App 'ZuckOff' Lets Strangers Detect Nearby Meta Smart Glasses
A Polish developer's free Bluetooth scanner flags Meta's camera glasses as backlash over covert filming grows.
What to know
- ZuckOff can only estimate proximity of Meta-style smart glasses via Bluetooth signal; it cannot confirm whether a device is actively recording or identify the wearer.
- The app emerged against a backdrop of documented abuse: a BBC investigation into nonconsensual filming, venues banning the glasses, and Meta disabling glasses tampered with to disable the recording light.
- Because the app only reads publicly broadcast Bluetooth signals rather than intercepting anything, it sits in a legal grey area that makes it hard for Meta to shut down.
- EU regulators have contacted the developer for more information, while some jurisdictions are moving to criminalize disabling recording indicators or filming people without consent.
Pawel Szydlowski Developer of Zuckoff/ZuckOff appAndrew Bosworth Meta Chief Technology Officer
Adam Mosseri Instagram CEOMeta Manufacturer of Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart glasses
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump posts
-
2
Slashdot links ZuckOff's rise to reports of Meta's financial strain
A Slashdot post circulated on social media tied the ZuckOff detector's spread to separate reports that Meta is planning a camera-free glasses version, is losing money on the product line, and is exploring social-media subscription offerings.
-
I think the panic around smart glasses cameras is so strange, it's SO much easier to be a creep with a phone recording. You'll see it all the time if you're paying attention. Everyone is already on their phones anyhow, and especially with "creep shots" your head is a massive giveaway; with a smart phones, not so much, it can be placed anywhere…
2 more of the top 3 · 10 posts in this stretch
-
Existing, probably less sketchy app: https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglasses (as linked in the other thread)
-
Thank you for sharing this. If I get a notification about one near me, I will make sure to very aggressively search for it. If I find that whoever wore it has no practical purpose for it, I will likely humiliate them on the spot.
-
- 3 days quiet
-
1
Wired feature details ZuckOff's mechanics, limits and legal footing
A Wired profile, widely reposted on social media, reported Google Play downloads reaching 1,000, described the $25 ZuckOff Pro tier's background-monitoring features, and noted the app cannot confirm recording status but is hard for Meta to legally challenge since it reads public Bluetooth signals rather than intercepting data.
“We as a society have the right to at least know that someone is recording.”
— Pawel Szydlowski, App developer · source -
M
Hats off to Pawel Szydlowski for creating this app! Now you can check for perverts. Sure, it might not tell you whether the device is recording, but who wants to hang out near perverts to find out? https://www. wired.me/story/meta-smart-glas ses-detector-app-zuckoff
1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
-
C
'Zuckoff' App Detects Meta Smartglasses, as Meta Plans Camera-Free Version, Loses Money, and Offers Social Media Subscriptions - Slashdot Meta is cancer # metastasis https:// m.
-
-
background
New York Post covers Zuckoff's rapid uptake and EU interest — Coverage detailed how the app had reached roughly 5,000 users within a month and that EU regulators had contacted Szydlowski for more information about the app.
-
background
Meta disables thousands of tampered glasses — Meta disabled thousands of glasses units it found had been altered to keep the recording indicator light off, part of its response to the tampering it flagged in July.
-
background
Szydlowski launches Zuckoff, a Bluetooth glasses-detector app — Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski released Zuckoff on Apple's App Store, built by cataloguing the Bluetooth 'fingerprints' of various smart-glasses models so the app can flag nearby Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta and Snap Spectacles devices.
-
background
Meta and Instagram move to curb abuse of the glasses — Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said the platform was removing accounts using the glasses to post harassment videos, while Meta announced it would push an update to detect when a recording LED had been tampered with or destroyed. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth publicly defended the camera's design.
-
background
BBC investigation exposes nonconsensual filming with the glasses — A BBC investigation traced dozens of accounts posting content filmed with Meta glasses without subjects' consent, including one video that posted a 21-year-old woman's face and phone number and drew over 1.3 million views.
-
background
Meta launches recording-capable smart glasses, sparking backlash — Meta released AI-powered smart glasses with video recording last fall, promoted by celebrities including Kylie Jenner, which drew immediate criticism from people calling the devices "dystopian."
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
-
first by HN Best, 3d ago · also HN Frontpage
What people are saying 5 voices from 1 site · best of 12 · verbatim
- Sep 22
-
I downloaded and tried it. It’s a nice app. I was surprised to see 400+ other Bluetooth devices in range. I think it’s neet to explore the invisible digital world we have all been made subject to.
-
Imagine wearing Zuckoff merchandise to a Meta onsite interview or at their Connect conf :-)
- Sep 21
-
If it works the way it says it does, I'd be happy to buy merch as a way to support the team behind this!
-
so what if it is "very much LLM-aided app"?We are going to have the organic label soon on apps with this mindset..AI assisted development is evolving by the day and at the rate most apps will be built that way..
-
The nearby glasses app linked in this thread seems to be a lovingly hand coded tool to detect Meta glasses.