Meta might soon be on your wrist, not just in your feed.

For a company that’s spent the last few years talking about the metaverse, mixed reality, and AI smart glasses, the idea of a Meta-branded smartwatch feels like the most normal thing it’s done in a while. Yet the timing — and the way Meta is reportedly doing it — says a lot about where wearables and AI hardware are headed next.

According to The Information reports, Meta has quietly revived a long-shelved smartwatch project and is targeting a launch later this year. Internally, the device is said to be codenamed Malibu or “Malibu 2,” and the pitch sounds very familiar: health tracking on your wrist, plus a built‑in Meta AI assistant that’s always available, even when your phone isn’t in your hand. Think Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch, but with Meta’s take on an AI‑first experience and deep hooks into Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and its growing smart‑glasses ecosystem.

If that sounds like déjà vu, it’s because Meta has tried this before. Around 2021–2022, the company experimented with a more experimental smartwatch that reportedly even played with multiple cameras and metaverse tie‑ins — the kind of “sci‑fi first, practicality later” hardware that was very on‑brand for Meta at the time. That project was ultimately canned in 2022 amid cost‑cutting inside Reality Labs and broader scrutiny of Meta’s spending on AR and VR.

What’s different this time is that Malibu 2 sounds boring in the best possible way. Early reporting suggests a far more conventional smartwatch: step counts, heart‑rate and general health tracking, and then a layer of AI on top that tries to make all that data feel more useful and less like a spreadsheet on your wrist. Rather than trying to reinvent the smartwatch as a metaverse controller with cameras strapped on, Meta seems to be building the thing most people actually buy smartwatches for: fitness, notifications, quick replies, and a bit of intelligent assistance.

The AI angle is where Meta hopes to stand out. Meta AI has already started showing up across the company’s apps as a conversational assistant, and putting that directly into a watch gives Meta a way to pitch a truly personal, context‑aware helper that travels with you. In practical terms, that could mean asking your watch for a quick summary of your day, getting smart suggestions based on your calendar or location, or even getting explanations of what your health metrics mean without needing a separate app. On paper, it’s the same kind of story Google tells with Gemini and Apple hints at with its next‑generation Siri plans, but Meta is trying to tie it tightly to its social and AR ecosystem.

That ecosystem piece is important because Malibu 2 isn’t arriving in a vacuum. Meta has had a surprising hit with its Ray‑Ban smart glasses, especially the newer Ray‑Ban Meta and Ray‑Ban Display models that blend classic frames with cameras, speakers, an AI assistant and, in the latest version, an in‑lens display. Those glasses currently rely on a separate “neural band” wrist device for subtle gesture control — a bracelet that reads tiny hand movements so you can interact with the glasses without waving your arms around.

A smartwatch that lives on the same wrist instantly becomes more than “just another watch” in that setup. If Meta can fold the neural band concept into a watch — or at least make the two work in tandem — your wrist becomes the primary input device for everything Meta is building: glasses on your face for display and cameras, a watch on your wrist for control, notifications, health, and AI, and the phone in your pocket as the hub. It’s a very different vision from Apple’s “iPhone + Apple Watch + AirPods” triangle, but the logic is similar: once you own the set, you’re heavily invested in that ecosystem.

There’s a reason Meta seems more confident in this space now. The company’s Ray‑Ban smart glasses have reportedly sold in the millions, enough that Meta has had to slow or pause some international rollout because demand has outstripped supply. It’s rare to see Meta with a piece of hardware that people actually want to wear in public, and that success appears to have given the company cover to push deeper into wearables at a moment when AI gadgets are back in fashion.

Zoom out, and Malibu 2 looks like Meta’s attempt to plug an obvious gap in its line‑up. Apple has spent nearly a decade turning the Apple Watch into a health and fitness staple. Samsung, Google, Garmin, Fitbit and others fight for everyone else’s wrist. If Meta wants to be taken seriously as a consumer hardware player — not just the company behind Quest headsets and some cool glasses — it needs a mainstream device that can be used by people who may never put on a VR headset. A watch that tracks walks, workouts, sleep, maybe some stress metrics, and layers Meta AI on top is a relatively low‑risk way to do that.

Of course, walking into the smartwatch market in 2026 is not exactly a gentle stroll. Apple Watch is still the template for most people. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch line has matured into a strong Android counterpart. Google’s Pixel Watch has quietly improved with each generation, and Garmin owns the “serious fitness” niche. Meta isn’t just trying to sell a “good enough” watch; it has to convince people to trust it with even more intimate health data while its reputation on privacy has, let’s say, some history.

That’s one of the big open questions: what does a Meta smartwatch’s privacy story look like? Health tracking data is sensitive in a way that your Instagram likes, or Facebook comments, are not, and regulators are a lot more interested in how that information is stored, processed, and shared. If Meta wants Malibu 2 to be taken seriously as a health device — let alone something that could eventually chase medical‑grade certifications — it will need to spell out how this information lives inside (or outside) its ad‑powered machine. So far, Meta has reportedly stayed quiet publicly about the project, which isn’t unusual for something still in development, but it means the company hasn’t had to answer any of those tough questions yet.

Another unknown is the software story. Earlier leaks about Meta’s smartwatch efforts suggested the company was exploring an Android‑based platform, similar to what it uses on Quest headsets, instead of building its own wearable OS from scratch. That’s the pragmatic route: you get compatibility with existing app frameworks and tools, and you can move faster. But it also means Meta needs to carve out a reason to pick its watch over other Android‑friendly options beyond “this one talks nicely to your smart glasses.”

Timeline‑wise, the reports all point to a “later this year” window, which likely means a debut aligned with Meta’s usual fall hardware rhythm or its annual Connect conference. It would sit alongside an updated version of Meta’s Ray‑Ban Display smart glasses and ahead of a more ambitious pair of mixed‑reality glasses, said to be code‑named Phoenix and pushed to 2027. That sequencing is telling: get the mainstream, everyday wearables out first — watch and glasses — then slowly move people toward more immersive MR hardware once they’re already used to living inside Meta’s devices.

If you’re a regular person trying to make sense of all this, the immediate impact is simpler: sometime soon, you might have the option to buy a Meta watch that looks and behaves like any other modern smartwatch, but with tighter links to the social apps you already use and an AI assistant that feels like an extension of those apps. Maybe you glance at your wrist to see who just DM’d you on Instagram, ask Meta AI for a quick reply, and then tap your Ray‑Ban glasses to capture a short clip and post it — all without pulling your phone out once. That’s the kind of loop Meta is clearly trying to build.

Whether that sounds useful or exhausting probably depends on how you feel about Meta already being in so many parts of your digital life. For fans of the Ray‑Ban glasses and people who like the idea of an AI assistant that lives across apps and devices, Malibu 2 could be a natural next step. For others, the idea of handing Meta constant access to your heart rate, sleep habits, and daily movement will be a much harder sell, no matter how slick the hardware looks.

What’s clear is that Meta isn’t backing away from hardware or from AI. If anything, this rumored smartwatch is a sign the company has learned a few lessons: tone down the sci‑fi, focus on everyday utility, and then quietly use AI and clever integration to push people deeper into its world. Whether Malibu 2 becomes a staple like Apple Watch or ends up as another experimental detour will depend on how well Meta can balance that ambition with trust — and how much more tech people are willing to strap to their bodies in the name of convenience.