How to play music and podcasts on Ray-Ban Meta: Spotify, Apple Music and more

Ray-Ban Meta glasses have open-ear speakers built into the frame, so anything your phone plays can come out of your glasses, just as it would with Bluetooth headphones. A few music and audio services go further: once you connect them in the Meta AI app, you can ask Meta AI to play a song, an album or a podcast without touching your phone.

This guide is based on the audio guides Meta publishes for its AI glasses, with the touchpad gestures from Ray-Ban's support FAQ. Meta lists the same music services for Oakley Meta glasses.

Which apps work with voice control

That list comes from Meta's audio page, which says the services work "in English everywhere AI glasses are supported." Anything not on it still plays through the glasses over Bluetooth; you just control it from your phone or with the touchpad instead of by asking Meta AI.

Connect a music service

You link Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music to your glasses through the Meta AI app on your phone, Meta says. You connect each service once in the app and follow its prompts; after that, voice requests go straight to it.

For iHeart, the company's own instructions add one step: open the iHeart app and tap Allow when it asks for playback controls. iHeart says the integration is available to iPhone and Android users in the US.

Play something by voice

Once a service is connected, start with "Hey Meta" and say what you want:

• "Hey Meta, play California Dreamin'." (one of Meta's own examples)
• "Hey Meta, play" followed by the name of a podcast.
• "Hey Meta, pause the music."

Meta's hands-free guide says you can also skip tracks and change the volume by voice. In its May guide to its glasses lineup, Meta added a less obvious trick: you can ask Meta AI to play a song on Spotify that matches what you're looking at.

Control playback with the touchpad

The touchpad is on the right arm, which Meta and Ray-Ban call the right temple. Ray-Ban's support FAQ lists these gestures:

Our touchpad guide covers the rest of the gestures and the Gen 3 action button.

Two things pause your audio on their own. Answering a call pauses playback, Meta says, and Ray-Ban notes that closing the glasses pauses streaming too; when you open them again, they reconnect over Bluetooth.

Can people hear your music?

Some, at times. Meta says audio from Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses "is directional and designed to be heard primarily by you," but in quiet places or at higher volumes "others nearby may hear faint sounds." Elsewhere Meta describes what bystanders hear as "only a faint hum." On a quiet train or in an office, keep the volume down.

Balance, mono and the audio-only model

At Connect in September, Meta announced two audio options for every wearer of its AI glasses: audio balance, which shifts sound toward your left or right ear, and mono audio, which sends all sound to one side.

If music matters more to you than photos, Ray-Ban Meta Audio, Meta's first audio glasses, started shipping Oct. 13 from $349 and lasts up to 12 hours on a charge. Our comparison with Gen 3 explains the trade-offs.