Meta hologram is coming to Ray Ban Display glasses this fall, giving WhatsApp callers a photorealistic version of your face even when the camera on your glasses is pointed at the world around you.
Meta introduced the feature at Connect 2026 as a new way to handle video calls from smart glasses. The idea is fairly straightforward. Instead of forcing you to hold up a phone or find a reflective surface so the other person can see you, Meta creates a digital version of you that can appear during the call.
The feature is designed for situations where the cameras on your glasses are being used to show what you are looking at. Since Ray Ban Display glasses do not have a conventional front facing selfie camera, a normal video call cannot show your face at the same time.
Hologram is intended to fill that gap.
How Meta hologram works
Before using the feature, users will create a short capture of themselves through the Meta AI app. Meta then uses that capture to generate a photorealistic digital representation of the user.
During a call, the hologram is controlled by the user’s voice. Meta says the system can infer facial expressions from speech, allowing the digital face to react as the conversation continues.
That means the person on the other end does not simply receive a static picture. Instead, they see an animated representation that is designed to look and respond more naturally while the wearer continues using the glasses normally.
It is an interesting solution to one of the biggest limitations of camera equipped smart glasses. The glasses are excellent at showing the world from the wearer’s perspective, but that same camera position makes traditional face to face video calling difficult.
With Hologram, Meta is effectively separating the person’s face from the camera feed.
The first rollout is relatively limited. Early Access is scheduled for WhatsApp users in the US who own Ray Ban Display glasses. Meta has confirmed that the feature is planned for later this fall, although a specific public release date has not yet been announced.
There is also no confirmed timeline yet for other calling services on Ray Ban Display.
Meta wants holograms to feel more natural on VR glasses
The technology becomes more ambitious when Meta moves beyond Display glasses.
Meta says Hologram will also be available on its upcoming VR Glasses, which are expected to arrive in spring 2027. In that environment, the company is aiming for a more immersive calling experience rather than simply putting a digital face on a phone screen.
A hologram can appear in front of the user, while spatial audio can make it sound as though the other person is positioned in a particular place around them.
The person on the other end of the call does not need the same hardware. Someone using a phone or computer can still see the user’s hologram on their screen.
Meta has listed WhatsApp and Zoom Workplace among the calling services planned for VR Glasses.
The hardware itself is considerably different from Ray Ban Display. Meta’s VR Glasses are expected to weigh around 100 grams and use a connected pocket puck. Pricing is expected to start at $1,299, making them a significantly more expensive proposition than the Display glasses.
That also means Hologram will arrive in two very different forms. Ray Ban Display gets the feature first as a relatively lightweight communication tool, while VR Glasses are positioned around a more immersive experience.
This is different from Meta’s AI avatars
It is also worth separating Hologram from another avatar project Meta has been developing.
Hologram is designed to represent a real person during a call. The goal is to let someone appear virtually when their physical face is not being captured by the camera.
Meta’s Muse Realtime Avatar project has a different purpose. It is being developed as part of the company’s work on AI agents, where an avatar can represent the AI itself.
The two technologies may look similar on the surface because both involve photorealistic digital faces. Their jobs are different, however.
Hologram is essentially a digital stand in for you. Muse’s avatar is intended to give an AI agent a visual identity.
That distinction could become increasingly important as Meta builds more AI features into its glasses and virtual reality products.
A promising feature that still needs to prove itself
For now, Hologram remains an early feature rather than a fully established replacement for conventional video calling.
Meta has demonstrated the concept, but there are still practical questions around how convincing the generated expressions will look during real conversations. There is also the question of how well the system handles different lighting conditions, voices, facial movements and longer conversations.
Those details matter because a photorealistic avatar can look impressive in a demonstration but feel much less natural if its expressions do not match the conversation.
Ray Ban Display users in the US will get the first opportunity to try the technology through Early Access on WhatsApp this fall. Meta is expected to expand the feature over time, although details about broader availability remain limited.
The arrival of Hologram also fits into Meta’s wider strategy for smart glasses. Instead of treating glasses as another miniature camera, the company increasingly wants them to become a communication device that can understand the user’s surroundings while also keeping them connected to other people.
If Meta can make the digital face convincing enough, Hologram could turn one of the biggest weaknesses of glasses based video calls into a feature of its own.
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