Live-captioning smart glasses 2026: Wired tested Even G2 and four rivals

At a glance:

• Even's G2 wins on value and power with no subscription required, though it needs an internet connection for most features.
• Five captioning glasses were tested — Leion Hey 2, XRAI AR2, AirCaps, Captify Pro, and Even G2 — with detailed battery, weight, language, and pricing comparisons.
• None of the devices combine offline capability, long battery life, and comfort, but Even's G2 comes closest to that sweet spot.

The field: five captioning glasses compared

WIRED put five live-captioning smart glasses head-to-head and found that while the market is growing, most devices overlap heavily in design and feature set. The standout is Even's G2, which the reviewer calls the only pair that delivers a compelling mix of power and affordability with no subscription required — everything ships included out of the box. The trade-off is real, though: the G2 is largely devoid of offline features, so the glasses need to stay connected to the internet to do much of anything. For a device with this much capability, the reviewer said that trade-off is worth it.

The other four devices in the test each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Leion's Hey 2 positions itself as the price leader in the market, and its prescription lenses range from $90 to $299 — both the hardware and the add-ons are relatively affordable. However, the frames are heavy: 50 grams without lenses and 60 grams with them. A full charge delivers six to eight hours of operation, and the charging case adds juice for up to 12 recharges. The interface is praised for its clean layout, offering caption, translation, "free talk" (two-way translation), and a teleprompter feature through its app.

XRAI's AR2 uses the same manufacturer as Leion, so the glasses weigh the same and share similar battery specs — up to eight hours on the frames and another 96 hours when recharging with the case. XRAI claims its display is significantly brighter than competitors', though the reviewer did not notice a meaningful difference in day-to-day use. The feature set is roughly comparable, but XRAI lacks Leion's teleprompter and does not offer AI summaries of conversations. Its app is also less user-friendly, particularly when navigating among the exhaustive 300 language options — only 20 are included without a Pro subscription.

Leion Hey 2 and XRAI AR2: subscription models and language limits

Leion's pricing model is unusual: the premium plan is sold by the minute, not the month, so users need to remember to toggle the mode off when they are done. The rates are $10 for 120 minutes, $50 for 1,200 minutes, and $200 for 6,000 minutes. Using Pro minutes expands language support from nine to 143. The reviewer noted a persistent bug — AI summaries often appeared in Chinese rather than English, regardless of the recorded language — and there is no offline use supported at all.

XRAI takes a different approach with its Pro subscription, sold both by the month and the minute. At $20 per month you get a maximum of 600 upgraded transcription minutes and 300 translation minutes; at $40 per month the allowances rise to 1,800 and 1,200 minutes respectively. For prescription lenses, add $140 to $170. On the positive side, XRAI does include a rudimentary offline mode that works better than most competitors.

AirCaps and Captify Pro: bulk, battery woes, and premium pricing

AirCaps Smart Glasses are the bulkiest option in the roundup. The frames weigh 53 grams without add-on lenses, and the company could not say how much extra weight prescription lenses would add — safe to say these are the heaviest captioning glasses on the market. Battery life is short at just two to four hours, with about 10 recharges packed into a comically large case. One option to extend runtime is to clip on AirCaps' rechargeable 13-gram Power Capsules ($79 for two), which can provide 12 to 18 extra hours of juice.

AirCaps keeps its interface simple: a single button starts and stops recording. Transcriptions and translations are free in nine languages, and the Pro package ($20 per month) adds better accuracy, access to more than 60 languages, and on-demand AI summaries (though only if recordings are long enough). Five hours of Pro features are free each month, and the offline mode works reasonably well. The downside is comfort — the bulky frames are not practical for long-term wear.

Captify Pro is the most expensive option in the roundup, costing up to $1,399 with prescription lenses. On the plus side it is relatively svelte at 40 grams (52 grams with lenses) and supports about 80 languages, which is impressive. Battery life is around four hours with no charging case — the glasses must be charged directly via an included USB-connected dongle. The reviewer found Captify's prescription lenses to be the blurriest of the bunch, making the captions harder to read. Offline transcription is supported but performance suffered badly when disconnected, and translations did not work at all offline. The $15 per month plan improves accuracy, adds speaker differentiation, and unlocks AI summaries. Prescription lenses range from $99 to $600.

What to watch next

The captioning-glasses market still has room to mature. Every device in this test requires either a persistent internet connection or accepts significant feature trade-offs when offline. Battery life across the board stays in the single-digit-hour range, and comfort remains a real issue for heavier frames. Even's G2 currently offers the best overall value proposition, but anyone shopping should weigh the importance of offline capability, language breadth, and wearing comfort against the subscription or upfront cost of each model.