This App Will Help You Detect If Someone Near You Is Wearing Meta Glasses.
An app has been released that detects whether people around you are using Meta smart glasses and other similar devices. Antizuck Smart Glasses Scanner, available for iPhone and developed by Albert Pariente Cohen, detects nearby Bluetooth signals corresponding to Meta glasses, Snap Spectacles, Meta Quest headsets, RayNeo smart glasses, and other devices. It then reports which gadget is nearby and whether it has been detected before. In keeping with its privacy-first approach, Antizuck doesn’t require an account or email address and doesn’t send any data outside of your phone. The app sells for $2.99 without a subscription.
What devices can the Antizuck app recognize?
During testing, Antizuck successfully recognized both my Meta glasses and my Quest 3 headset. It even announced the name and distance to the Quest 3 when the headset was in sleep mode. The Meta glasses, however, weren’t recognized as easily. Although it detected my glasses, it only “saw” them when I turned them off and on: Antizuck only recognizes Meta glasses that are charging, turning on, or in the process of pairing.
The app can also show all other Bluetooth devices transmitting signals around you and, if possible, identify them. Interestingly, it recognized my charging Even Realities G2 smart glasses but didn’t flag them, I assume because they don’t have a camera. Still, just being able to see how many devices are transmitting signals around you is worth the $3.
How useful are these glasses for detecting if someone is filming you?
The app’s “Glasses Detected” alert (“Someone may be recording near you”) makes it clear that the purpose is to alert you if someone is acting suspiciously nearby, but the app is ineffective at this. It doesn’t tell you which passersby are wearing Meta glasses. It doesn’t display an alert when nearby glasses start recording or taking a photo, and it doesn’t notify you when nearby Meta glasses are transferring media from the glasses to your phone. If someone turns on their glasses near you or charges them within three minutes, you’ll receive a notification and a record of whether you’ve previously detected the same glasses. But most people don’t charge their glasses on a street corner or at a bar.
Beyond its usefulness, the app is clearly part of a growing backlash against smart glasses with built-in cameras, whether it’s their ban in a New York court or Lorde’s claims that they’re “unsexy .” I completely understand people’s concerns, especially women’s, about being recorded by hidden spy glasses, but it’s not as one-sided an argument as it might initially seem. People with visual impairments use Meta glasses to receive voice assistance from AI. Birdwatchers use them to identify birds on the fly. I use my Meta glasses to classify receipts for tax purposes , listen to Hawkwind, and sometimes take videos while cycling . I’d prefer that strangers not think I’m weird or even know I wear a certain brand of glasses. Just as it’s legal to take photos in public places, it’s legal to scan the environment for Bluetooth signals, but aren’t each of these actions an invasion of privacy? As with any tool, the only evil in it is how you use it.