An unofficial emulator runs RayNeo iO glasses firmware on a Mac, but its core is private
A developer has built an emulator that runs the unmodified firmware of RayNeo's iO smart glasses on a Mac and shows the glasses' display in a window. Only part of the project is public, though. The open-source release contains the Mac viewer app and an outline of how the system works, while the parts that actually emulate the hardware stay private.
One of the photographs RayNeo publishes on its own listing for the RayNeo iO Smart Glasses, the pair whose firmware this emulator boots Image: RayNeo
The developer calls this "open shell, closed core". The public code cannot run a full emulation by itself and includes no firmware, so readers cannot try it.
What the full version does
According to the developer, the complete emulator boots to the glasses' normal home screen and behaves like real hardware. The crown can be pressed and turned, the clock and battery run, the display and graphics are emulated, and the glasses respond to their usual wake word and to a head-up gesture.
A second image from the same RayNeo iO listing. RayNeo has no involvement in the project Image: RayNeo
A virtual phone connects over Bluetooth and drives the features that normally need one, such as live captions, notifications, the recorder and software updates. Phone calls work too, with audio from the speaker. Running at full speed needs a modified version of Renode, the open-source tool used to model the glasses' chip.
None of this can be checked independently while the core stays private.
A third image from RayNeo's own iO listing. The emulator boots this model's shipping firmware without modifying it Image: RayNeo
Not affiliated with RayNeo
The project says it is unofficial, not endorsed by RayNeo or chipmaker Bestechnic, and that it only runs on a computer and never writes to real glasses.
The iO went on sale in September, and developers have been quick to take it apart. An unofficial Mac tool already splits the glasses' two microphones into separate audio inputs. The same developer behind the emulator also released Spare io, a replacement launcher whose iPhone app installs new firmware over Bluetooth and warns that this could brick the glasses. That project keeps its core private as well.
