How Meta’s Hologram Calls Work on VR Glasses and Ray-Ban Display

Meta’s Connect 2026 demonstrations presented two approaches to the same problem: when you wear glasses for a video call, a camera on the frames does not show the person you’re talking to your face. Meta’s proposed answer is a photorealistic digital likeness it calls a hologram. On Ray-Ban Display, it stands in for your face on a hands-free call; on VR Glasses, Meta showed a more spatial calling experience. Neither is a live camera view of your face. 1422112

Ray-Ban Display: a likeness animated by your voice

To make a Ray-Ban Display hologram, Meta says you first complete a short self-capture in the Meta AI phone app. In an early hands-on account, Engadget describes using the phone camera to capture different angles of the face, followed by prompts intended to capture the user’s voice. 2221

During a call, the resulting likeness is driven by your voice. It infers expressions from what you say and how you say it, rather than reading your facial expressions live behind the frames. That distinction matters: the person on the other end sees an animated representation of you, not a faithful recording of every reaction. 2028

Meta says this feature will begin rolling out in Early Access on WhatsApp for Ray-Ban Display users in the US later in fall 2026. The frames cost $799 and are already sold, but buying them does not mean hologram calling is available yet. Zoom support for this particular Display feature has not been established. 201416

VR Glasses: a more spatial call

On Meta VR Glasses, the demonstrated ambition is a photorealistic presence that can include a full-body hologram. Reporting on Connect says the avatars are planned for calls in apps such as WhatsApp and Zoom. People joining from an ordinary screen can see the avatar, while a VR Glasses wearer hearing another person’s hologram gets audio positioned at that avatar’s virtual location. 121

That is a different experience from Ray-Ban Display’s small, single-eye display: the VR wearer can encounter an avatar within a virtual space, while the Display feature primarily gives the other caller a view of the wearer’s likeness. Meta has not established that every VR call will show a full-body avatar, and the available reports do not spell out a comparable consumer setup process for VR Glasses. 11239

Meta VR Glasses are expected in spring 2027 at about $1,299–$1,300. That is a hardware launch target, not proof that every demonstrated calling capability will be available to every buyer immediately. 1234

What the demos do—and don’t—prove

Engadget’s early hands-on impression describes the avatars as surprisingly realistic. A preview cannot establish how consistently they will look or behave across everyday calls. In particular, Ray-Ban Display’s inferred expressions should not be confused with live facial tracking. 2128

There is also a naming distinction. Meta separately announced Muse Realtime Avatar as technology that turns Muse Realtime Voice into expressive AI avatars. Its announcements do not clearly establish that Muse Realtime Avatar powers both of these personal-likeness calling experiences, so the names should not be treated as interchangeable. 222