Wearable | The Verge

Meta addresses ‘pervert glasses’ reputation with a privacy fix and a new marketing campaign

2026-08-27T17:37:55-04:00

Meta is updating its AI-powered smart glasses to close a loophole that allowed wearers to keep recording after covering the front-facing LED. Alex Himel, Meta's vice president of augmented reality, writes in a post on Threads that "the camera will now stop working if the light is covered during a recording."

The company's line of smart glasses already disables their built-in cameras if someone covers the LED capture light, which blinks to alert others that you're recording or taking a picture. However, some wearers found that they can bypass these restrictions by covering the LED light after they started recording. This latest fix comes a l …

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Speedo’s new smart goggles module can track all four swim strokes

2026-08-27T12:22:33-04:00

You can pair Speedo’s Vanquisher goggles with its iQ module. | Image: Speedo

Speedo is launching a removable smart module for its Vanquisher goggles that can analyze a swimmer's performance across all four swim strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. The new Speedo iQ system uses swim-specific sensors to analyze head movement in the water, time breaths, and track distance per stroke.

Unlike other smart goggles, such as those from Form, Speedo's iQ system doesn't come with a built-in display. Instead, the Speedo iQ module automatically transmits data to its accompanying app, allowing swimmers to see their performance when they get out of the water. Additionally, Speedo notes that you can simply t …

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Google launches Pokémon Sleep special-edition Fitbit Air

2026-08-27T10:58:33-04:00

The latest special-edition of Google's Fitbit Air is inspired by the Pokémon Sleep game, with a "Sleepy Blue" band emblazoned with a snoozing Pikachu. It's not exactly Snorlax blue, but matches the classic blue and gold of a Pokémon card pretty closely. The special-edition is available to preorder now for $129 and starts shipping September 15th. It's arriving as Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with a special-edition collection of playing cards set to launch the same week.

This isn't the first wearable that can connect with Pokémon Sleep - the sleep tracking app supports dozens of wearables from Apple, Google, Garmin, and …

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Sleep score court is in session

2026-08-26T13:15:24-04:00

Your honor,

We all know that the woman who sits before you is tired. Just look at the circles under her eyes. The novelty Pride and Prejudice T-shirt and Muji sweatpants that pass for pajamas. The unkempt, banana clip hairstyle that says "I really did wake up like this." But she's doing her best. And that's why she deserves this court's time and attention, to correct the injustice of last night's sleep score.

To be clear, my client thinks the sleep score assigned by her Pixel Watch is generally fair. Should she go to bed before 10:30PM most nights? Sure. Dinging points for a late-night Instagram scrolling session is reasonable. She's rece …

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Your Oura Ring can’t measure what’s going on in your skull

2026-08-26T09:38:59-04:00

Sleep trackers detect sleep via a combination of motion, heart rate, and temperature sensors.

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here.

Oura's getting sued.

A recently filed class-action complaint against the smart ring maker alleges that the company has duped customers by claiming it can accurately track different sleep stages. A smart ring can't possibly do that, the suit says, because the Oura Ring doesn't directly measure your brain waves. Instead, Oura uses AI models to take advantage of "desperate consumers who struggle with their sleep … by selling fault …

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Garmin’s new Fenix 9 adds brighter screens and smoother map panning

2026-08-25T18:23:04-04:00

The Garmin Fenix 9. | Image: Garmin

Garmin just took the wraps off its new line of rugged Fenix 9 smartwatches, with the base model featuring an OLED display with a brightness of up to 3,000 nits, making it twice as bright as its predecessor. Starting at $999.99 for the 43mm case option, the Fenix 9 has 50 percent more RAM and an upgraded map engine, allowing for faster panning.

It also comes with a scratch-resistant sapphire lens, an increased 64GB of storage, and a bunch of new software-based features, like Garmin Epic. This feature groups all the workouts you've done over several days, weeks, or months to create an "Epic" that shows your health and performance data within …

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Meta glasses are a workplace menace

2026-08-20T08:24:03-04:00

In August, Toru Hinkle was stocking shelves at their job at Target when they noticed two customers and asked if they needed any help. The men requested a price check on an item - but even after Hinkle told them the item was $20, the customers asked for the price again and again.

"After a while, I realized that I'm basically being pranked, and I noticed the glasses," Hinkle says, referring to the frames with a blinking light. They were the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and the customers were filming. Hinkle eventually called a store manager over, but the pranksters antagonized her, too - asking the price repeatedly, deliberately misgendering Hinkle …

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Nielsen is leaning more on wearables to hear what people are watching

2026-08-19T15:53:09-04:00

In order to beef up its ability to accurately measure viewership data in the streaming era, Nielsen is moving forward with a plan to use more information gathered from its partners' wearable devices.

Today, Nielsen announced "a number of key enhancements" that are being added to its data capturing process ahead of the upcoming fall TV season. As of August 31st, Nielsen's co-viewing data will now include information obtained from smart-watch like gadgets that Neilsen's research panelists wear in their homes. The Portable People Meter (PPM) Wearables - which Nielsen first began deploying nationally in 2016 to bolster its audio, local TV, and …

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The wearable future is stuck in weird, experimental, existential limbo

2026-08-19T13:56:23-04:00

AI on the wrist is one such experimental feature.

For the past week, I've been testing the Google Pixel Watch 5. In many ways, it's a typical, modern smartwatch. In others, it feels like one part of a wearable future that's increasingly in flux. Everyone I've spoken to in wearable tech has roughly the same goal - soon, your tracker of choice will feature a helpful AI coach, "check engine" alerts that preventively flag hard-to-detect health conditions, and personalized health re …

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Google’s Pixel Watch 5 is promising — but it isn’t finished

2026-08-19T13:59:31-04:00

Please clap for my Gemini-inspired nails.

The Google Pixel Watch 5 has, in many ways, been the hardest Pixel Watch to accurately review. Barely anything has changed in terms of hardware. The sizes are the same, the chips and battery got an itty-bitty boost, and there's a new pyrite satin case finish. Instead, the big updates are all software-related: This year's watch gets ambitious new health features that expand on the overhauled Google Health app and its AI coach introduced with the Fitbit Air earlier this year.

The only problem is those health updates aren't here. The watch's most interesting new features - blood pressure and insulin resistance trends, nightly sleep breathing q …

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