Inteligencia Artificial (IA)
Nearby Glasses: the app that detects nearby smart glasses after controversies with Meta
Gianro Compagno
2026-03-15
5 min read
Smart glasses are establishing themselves as one of the next technological milestones. Each new version adds capabilities: integrated cameras, artificial intelligence capable of interpreting the environment, and the ability to project information directly onto the lens.
However, this technological advancement has reignited the debate over privacy, especially when cameras are integrated into everyday objects like glasses.
In recent years, these devices have generated controversy, from non-consensual recordings to experiments demonstrating their potential to combine with facial recognition systems.
In this context, Nearby Glasses has emerged, an Android app that alerts users if it detects nearby devices like Meta's smart glasses.
The concern is not new. Meta introduced its Ray-Ban Stories in 2021, glasses capable of taking photos, recording video, and playing music without needing to take out a phone.
Although they included a small LED to indicate recording, experts warned that it could go unnoticed, facilitating inadvertent recordings in public spaces.
Over time, these concerns have multiplied. Social media is filled with videos recorded with these glasses, where creators film strangers without their consent. There have also been reports of professionals, such as massage therapists, using smart glasses to record clients.
The debate intensified when a group of students demonstrated that these glasses could be combined with external facial recognition tools to identify people in public and access information about them.
Although Meta claims that its current glasses do not include facial recognition, the experiment highlighted how easy it would be to integrate this feature.
Recently, it has been leaked that the company is internally studying a feature called Name Tag, which would allow for identifying people through facial recognition and displaying information about them using artificial intelligence.
Although this feature is not yet available, its mere existence has reignited privacy concerns.
In this scenario, sociologist and developer Yves Jeanrenaud has created Nearby Glasses, an Android app that alerts users when it detects smart glasses nearby.
Jeanrenaud defines his project as "a small form of resistance against technological surveillance."
The app detects the Bluetooth signals emitted by these devices, analyzing the so-called Bluetooth advertising frames. When it identifies signals associated with smart glasses manufacturers, it sends an alert to the user: "Smart Glasses are probably nearby."
To use it, simply download it from Google Play or GitHub, activate scanning, and let it run in the background. It also includes a technical log of detected devices.
The creator himself admits that the app is not infallible: it can generate false positives, for example, by detecting virtual reality headsets, and does not guarantee the detection of all smart glasses.
Therefore, he insists that Nearby Glasses should be seen as a tool for awareness, not as a definitive solution.
The initiative highlights that as smart glasses integrate cameras, AI, and social connectivity, it is essential to reflect on their impact on everyday life.