Hologram (Meta)
| Hologram | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Photorealistic avatar for video calls |
| Industry | Video calling |
| Developer | Meta Platforms |
| Supported Devices | Meta Ray-Ban Display (Early Access, US), Meta VR Glasses (at launch) |
| Release Date | Announced 23 September 2026; Early Access on Meta Ray-Ban Display planned for fall 2026 (US); Meta VR Glasses in spring 2027 |
Hologram is a video-calling feature developed by Meta Platforms that shows the other people on a call a photorealistic, real-time digital representation of the user instead of a camera feed. Meta announced it at Meta Connect 2026 on 23 September 2026, describing it as "a photorealistic, real-time digital representation of you that lets the people you call see your face and expressions", created from "a quick self-capture with your phone".[1] Meta presents it as a way for the person on the other end of a hands-free call from glasses to see the wearer, without the wearer propping up or holding a phone.[2]
Meta announced two versions. On the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, a Hologram of the user's face is driven only by the wearer's voice and begins rolling out in Early Access on WhatsApp to users in the United States "later this fall".[2] On the Meta VR Glasses, which go on sale in spring 2027 for US$1,299.99, Hologram shows the user's real-time expressions and reactions, places the other caller in front of the wearer with spatial audio, and works with calling apps "from WhatsApp to Zoom".[3] As of 25 September 2026 neither version had been released to the public.[1][2]
UploadVR described Hologram as Meta's take on the Personas of Apple Vision Pro, and reported that the launch version is a generated video stream rather than a volumetric implementation of Meta's Codec Avatars research.[4]
Background
Meta has researched photorealistic avatars for telepresence under the name Codec Avatars for years. UploadVR noted at Connect 2026 that more than seven years had passed since Meta (then Facebook) first showed a research prototype of Codec Avatars, while the company's consumer VR products had continued to use cartoon-style avatars.[4]
Before Connect 2026, the press reported that Meta was preparing a photorealistic calling demonstration. On 16 September 2026, Road to VR relayed a report by The Information that Meta planned a demo of "hologram-like video calls" using an advanced version of Codec Avatars, and that Mark Zuckerberg and chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth were expected to present it live during the keynote.[5] UploadVR, covering the same report, wrote that The Information expected "a full-body, photorealistic hologram call experience" with Bosworth appearing as the hologram. UploadVR also reported that multiple Meta Horizon OS packages contained what appeared to be sub-frameworks for a "Hologram Calling" system, with extensive references to Codec Avatars, and that strings in the Meta AI mobile app described the setup of a "Hologram" avatar.[6] These were press reports ahead of the event; Meta's own Connect announcements do not mention Codec Avatars.[1][3]
Announcement
Meta announced Hologram on 23 September 2026, the first day of Connect 2026, in its Connect recap and in newsroom posts for Meta Ray-Ban Display and Meta VR Glasses.[1][2][3] According to UploadVR, the keynote included a Hologram call in which Bosworth called Zuckerberg.[4] Meta's summary of the event, published the next day, listed "a personalized hologram to help you stay connected on video calls" among the Meta Ray-Ban Display updates.[7]
How it works
Setup
A Hologram is created in the Meta AI app on a phone.[2] UploadVR described the process: the user holds up the phone, turns their head up, down and to each side, smiles, and then gives long spoken answers to open-ended questions while the system captures their facial expressions. The capture also records the user's clothing and background, which then appear in every Hologram call. After a few minutes of server-side processing, the Hologram is ready.[4] Engadget reported that the questions in its demo included "what does your perfect day look like from start to finish" and that the whole setup for the Ray-Ban Display version takes about five minutes.[8]
For the full-body version on Meta VR Glasses, Engadget reported that the user does not need to "teach" the avatar their expressions, because the glasses' inward-facing cameras and sensors read the user's face.[8] Gizmodo reported that, according to a Meta representative, a full-body scan takes several minutes and uses a phone camera; Gizmodo added that it was unclear whether Holograms on Meta VR Glasses would be full-body from launch.[9]
On Meta Ray-Ban Display
Meta Ray-Ban Display has no eye or face tracking, so its Hologram is driven by audio alone.[10] Meta states: "Your hologram is driven entirely by your voice, and the hologram model infers your expression from what you're saying and how you're saying it."[2] The Display version shows the user from the shoulders up.[4]
UploadVR reported that this is a real-time generative AI diffusion model running on Meta's servers, which takes the glasses' microphone audio stream and produces a 2D video stream that is sent to the other caller.[4] Engadget and Digital Trends reported that the avatars are powered by Meta's Muse Realtime Avatar model, and that Meta adds a transparent watermark to all calls that use an avatar so that recipients can tell they are not seeing a normal camera feed.[8][11] In her demo, Engadget's Karissa Bell could see a small preview of herself in the bottom corner of the display while speaking as her avatar.[8]
Meta's announcement names only WhatsApp for the Early Access rollout.[2] Engadget and Gizmodo, after hands-on demos, wrote that the Display version could be used in Zoom calls as well as WhatsApp.[8][9]
According to UploadVR, Meta said the model will later take the glasses' IMU as an input, so that the rotation of the Hologram's head follows the wearer's gyroscope. Meta engineers told UploadVR they were also exploring using the glasses' camera to generate a changing background for each call, using the accelerometer to make the user appear to walk through that environment, and letting users change their clothes with a text prompt instead of repeating the setup.[4]
On Meta VR Glasses
Meta states that on Meta VR Glasses, Hologram provides "a photorealistic digital version of you, including your real-time expressions and reactions". A caller seen through the glasses appears in front of the wearer, with spatial audio placing their voice at their position. Participants who join from a phone or computer see the wearer's Hologram on their screen.[3]
UploadVR reported that this version can be full-body at true scale and is driven by the headset's tracking as well as audio. When two Meta VR Glasses users call each other on WhatsApp, they first see each other in a 3D window; tapping a button at the side of the window switches the call to full-body mode, with the other person's Hologram standing in front of the user.[4] UploadVR also wrote that the full-body version would come to Meta Quest 3 at a later point.[4]
According to UploadVR, the VR version is not a volumetric object: it is "not a Gaussian splat or volume of any kind" and not a Codec Avatar, but a stereoscopic 3D video stream of a fully generated avatar, masked so that only the person is shown. It uses the same real-time AI diffusion approach as the Ray-Ban Display version, in stereoscopic 3D and full-body instead of 2D and shoulders-up.[4] Engadget and Digital Trends likewise reported that the avatars show only a frontal view of the person rather than a full 3D reconstruction.[8][11] Because of this, UploadVR found that the Hologram turned to face the viewer when the viewer leaned too far to the side or walked toward it.[4]
Engadget described the feature as being in an "early preview" stage at Connect. It reported that, at that point, the VR avatars worked only in calls between two pairs of VR glasses, and that a Meta Ray-Ban Display user could not call someone wearing Meta VR Glasses.[8]
Planned developments
Meta told UploadVR that it plans, at some later date and with no timeline given, to upgrade Hologram on Meta VR Glasses to a truly volumetric form that supports co-presence and group conversations. At that point, according to UploadVR, Meta said the technology would also be available to developers to build into their VR apps, replacing the cartoon Meta Avatars SDK, which UploadVR reported is no longer being developed.[4]
Availability
| Device | Version | Calling apps | Region | Timing as announced | Status (25 September 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ray-Ban Display | Shoulders-up, driven by voice[4] | WhatsApp (Early Access)[2] | United States[2] | "Later this fall" (Meta newsroom); "in the coming months" (Connect recap)[2][1] | Announced; rollout planned |
| Meta VR Glasses | Full-body at true scale, driven by headset tracking and audio[4] | Calling apps "from WhatsApp to Zoom"[3] | Not specified | At the glasses' launch in spring 2027[1][3] | Announced |
Meta Ray-Ban Display went on sale in the United Kingdom and Canada on 23 September 2026, with pre-orders in France, Italy and Germany ahead of availability on 13 October 2026. MIXED noted that buyers in those countries would not get Hologram for now, since Meta has limited the Early Access rollout to the US.[12] MIXED also noted that Meta had not said what the person on the other end of a call needs or whether Hologram calls cost anything.[12]
Reception
Journalists tried both versions in demos at Connect 2026. In UploadVR's hands-on, David Heaney took a WhatsApp call from a Meta staff member wearing Meta Ray-Ban Display and at first assumed he was seeing the view from the staffer's selfie camera. He wrote that he "let out a slight gasp" and that the result was "entirely plausible", although he could see small flaws in his own Hologram. He questioned how useful the Display version would be, since the person being called sees it on a phone screen where spatial avatars have no advantage.[4] For the VR version, Heaney wrote that the full-body avatar worked well when he stood still or sat, but that fine details such as the eyes looked blocky, which Meta engineers told him may partly have been caused by Wi-Fi problems at the event. He also wrote that "the illusion completely broke" when he leaned to the side or walked toward the Hologram, because it rotated to face him "exactly like a billboard sprite in an old video game".[4]
In Engadget's hands-on, Karissa Bell wrote that during a WhatsApp call with a Meta representative she "didn't immediately clock" that she was speaking to an avatar. She found the VR version "definitely much more natural looking than Apple's 'persona' avatars", while noting distortion toward the avatar's feet and some blurring at the edges of the head.[8]
Gizmodo's James Pero wrote that the full-body holograms were "a bit on the low-res side" and not entirely photorealistic, summed up the effect as "Not uncanny valley, but maybe a small uncanny hill", and said the illusion suffered when he moved around. He found his own Display-version Hologram "jarring and a little off-putting", and raised the question of trusting Meta with a user's digital likeness; he reported that Meta told him the likeness stays private to the user.[9] MIXED pointed out that on Meta Ray-Ban Display nothing on the glasses observes the wearer's face, and that Meta had published no accuracy figures for inferring expressions from speech.[12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Everything We Announced at Meta Connect 2026". Meta. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-23. https://www.meta.com/blog/meta-connect-2026-everything-we-announced/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 "New Features for Meta Ray-Ban Display". About Meta. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-23. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/new-features-for-meta-ray-ban-display-navigation-hologram/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Introducing Meta VR Glasses: A Cinema, Courtside Seat, and Workspace in Just 100 Grams". About Meta. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-23. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/introducing-meta-vr-glasses-3d-movies-immersive-live-sports-100-grams/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 David Heaney (2026-09-25). "Hologram: Meta Is Finally Set To Ship Realistic Avatars, And We Tried Them". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-hologram-realistic-avatars-meta-vr-glasses-connect-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ Scott Hayden (2026-09-16). "Meta Reportedly Unveiling Next-gen MR Headset at Connect, Hologram-like Call Experience". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/meta-project-phoenix-connect-unveiling-codec-avatar/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ Luna (2026-09-18). "Meta Could Demo Next-Gen Headset At Connect With Full-Body Codec Avatars". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-could-demo-phoenix-headset-at-connect-with-full-body-codec-avatars/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ "The Biggest News From Connect 2026". About Meta. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-24. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/the-biggest-news-from-connect-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Karissa Bell (2026-09-23). "Meta's new holographic avatars are here and they're surprisingly real". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2267223/meta-holograph-avatar-for-ai-and-vr-glasses-update-hands-on/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 James Pero (2026-09-25). "Meta's Unnerving Holograms Might Just Break Your Brain". Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/meta-holograms-might-just-break-your-brain-2000816788. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ Scott Hayden (2026-09-23). "Meta Ray-Ban Display is Finally Rolling Out Internationally Starting Today". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/meta-ray-ban-display-int-launch-connect-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Vikhyaat Vivek (2026-09-24). "Meta is bringing full-body hologram video calls to its smart glasses through WhatsApp". Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/meta-is-bringing-full-body-hologram-video-calls-to-its-smart-glasses-through-whatsapp/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chris Steven (2026-09-24). "Meta Ray-Ban Display gets hologram calls on WhatsApp, driven by your voice, not your face". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/meta-ray-ban-display-hologram-calls-whatsapp-voice-driven/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.