Meta AI App built with Llama 4
100 comments
·April 29, 2025sheepscreek
madeofpalk
iOS apps cannot access your Safari browsing history. I'm not even sure what "purchase history" actually means? They can't access photos and videos without explicitly granting permission.
This surely would just refer to the massive trove of data Facebook has already gathered about you.
pornel
Most likely it does what their other apps do: opens URLs in an in-app "browser" WebView, which is then injected with a ton of trackers that have unlimited access to everything you browse in their app.
iOS apps are allowed to add arbitrary JavaScript to any page on any domain, even HTTPS, as long as it's a WebView and not the standalone Safari app.
consumer451
This is generally worse UX vs. just opening Safari. There have been exactly zero times where I was happy that a link opened in an app's WebView, instead of in Safari or the appropriate external app.
Why does a seemingly privacy-focused Apple create the compromisable WebView system for apps? Is there some weird edge case for apps that they need this, for a non-evil reason?
tantalor
Beware? Why? The app is marketed as providing personalized experience. How is it supposed to do that if it doesn't know anything about you?
fourside
Because Meta have repeatedly shown themselves to not be good stewards of this type of data in the past.
ASalazarMX
If you already have Facebook/Messenger in your phone, and haven't bothered to change default permissions, I guess Meta AI will only add your voice, image, and textual interactions to your already thick dossier. Not much more harm done.
Might as well but the Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses and embrace the exposure already.
beau
Web: https://meta.ai/
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/meta-ai/id1558240027
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.s...
shaneos
Congrats Beau!
ulfw
Such weird Apps. Typical Meta.
The iOS app screenshots are all about Wayfarer AR glasses. Nothing about Meta.AI.
jjordan
The app id (com.facebook.stella) was for an app called Meta View. It looks like they just rebranded an app that was previously used for Smart glasses and is now using it as their official AI app.
Why rebrand rather than create a new app? Who knows. Maybe to demonstrate a high(ish) download count at launch, maybe for app/play store credibility.
WhitneyLand
Who is this app adding value for? How is it differentiated?
The models are not sota, the feature set is no stronger than comparable apps, the privacy situation is as expected.
Not seeing it.
mirekrusin
They will show you personalized ads after knowing everything about your life, how cool is that?
ASalazarMX
I'd pay to get a copy of my dossier from them. Why haven't they monetized that?
"Here, this is what we spied from you last year. Consider most data brokers have already shamelessly traded with this info. Be more careful this year.
Regards, Mark."
Adrig
This is about strengthening their own ecosystem (glasses, whatsapp), not attracting power users from competitors
energy123
You don't want an automated em-dash inserter?
vineyardmike
Tons of people use Metas existing products. Like an astonishing amount of people, despite the attitude of the typical HN crowd.
Many of those people aren’t particularly tech savvy, and aren’t hip to the latest technology. By embedding “Meta AI” into each app, they’re reaching an audience far greater than can be reached by most non-Google AI products.
Once they get hooked on using Meta AI (because it was there, and they didn’t know to search for others), they’re reaching may want a dedicated app.
ToucanLoucan
I talk and work with plenty of non-tech-savvy people. They don't give a flying fuck about Meta AI.
The HN crowd is indeed overly dismissive of Meta and their reach across numerous markets, and my experience is not the end-all-be-all of data collection of course. But I have yet to see any casual users of anything who give a ghost of a shit about AI. Like I'm not even saying they're anti-AI or skeptics or whatever, I'm saying: any time in the last like 2 years when some product or another has had some damn AI or another integrated into it: reactions range from indifference to irritation.
Most I've seen is people see it, wonder what it is, ask it a few things, and then get bored with it and go back to what they were doing.
greybox
I don't understand why. Why would I want a Facebook AI assistant? I dont understand why its in messenger and WhatsApp either?
laweijfmvo
Facebook doesn't, Meta does. Social media is dead, per Zuckerberg, didn't you hear?
jajko
Why the fuck they had to infest the only reasonable product (they bought) - whatsapp. Outside of US its more used than sms or any other chat, including apple ones even on apple platform. No other meta app has any reason to exist on the phone of any reasonable user (I know most aren't, but this is HN and not army of social network addicts wasting their life online).
I guess it was to be expected, but I hate meta products with passion and removed them from phone many years ago (when they were leeching battery hard even when not used), cancerous leech of humanity for the goal of getting fer people ridiculously rich and richer.
hshshshshsh
[flagged]
sharkjacobs
It's astonishing how much community goodwill and excitement there was for llama when it first came out, and how much it has plummeted since then.
Partly the sheen has worn off, and of course there are other interesting "open source" llm offerings now, but I don't think it can be overstated how much Meta is just a toxic brand.
Threads had a very similar arc.
threecheese
WRT Llama, IMO it’s only because they couldn’t infect a model with ad tracking that it overcame the tarnish. As long as I don’t need to run their conventional software to use it, I consider it safe.
I’m on the fence about their API product( technically they could tie it to one’s identity (as OpenAI could) but I’d imagine that would be less valuable given they can’t know which human is really behind it.
freedomben
fwiw this really doesn't mesh with my experience. The goodwill and excitement is still there for Llama, though diluted by the abundance of model options out there. That said, my lense does tilt heavily towards self hosting where the community is probably overall much more appreciative and excited about Meta's AI
recursive4
This might be interesting if it pulled data from Meta properties (e.g. the Instagram accounts I am following) in order to personally contextualize its responses.
bhl
I'm surprised the chatbot on Instagram doesn't already have that. Giving an LLM access to a highly personalized search tool (the scroll algorithm) would make asking for recommendations so much better.
nthingtohide
Meta can turn this App into a sort of my assistant. I can dump any link into it. And since those links form the basis of my worldview helping the assistant understand me better. Currently only Google has a monopoly on such a possible futuristic assistant.
lvl155
No thanks. I am not using anything Zuck made with clear intent of screwing it up down the road.
jajko
"People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks."
_fat_santa
Meta has terrible "separation of concerns" within their apps. I just downloaded Messenger the other day and realized that they now also show you your feed within messenger. Why?? If i wanted to see my feed I would have downloaded the Facebook app. Same with WhatsApp and Instagram trying to cram down AI.
My theory is you have these app "fiefdoms" that are run by different product managers and all of them are trying to steal users from the other product to show that their product is driving growth. So you end up with 10 apps that implement 90% of the same features.
Byamarro
Probably there are many people like me - I use messenger and not the Facebook. But they REALLY want ppl like me to use the Facebook.
toomuchtodo
Zuckerberg suggested wiping everyone's Facebook friends - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43694861 - April 2025 (no comments)
Mark Zuckerberg suggested wiping everyone’s Facebook friends and making users start again to boost the platform’s relevance - https://fortune.com/2025/04/15/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-inst... | https://archive.today/01pLO
atonse
He'd suggest doing that more than just the blindingly obvious thing of just allowing us to turn off the algorithm and only get content from friends?
What a tool.
frizlab
The lowkey makes sense. It’s more or less what they did with “close friends” on instagram, no?
skizm
Pretty sure Zuck makes these decisions and doesn’t give individual apps within Meta much freedom. I recall Instagram (after being acquired) wanting to develop their app a certain way and Zuck kept giving them a hard “no” on a lot of features he thought would steal users from Facebook. Same deal with WhatsApp. I think the Founders of WhatsApp left Meta due to this dynamic (among other things).
vl
This is rational strategy for WhatsApp founders: why would they stay after being paid out? There is no way they can earn more on top of what was already paid.
derektank
The WhatsApp founders received the majority of their compensation from the deal in the form of equity in Facebook. As the leaders of an important product unit, I think they could have reasonably expected that staying and continuing to improve the product would have resulted in their Facebook equity increasing in value, some of which they were probably barred from immediately liquidating.
skizm
Not sure on the specifics of the WhatsApp deal, but often times the founders, or key employees will be paid in stock from the new company that vests over some number of years (4 usually). Some or a lot of it might be up front, but to get 100% of it, they might have had to stay for a few years.
0cf8612b2e1e
Surely having billions in the bank was part of why WhatsApp left.
reverendsteveii
it's all about getting you into the endless feed of content. that's where their money lives, and that's where they want you to be.
evan_
Same with Instagram. If you tap in the wrong place you're looking at Threads all of the sudden.
lurk2
Threads supposedly has 250 million monthly active users now. I’ve always suspected there was some fraud going on there, because I don’t know anyone who uses it.
xnx
It's a fad. Before you know it, "everything" apps will be popular.
pixl97
"In the West"?, If I recall correctly everything apps are pretty popular in Eastern countries.
kristofferR
This is pure speculation, but perhaps it is a way to prevent being forced to do a corporate breakup? I guess it's harder to split up if it seems less like separate products. Zuckerberg tried sucking up to Trump, but the FTC case against Meta is still in full force.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/4/15/mark-zuckerberg-...
Roritharr
Interesting that they tie the glasses so into this new app, while all AI functionality of the glasses still being disabled in the EU.
arisAlexis
yes I feel cheated for buying those glasses that are essentially earbuds in eu
ulfw
Should generally not buy anything meta.
Their AI doesn't work in my country and honestly I don't feel left out. Whatever
reginald78
Even in the US you run the risk of having your hardware soft bricked by having your linked Meta account banned for some vague infraction which is probably just cover for not exposing yourself sufficiently to Meta.
bilekas
They added some AI slip chat to their WhatsApp client that seems to have context info about my chats and I can't opt out of that. It's also got a permanent icon hovering at the bottom right which I tend to hit while scrolling through contacts.
They've become the parody of how to do AI tools badly. It's disgusting.
markdog12
Why do the AI web apps not have voice mode?
beAbU
Does this mean they'll remove the meta ai stuff from whatsapp?
cruzcampo
Heh, no. Everything is AI now. We've spent so much money on this junk, you ungrateful users better start using it!
lurk2
They added it onto mine about a month ago. It disappeared for a couple of weeks and showed up again a few days ago. The search bar now says: “Ask Meta AI or Search,” which I’m sure means every search you make gets sent to their servers.
BEWARE! On iOS, the app will have access to a five-page-long list of data, including your browsing history, purchase history, phone number, physical address, precise location, photos, videos, and more. I almost wish they’d stop f’ing around with advertising and make it a paid subscription app. I might even subscribe to it then (like I have with SuperGrok and ChatGPT Plus).
Maybe their audience is people who can’t be bothered or can’t afford it.