After backlash, Meta pauses plan to ‘rate limit’ its smart glasses - The Verge

Meta has paused its plan to charge a $20 monthly subscription for Conversation Focus, a smart glasses feature that helps users hear others more clearly, following user backlash, spokesperson Tyler Yee confirmed to The Verge.
The accessibility feature will remain free through Meta's Early Access Program for early testers while the company develops what it calls "a better approach."
Meta is not abandoning subscriptions overall, stating that "some premium features will be subscription-based over time" as it continues moving forward with paid offerings.
A key criticism centered on Meta's proposed "rate limits," which would have capped even paying subscribers at 15 hours of Conversation Focus per month, framed as necessary due to incremental service costs.
The Verge's Sean Hollister challenged that reasoning by demonstrating the feature runs locally on the glasses—it continued working after he disconnected his Meta Ray-Bans from the internet.
Meta declined to say whether the rate limits would be dropped, offering no additional details when asked directly about the on-device nature of the feature.