As smart glasses become more mainstream, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban models, it’s getting harder to tell when someone might be secretly recording video in public.
That’s where a new smartphone app called Nearby Glasses comes in. The app scans Bluetooth signals and alerts users when they may be in the presence of smart glasses.
These glasses can look like an ordinary pair of frames but are packed with a shocking amount of tech, like speakers, microphones, AI features, and discreet cameras. Meta’s glasses, which have made the wearable devices more ubiquitous, are manufactured by the French-Italian eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica and are sold under the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands. The company sold over seven million units last year alone. In addition, Snap sells its own Spectacles-branded glasses, and companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung are reportedly working on competing devices.
The tech could soon become even more invasive. The New York Times reported earlier this month, citing unnamed sources, that Meta is working on facial recognition technology called Name Tag. The feature would allow wearers to identify people and pull up information about them through Meta’s AI assistant.
“I consider it to be a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech,” the app’s developer, Yves Jeanrenaud, told 404 Media.
Jeanrenaud told the news outlet that his team began developing Nearby Glasses after reading reports about smart glasses owners using the technology to record people without their consent, including men filming inside massage parlors and reports of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents being seen wearing them on duty.
Jeanrenaud says the app works by scanning for Bluetooth signals broadcast by devices using what are known as advertising frames. He used a directory of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) manufacturers to identify the signals used by Meta, Snap, and Luxottica Group, a subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica.
“This is a tech solution to a social problem exaggerated by tech. I do not want to promote techsolutionism, nor do I want people to feel falsely secure. It’s still imperfect,” Jeanrenaud told 404 Media.
Jeanrenaud warns that the app can produce false positives, such as mistakenly identifying VR headsets as smart glasses.
The app is currently available for download on the Google Play Store and on GitHub. Jeanrenaud said in a Bluesky post that an iOS port is in the works.
“Smart glasses are becoming more and more [a part] of our daily encounters. However, they are often not easy to distinguish from regular eyewear,” the app’s Play Store page reads.
Meta and Snap did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Gizmodo.
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