Best Live-Captioning Smart Glasses (2026), WIRED tested

Unlike the different glasses I tested, Even doesn’t merchantability a subscription plan; everything’s included retired of the box.

The lone downside I could find with the G2 is that it is mostly devoid of offline features, truthful the glasses person to beryllium connected to the net to bash overmuch of anything. Considering the G2’s capabilities, it’s a trade-off I americium much than blessed to make.

Other Captioning Glasses I Tested

There are plentifulness of susceptible captioning eyeglasses connected the market, but they are amazingly akin successful some looks and features. While galore are rather capable, nary had the operation of powerfulness and affordability that I got with Even’s G2. Here’s a rundown of everything other I tested.

Leion’s Hey 2 is the terms person successful this market, and adjacent its medicine lenses ($90 to $299) are beauteous affordable. The hardware, however, is heavy: 50 grams without lenses, 60 grams with them. A afloat complaint gets you six to 8 hours of operation; the lawsuit adds foodstuff for up to 12 recharges.

I similar the Leion interface, which lays retired caption, translation, “free talk” (two-way translation), and a teleprompter diagnostic connected its cleanable app. You get entree to 9 languages; utilizing Pro minutes expands that to 143. Leion sells its premium program by the minute, not the month, truthful you request to retrieve to toggle this mode disconnected erstwhile you don’t request it. Pricing is $10 for 120 minutes, $50 for 1,200 minutes, and $200 for 6,000 minutes. There’s nary offline usage supported, and I often struggled to get AI summaries to amusement up successful English alternatively of Chinese (regardless of the recorded language).

You’re not seeing double: XRAI and Leion usage the aforesaid shaper for their hardware, and the glasses measurement the same. The artillery spec is besides similar, with up to 8 hours connected the frames and different 96 hours erstwhile recharging with the case. XRAI claims its show is importantly brighter than competitors’, but I didn’t spot overmuch of a quality successful day-to-day use.

The features and idiosyncratic acquisition are astir the same, though Leion’s teleprompter diagnostic isn’t implemented successful XRAI’s app, and it doesn’t connection AI summaries of conversations. I besides didn’t find XRAI’s app arsenic user-friendly arsenic Leion’s version, peculiarly erstwhile trying to power among the admittedly exhaustive 300 connection options. Only 20 of these are included without ponying up for a Pro subscription, which is sold some by the period and minute: $20/month gets you a max of 600 upgraded transcription minutes and 300 translation minutes; $40/month gets you 1,800 and 1,200 minutes, respectively. On the positive side, XRAI does person a rudimentary offline mode that works amended than most. For medicine lenses, adhd $140 to $170.

AirCaps does not marque its ain medicine lenses. Instead, you indispensable acquisition a brace of $39 “lens holders” and instrumentality them to an optician if you privation medicine inserts. I was incapable to trial these with medicine lenses and yet had to effort them retired implicit my regular glasses, which worked good capable for short-term testing. Frames measurement a hefty 53 grams without add-on lenses; the institution couldn’t archer maine however overmuch other value medicine lenses would adhd to that, but it’s harmless to accidental these are the bulkiest and heaviest captioning glasses connected the market. Despite the weight, they lone transportation 2 to 4 hours of artillery life, with 10 oregon truthful recharges packed into the comically ample case. Another enactment is to clip 1 of AirCaps’ rechargeable 13-gram Power Capsules ($79 for two) to 1 of the arms, which tin supply 12 to 18 other hours of juice.

The AirCaps diagnostic database and interface marque it possibly the simplest of each these devices, with conscionable a azygous fastener to commencement and halt recording. Transcriptions and translations are disposable for escaped successful 9 languages. For $20/month, you tin adhd the Pro package, which offers amended accuracy, entree to much than 60 languages, and the enactment to make AI summaries connected request (though lone if recordings are agelong enough). As a bonus: Five hours of Pro features are escaped each month. Offline mode works beauteous well, too. The lone atrocious quality is that these bulky frames conscionable aren’t comfy capable for semipermanent wear.

The astir costly enactment connected the marketplace (up to $1,399 with medicine lenses!) weighs a comparatively svelte 40 grams (52 grams with lenses) and offers astir 4 hours of artillery life. There’s nary charging case; the glasses indispensable beryllium charged straight utilizing the included USB-connected dongle.

The glasses are highly simple, offering transcription and translation features—with enactment for astir 80 languages, which is impressive. I unluckily recovered the medicine lenses Captify sent to beryllium the blurriest of the bunch, making the captions comparatively hard to read. And portion the instrumentality supports offline transcription, show suffered severely erstwhile disconnected from the internet. I couldn’t get translations to enactment astatine each erstwhile offline. For $15/month, you get amended accuracy and talker differentiation, and entree to AI summaries of conversations. Prescription lenses outgo betwixt $99 and $600.