Meta found a way to make doomscrolling even more convenient. The company is adding Instagram Reels playback to its Ray-Ban Display glasses in early 2026, letting you watch short videos directly through your face.
The Ray-Ban Instagram Reels feature will stream vertical videos directly to the monocular display built into the $799 smart glasses. Internal testing is underway now, with broader rollout promised “in a couple of months,” pointing to early 2026 availability. You’ll be able to pull Reels from your feed or a dedicated stream, bringing social video into your field of vision without holding your phone.
Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses already let you capture vertical videos and share to Instagram or Facebook. However, Reels playback has been limited to your phone until now. Adding Ray-Ban Instagram Reels turns the glasses into more of a media consumption device, not just a capture and AI assistant accessory.
The catch is the screen only covers one lens. Watching Reels for extended periods will likely feel like a “quick snack” experience rather than replacing your phone’s big display. However, that’s probably the point. Meta wants you to sneak in social content glances while staying more present in the real world, even if that means doomscrolling with one eye.
Virtual handwriting comes too
Meta is also rolling out “EMG handwriting” in 2026 using the Neural Band wristband. The band reads electrical signals from your muscles when you move your fingers. An AI model maps those signals to specific letters, letting you “write” by drawing letters with subtle hand movements against a table or your leg.
This makes replying to messages much more comfortable, especially in situations where voice is awkward or too noisy. Instead of pecking at a phone, you could write “OK on my way” with small finger movements while text appears in your display. Early access starts next month for select users, with wider availability following later in 2026.
For early adopters, these updates push the glasses closer to Meta’s vision of mixed-reality eyewear. Combined with existing features like live translation and Meta AI visual search, Ray-Ban Instagram Reels support and virtual handwriting make 2026 the year these glasses shift from cool demo hardware into something you might actually use daily.
The real question is whether doomscrolling Reels through one eye while walking down the street is the future we really wanted. Meta clearly thinks so, and honestly, plenty of people will probably try it.
