A new Android app called Nearby Glasses is attracting attention from privacy advocates and everyday users alike after its launch this week. The app, developed by Swiss sociologist and hobbyist programmer Yves Jeanrenaud, is designed to detect if someone nearby may be wearing smart glasses capable of recording video or collecting data. The app then sends an alert to the user accordingly.
The app already had more than 5,000 downloads on Play Store at the time of writing.
Its release comes at a time of intensifying debates over wearable tech privacy and instances of people using camera-equipped glasses in ways that have unsettled the public.
In recent days, social media in Kenya and Ghana has been abuzz after a Russian man released reels of himself picking women of different ages and classes from public places and having intimacy with them in short stay apartments.
Nearby Glasses works by scanning Bluetooth Low Energy “advertising frames”, which are small signals that smart glasses and other BLE devices broadcast to nearby smartphones and accessories. When the app detects a signal associated with manufacturers of smart glasses, such as Meta or its partner Luxottica (which makes the Ray-Ban Meta models), it sends a push notification telling the user that smart glasses may be in their vicinity.
The app is available for free on the Google Play Store and via GitHub, and users activate it by granting Bluetooth permissions and pressing a “Start Scanning” button. The developer warns that the app is imperfect and can produce false positives at the moment. Other Bluetooth devices like VR headsets may be flagged mistakenly but says the tool is nonetheless useful as a basic awareness signal in public spaces.
Why the App Matters Now
The release of Nearby Glasses comes amid growing unease over how AI-enhanced smart glasses are being used and may evolve in future. Tech coverage has documented incidents in which individuals in various countries, including the United States allegedly used devices like Meta’s Ray-Ban AI glasses to record people including women inside massage parlors without consent. These stories have circulated widely on social media, sparking debate over privacy, consent and public safety.
Adding to that concern are reports that Meta is exploring facial recognition features for its smart glasses under a project code-named “Name Tag,” which would allow wearers to identify people nearby using AI. While Meta has not commented publicly on the app itself, the prospect of on-device face recognition has intensified privacy discussions and underscored why some users feel they need tools like Nearby Glasses.
Smart glasses are increasingly sophisticated, but that complexity has outpaced both legal protections and social norms about recording in public. Critics point out that many smart glasses are designed to appear unobtrusive — often looking like ordinary eyewear — making it difficult for bystanders to know when they are being filmed or observed. Meta’s own Ray-Ban Meta wearable includes a small LED indicator to signal recording, but experts and users alike have questioned whether such signals are noticeable or reliable in practice.
The development of Nearby Glasses can be seen as part of a broader pushback against surveillance tech, especially when devices intended for convenience are repurposed for recording without consent. Jeanrenaud himself described his project as “a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech,” framing the app as a user-controlled countermeasure rather than a comprehensive privacy solution.
Industry Response and Future Safeguards
Major tech companies have responded to privacy concerns around wearable devices in various ways, although critics say more remains to be done. Meta, whose smart glasses are among the most visible in the market, has made revisions to privacy policies and recording indicators in past updates, and maintains that its glasses are not designed to record constantly and that misuse violates its terms of service.
Outside of company policies, some technology researchers and privacy advocates argue for stronger legal frameworks, clearer recording signals, and default privacy protections for bystanders exposed to wearable cameras. These include proposals for more explicit consent mechanisms and restrictions on facial recognition in public spaces.
How to Download and Use Nearby Glasses
Nearby Glasses is currently available for Android devices via the Google Play Store and as open-source software on GitHub. Users install the app, enable its Bluetooth scanning permissions, and activate scanning to begin detecting nearby smart glasses signals. If a match is found, a push notification alerts them that “Smart Glasses are probably nearby,” allowing individuals to adjust their behaviour or environment based on their personal comfort and safety preferences.
While the app is not a complete answer to the privacy questions raised by wearable AI tech, it highlights a growing public demand for tools and transparency that give users more control over their surroundings, and for clearer norms about how and when smart devices should record in public. With AI and wearable tech rapidly advancing, such conversations are likely to intensify in the months and years ahead.
