This App Can (Sometimes) Detect Whether Someone Near You Is Wearing Meta Glasses

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An app has launched that detects whether the people around you are using Meta and other kinds of smart glasses. Antizuck Smart Glasses Scanner, available for iPhone and designed by Albert Pariente Cohen, detects nearby Bluetooth signals that match Meta glasses, Snap Spectacles, Meta Quest headsets, RayNeo smart glasses, and other devices; then, it lets you know what gadget is nearby and whether it's been detected previously. In keeping with the "privacy" focus, Antizuck doesn't require an account or email address, nor does it send any data outside of your phone. It retails for $2.99 with no subscription.

What devices can the Antizuck app identify?

In my testing, Antizuck successfully identified both my Meta glasses and my Quest 3 headset. It actually called out my Quest 3 (name and distance) while the headset was in sleep mode. The Meta glasses, though, weren't as easily detected. While it did find my glasses, it only "saw" them when I turned them off and on: Antizuck only detects Meta glasses that are charging, powering on, or while they're actively pairing.

The app can also tell you all the other Bluetooth devices advertising around you, and it identifies what they are, if possible. Interestingly, it identified my charging Even Realities G2 smart glasses, but didn't flag them, I assume because they don't have a camera. Still, just seeing how many devices are broadcasting around you is worth the $3 price of admission.

How useful are these glasses at spotting if someone is recording you?

It's clear from the app's "glasses spotted" warning of "Someone may be recording near you" that the point is to let you know if a creep is creeping nearby, but they're only marginally useful for that purpose. They do not let you know which passersby are wearing Meta glasses. They don't show you an alert when a nearby pair of glasses starts recording or takes a picture, nor do they alert you when a nearby pair of Meta glasses is transferring media from the glasses to a phone. If someone turns on their glasses near you or charges them for three minutes or so, you'll get a ping and a record of whether that same pair of glasses has been detected by you in the past. But most people aren't charging their glasses on a street corner or in a bar.

Utility aside, the app is clearly part of the growing backlash against people using camera-forward smart glasses, whether it's New York banning them in court, or singer Lorde calling them "not sexy." I completely understand the concern people, particularly women, have about being recorded by hidden spy glasses, but it's not as one-sided an argument as it may appear at first. People with vision problems use Meta glasses to get verbal help from the AI. Birdwatchers use them to identify birds on the fly. I use my Meta glasses to categorize receipts for tax purposes, listen to Hawkwind, and occasionally take videos on bike rides. I'd rather not have strangers assume I'm a creep, or know that I'm wearing a specific brand of eyeglasses at all. Just as it's legal to take photos in public places, it's legal to scan your surroundings for Bluetooth signatures, but isn't each an invasion of privacy? Like anything, the only thing evil about a tool is how you use it.