Meta silently added face-recognition code to millions of phones
Wired found unreleased "NameTag" face-recognition code embedded in Meta’s smart-glasses platform on millions of phones. NameTag would convert faces captured by the glasses into biometric faceprints and compare them to faceprints stored locally on the user’s phone. Meta deleted more than a billion Facebook faceprints in 2021 when it announced ending its photo-tagging facial-recognition system, but the embedded NameTag code revives that identification capability in its glasses ecosystem. Because the code already sits on millions of devices, activating it would enable on-device identification and raise significant privacy and consent concerns.
Code reviewed by WIRED uncovered an unreleased face-recognition system embedded in Meta’s smart glasses platform. Internally called “NameTag,” it’s designed to identify people via biometric data stored on users’ phones.
WIRED17If activated, NameTag will transform faces captured by Meta's glasses into unique biometric signatures, commonly known as faceprints, and check each one against faceprints stored on the user’s phone.
jendem74.bsky.social16Smart glasses need to be illegal. 💯 illegal
Savina the Alchemist12You know, this looks like the kind of thing the EU is gonna absolutely ban. The privacy implications are strictly insane. I don’t hate technology, but I loathe the humans trying to turn the world into a stupider blend of Soylent Green, Brazil, Escape from NY, and Demolition Man
SoloSojourner3Both Meta’s smart glasses and the Nancy Guthrie Ring/Nest case highlight the same underlying truth: consumer devices often ship with powerful surveillance capabilities already embedded, and whether those features are “enabled” or “accessible” depends less on hardware limits 1/3 #Privacy #Vote2026
xsxbxwx.bsky.social2Dear tech industry: just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
While dormant, three AI models — for face detection, cropping, and encoding — have been pushed from Meta's servers. The system is designed to pull faceprints from those servers and store them locally. (Meta says it isn't building a central face database.) www.wired.com/story/meta-s...
dell cameron133WIRED worked with two outside experts to confirm our findings.
Doctor Synth12Why would anyone take what Mark Zuckerberg says at face value?
Cyrez10If Meta openly says they're not going to do something, I just assume they're going to do it anyway and not tell anybody.
Lyse4I fail to see what other purpose this could serve other than a database
bettylinguini.bsky.social2He was very serious when he said he wanted a Facebook
Debbie Hemenway2Is there something stupider than 'smart glasses'? The people who buy them?
