Why Smart Glasses Change the Translation Dynamic
When you hold a phone between yourself and another person for translation, the phone is the center of attention. Everyone in the conversation is aware they’re being mediated by a device. Smart glasses shift that dynamic. The translated audio plays near your ear from the glasses speakers. You maintain eye contact. The conversation flows more naturally.
Puente is the only translation app that routes audio through smart glasses automatically, without any third-party integration or manual configuration. It detects the connection and switches modes by itself.
Supported Smart Glasses
Puente works with the following devices:
- Ray-Ban Meta (all generations, including the latest Headliner and Wayfarer styles)
- Xreal Air, Xreal Air 2, Xreal Air 2 Pro
- Even Realities G1
- ActiveLook Engo 2
If your glasses aren’t on this list, they may still work if they use the standard A2DP Bluetooth audio profile — Puente will attempt to detect and route audio automatically.
Step 1: Pair Your Glasses to Your iPhone
Before opening Puente, pair your glasses to your iPhone through iOS Bluetooth settings.
- Open Settings → Bluetooth on your iPhone
- Put your glasses in pairing mode (usually holding the power button until an LED flashes — check your glasses manual for the exact steps)
- Select your glasses from the device list
- Confirm the pairing
Once paired, your glasses will reconnect automatically every time you put them on, as long as Bluetooth is enabled.
Step 2: Open Puente — Mode Switches Automatically
Open Puente while your glasses are connected. The app detects the A2DP Bluetooth audio profile within a few seconds and switches to Smart Glasses mode on its own. You’ll see the mode indicator change at the top of the screen.
You don’t need to navigate to a settings menu or manually select the mode. If you’ve previously used Puente with earbuds or in Tabletop mode, it will still detect the glasses and switch.
Step 3: Set Your Languages
Tap the language selectors to set the two languages you’ll be using. With 109 languages available, use the search field to find your target language quickly.
In Smart Glasses mode, your language plays in your left ear and the translated language plays in the right — or both play through whichever speaker the glasses use, depending on the model. The experience is designed so that you hear the translation without the other person’s audio being blocked.
Step 4: Start a Conversation
Tap the microphone button (or use a paired smart ring — see the smart ring setup guide for gesture mapping). Speak normally. The translation plays through your glasses speakers within a second or two.
For the other person’s side: either hand them a connected earbud, use Remote mode so they have audio on their own phone, or hold the phone near them in Tabletop orientation with the speaker audible to them.
The most seamless setup for two-way conversation is Smart Glasses mode on your side paired with Remote mode on the other person’s device — each person hears in their own language with no shared phone.
Ray-Ban Meta: What Puente Adds
Ray-Ban Meta has its own built-in translation feature through the Meta AI platform. It supports English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and one or two others — a total of 6 languages.
Puente supports 109 languages through the same glasses hardware. If you’re speaking with someone who uses Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, Swahili, Tagalog, or any of the 103 languages Meta’s native feature doesn’t support, Puente is the only path.
The setup is the same: pair the glasses to iPhone, open Puente, and translation routes through the glasses automatically.
Xreal Air and Air 2: Setup Notes
Xreal glasses are primarily designed as a display device — they extend your iPhone screen into a virtual monitor. For translation purposes, only the audio output matters.
Ensure that your Xreal glasses are connected as an audio device (not just a display). In some configurations you may need to confirm the audio output in iOS Control Center by tapping the audio routing button and selecting your glasses. Once audio is routing to the glasses, Puente detects this and switches automatically.
The Privacy Advantage of Directional Open-Ear Audio
One underappreciated aspect of using smart glasses for translation is discretion. When you hold a phone and play a translation on speakerphone, everyone nearby hears both the original speech and the translation. Bystanders know what’s being said.
Smart glasses speakers project audio at close range toward your ear. The other person in the conversation hears the original language (from you speaking) and can hear their translated response from the glasses if they’re close, but incidental listeners don’t get a full broadcast of the conversation. For business negotiations, medical discussions, or any sensitive exchange, this matters.
Going Fully Hands-Free
To remove the phone from the equation entirely, pair a compatible smart ring (Colmi R02, R06, R10, Circular Slim, or similar — see the smart ring guide for the full list). With the ring connected:
- Single tap: start/stop translation
- Long press: switch translation direction
- Double tap: confirm
- Swipe: adjust volume
Related: Best translator app for smart glasses — full buyer guide · Offline mode works through glasses speakers too
Download Puente — connects to your glasses automaticallyYour phone stays in your pocket. Your glasses play the audio. Your ring controls the session. This is the closest current technology gets to transparent, wearable-native real-time translation.