One of the chief problems with “luxury surveillance” devices, like smart glasses with baked-in video recording cameras, is that they often look indistinguishable from regular eyewear, meaning you might be recorded without knowing it.
But now there is an app that can detect and alert you when someone nearby is wearing smart glasses, or potentially other always-recording tech.
The Android app, aptly named Nearby Glasses, constantly scans for nearby signals that emit from Bluetooth-enabled tech, such as wearable devices made by Meta (and Oakley) and Snap.
The app launches at a time as there is an increasing resistance against always recording or listening devices, which critics say process information about nearby people who do not give their consent.
Yves Jeanrenaud, who made the app, first spoke to 404 Media about the project and said he was in part inspired to make Nearby Glasses after reading the independent publication’s reporting into wearable surveillance devices, including how Meta’s Ray-Bans smart glasses have been used in immigration raids and to film and harass sex workers.
On the app’s project page, Jeanrenaud described smart glasses as an “intolerable intrusion, consent neglecting, horrible piece of tech.”
Jeanrenaud told TechCrunch in an email that his motivation came from “witnessing the sheer scale and inhumane nature of the abuse these smart glasses are involved in.” Jeanrenaud also cited Meta’s decision to implement face recognition as a default feature in its smart glasses, “which I consider to be a huge floodgate pushed open for all kinds of privacy-invasive behaviour.”
The app works by listening for nearby Bluetooth signals that contain a publicly assigned identifier unique to the Bluetooth device’s manufacturer. If the app detects a Bluetooth signal from a nearby hardware device made by Meta or Snap, the app will send the user an alert. (The app also allows users to add their own specific Bluetooth identifiers, allowing the user to detect a broader range of wearable surveillance gadgetry.)
Screenshot Image Credits:Yves Jeanrenaud
Jeanrenaud said that the app may be prone to false positives. This means the app may detect a nearby virtual reality headset made by Meta and alert the user thinking it is a pair of smart glasses made from the same device maker. That said, virtual reality headsets are usually larger and more obvious to someone that they’re wearing the device.
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