze. “The glasses are intuitive. They connect automatically when you put them on and stop playing music when you take them off,” says one tester.
While some testers pointed out that the sound can get lost on noisy streets and the speakers and bass could be stronger, they were pleased with the stylish profile and simple functionality. “These glasses offer a unique Bluetooth experience that put you in your own world. It’s an awesome, futuristic product that is fairly simple to grasp,” says one tester.
Smart glasses look a lot like traditional glasses, but unlike ordinary specs, these wearables can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to provide features such as audio streaming or photo and video capture. Some smart glasses even have AR features to enable you to see beyond the screen in front of you.
Smart glasses are worth it for anyone who wants to be connected while remaining hands-free whether you're in an office environment, exercising or taking out the dog. Most pairs we featured come equipped with audio capabilities, meaning that you can listen to music being played through your smart glasses while shading your eyes from the sun or blue light from your computer screen. What’s unique about smart glasses is that those with audio capabilities use open-ear audio, meaning that your ears will never be blocked or covered. If you’re someone that finds earbuds uncomfortable after a few hours or you like being able to hear your surroundings while running or working, smart glasses offer the best of both worlds. But if you plan on using your smart glasses for phone calls, we recommend sticking to a quiet environment since wind and background noise is easily picked up since smart glasses lack noise isolation. If your smart glasses come with built-in cameras, the quality likely won’t compare to that of a modern smartphone, but our pros like that this feature enables you to capture content from the perspective of your eyes and, oftentimes, easily upload to social media.
We test smart glasses in the Good Housekeeping Institute Media & Tech Lab by wearing each pair and doing what we normally do — commuting, working in the office, answering phone calls, exercising and capturing everything on camera if and when possible. We also asked our panel of consumer testers to try these smart glasses in their daily lives and provide us with feedback.
We evaluated eight pairs of smart glasses for several hours at a time over several weeks. We assessed how easy the smart glasses were to set up, pair and charge. We took note of whether the smart glasses required a specific charger or came equipped with a wireless charging case. We also evaluated how comfortable each pair was and whether the design was sleek or conspicuous, factoring in the weight and bulk of each pair. We played music through our glasses to compare audio quality, and we called friends and family while walking through midtown NYC to assess the built-in microphones and speakers. If the smart glasses were enabled to take photos and videos, we evaluated the image quality and how easy it was to download them onto our smartphones. Lastly, we assessed if the smart glasses and their controls felt intuitive and easy to use, evaluating functions like turning them on and off and adjusting the volume.
Media & Tech Reviews Analyst Olivia Lipski oversees product testing and covers everything from consumer tech to smart home devices and appliances, health, home and fitness. She's covered audio over the years, writing about outdoor speakers, wireless earbuds and noise-canceling headphones. She continues to stay on top of the industry’s latest innovations and helps readers make better buying decisions by testing and reviewing the best gadgets to hit the market. She most recently led smart glasses testing, trying out each pair on her daily commute throughout NYC.