You’ve probably noticed that smart glasses are getting harder to spot. Devices like Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses look just like a regular pair of frames. But they pack a camera that can record video without any obvious sign it’s running. A small LED light near the temple is supposed to indicate recording, but workarounds to disable it have already been found. Now, a new smart glasses detector app for Android wants to give you at least some warning.
The app is called Nearby Glasses, and it was built by sociologist and hobbyist developer Yves Jeanrenaud. According to TechCrunch, Jeanrenaud said his motivation came from “witnessing the sheer scale and inhumane nature of the abuse these smart glasses are involved in,” citing incidents where the glasses were used to film people without their consent in massage parlors, as well as reports of Customs and Border Protection agents wearing them on duty.
How the app actually works
Nearby Glasses runs continuously in the background, scanning for Bluetooth signals from devices made by Meta, Luxottica (the manufacturer behind Meta Ray-Bans), and Snap. When it picks up a matching signal, it pushes a notification saying smart glasses are probably nearby. You can also add custom Bluetooth identifiers through the settings. This allows the smart glasses detector app to flag other wearable devices beyond those manufacturers.
Jeanrenaud openly admits it can produce false positives, since other Meta hardware like Quest VR headsets share the same Bluetooth signatures. Still, the broader concern it addresses isn’t new. When Google Glass launched back in 2013, the public backlash was fierce. Bars, casinos, and movie theaters explicitly banned the device, and wearers were dubbed “Glassholes.” The difference now is that today’s smart glasses actually look like glasses. This makes them far harder to spot or call out.
That is one of the reasons why apps like this exist. Meta has been expanding its Ray-Ban lineup with built-in displays and AI features, and Samsung is now entering the space too. More glasses means more chances for abuse.
Nearby Glasses collects no user data, runs no ads, and is free on the Google Play Store and GitHub. An iPhone version isn’t available yet.