---
title: "Facebook Sees a Future in Augmented Reality Glasses"
description: "## Zuckerglass"
date: "2018-10-25"
modified: "2018-10-25"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ar-facebook-augmented-reality"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
  - "Virtual Reality"
tags:
  - "augmented reality"
  - "facebook"
  - "the digest"
---

# Facebook Sees a Future in Augmented Reality Glasses

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

## Zuckerglass

The year is 2025. You're trying to pay attention to your nephew blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, but bright-red Facebook notifications keep flickering in your peripheral vision.

The social media giant really wants its breakout hardware device to be a pair of augmented reality glasses. That's according to the company's head of AR, Ficus Kirkpatrick, who [blabbed to](<https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/24/facebook-ar-headset/>) *TechCrunch* during an AR event last week in LA.

"We want to see \[AR\] glasses come into reality," Kirkpatrick said, "and I think we want to play our part in helping to bring them there.”

## Eye Spy

This isn't the first sign that Facebook wants to dominate the AR space. It [bought the breakout VR company Oculus](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/525881/what-zuckerberg-sees-in-oculus-rift/>) in 2014. Last year, it filed [a patent](<http://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?PageNum=0&docid=20170235143&IDKey=2E56872310AB&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fappft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO1%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPG01%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html%2526r%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526s1%3D20170235143.PGNR.%2526OS%3D%2526RS%3D>) for what look an awful lot like smart spectacles.

If heads-up glasses are the company's next push, it'll need to overcome decades of missteps in the space, from Nintendo's [disastrous Virtual Boy](<https://www.fastcompany.com/3050016/unraveling-the-enigma-of-nintendos-virtual-boy-20-years-later>) to Google's [failed-and-revived](<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/23/the-return-of-google-glass-surprising-merit-in-failure-enterprise-edition>) Project Glass. And Kirkpatrick cautioned to *TechCrunch* that the tech likely won't be here for at least five years.

If the company dreams up a compelling product, though, we're all going to need to ask ourselves whether we want Facebook notifications clogging up our views as much as they already do our screens.

**READ MORE**: [Facebook Confirms It's Building Augmented Reality Glasses](<https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/24/facebook-ar-headset/>) \[*TechCrunch*\]

***More on augmented reality: These Are The Lightest Augmented Reality Smart Glasses on The Market***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)