This free app spots Flock cameras, pervert glasses, and other trackers
Hobbyist creates spy-busting app, turning phones into surveillance detectors
Image by Cybernews. Source: OffGridPete/Instagram.
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- Fieldwatch listens for nearby WiFi and Bluetooth signals to identify wireless devices around a phone.
- The free GitHub tool can recognize up to 242 device types, including trackers, drones, cameras, and smart glasses.
- OffGridPete says Fieldwatch works offline and does not send data to a server.
- The app can help users spot Flock Safety cameras and reduce false alerts from similar devices.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
A ham radio enthusiast has open-sourced a free tool on GitHub that can recognize up to 242 types of devices and flag you when one appears to be following.
The creator of the tool, OffGridPete says that Fieldwatch, which has an MIT License, listens for nearby WiFi and Bluetooth signals to help you find, track, and compare nearby wireless devices.
He claims the app recognizes signatures linked to trackers, drones, smart glasses, and cameras, as well as hundreds of other devices broadcasting nearby.
“It does this using a list of device signatures you can edit in the app,” the hobbyist explains in a post on X.
“You can get an alert when a specific device type or address shows up, and you can record a session in one place or along a drive, then compare it with later visits.”
Flock detection offline
The amateur radio enthusiast explains that he built Fieldwatch as a personal tool to look at what WiFi access points and Bluetooth LE ads his phone was able to pick up, to “better understand” what devices were being used around him.
His aim, he adds, was to “create a filtering engine so I do not have to look at everything, an extensible signature library so I can identify as many radio sources as possible and add new ones on the fly, as well as create reports of what was seen.”
According to his GitHub write-up, the hobbyist says the device is passive, and neither sends information elsewhere nor stores it on a server.
It only listens, there’s no dongle, no account, and no backend server. I wanted something that would work offline in the field,says amateur radio enthusiast OffGridPete, sharing Fieldwatch tool on GitHub
While some posters point out devices like this one – such as WiGLE – already exist, OffGridPete replied that Fieldwatch takes a different approach by identifying and classifying nearby wireless devices, helping users focus on the ones that matter to them.
“WiGLE is a great app for what it does – mapping and sharing access points into a big online database. Fieldwatch is a different job: it identifies and classifies the radios your phone can hear so you can focus on (or get alerted for) just the ones you care about,” he replied to a post on Instagram.
Flock spotting capabilities honed
The hobbyist is also one of 2 listed contributors to the Go Flock Yourself app on GitHub – a small, receive-only device that tries to detect nearby Flock Safety cameras.
With Fieldwatch, OffGridPete says in an X post that users can now better identify equipment belonging to the automated license plate recognition company, reduce false alerts from similar-looking radios, and add more identification details to exported reports.
Earlier this week, Cybernews reported that Flock is attempting to erase the most comprehensive map of its nationwide surveillance network, created by cybersecurity researcher Joshua Michael.
