New iPhone app warns when Meta smart glasses are nearby
But there’s still no way to know if glasses are filming.
Illustration by Cybernews
- A new Zuckoff app alerts iPhone users when it detects compatible Meta smart glasses nearby.
- The app has about 5,000 users since launching on Apple’s App Store last month.
- Zuckoff cannot tell whether the glasses are recording, so alerts are warnings, not proof.
- Privacy concerns are growing as camera-equipped glasses can film people without clear notice.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
A new iPhone app has already attracted thousands of users, telling them when Meta’s smart glasses are in the vicinity.
Already widely referred to as pervert glasses, Meta’s new product continues to create markets to counter products that block it.
The app, called Zuckoff, was created by Polish software developer Paweł Szydłowski. Zuckoff scans Bluetooth signals from nearby devices, looks for identifiers associated with known models of Meta smart glasses, and can then estimate how far away the glasses are.
The app has already attracted around 5,000 users since launching on Apple's App Store last month.
Can detect glasses, but can’t tell if they’re recording
Szydłowski told Business Insider that he bought several smart-glasses models and studied the Bluetooth signals they emit. He used those signals to identify patterns that are unique to each type of glasses, creating a kind of digital fingerprint that Zuckoff can recognize.
Zuckoff compares Bluetooth information from nearby devices, including manufacturer data and unique identifiers, against those known signatures.
Some devices can broadcast Bluetooth services containing names such as "Meta" or "Ray-Ban," according to Szydłowski.
When multiple identifying signals line up, the app can determine that a compatible pair of smart glasses is nearby.
The main screen displays an estimated distance to the detected glasses. Users who pay for the app can also allow it to run in the background and receive a notification when compatible glasses are detected.
However, Zuckoff can only detect compatible glasses – it cannot determine whether the wearer has activated the camera, meaning a notification should be treated as a warning that camera-equipped glasses may be nearby, not proof that someone is filming.
That limitation is particularly important in crowded places, as the presence of a detected device alone does not establish that anyone's privacy has been violated.
Still, Szydłowski believes people should have more visibility into when the technology is around them.
He said he was particularly disturbed by videos showing pickup artists using smart glasses to film interactions with women who did not always appear aware they were being recorded.
"We as a society have the right to at least know that someone is recording," Szydłowski told Business Insider.
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Growing concerns about Meta glasses
There are growing concerns about Meta’s smart glasses, as people can be filmed without realizing it.
What’s more, Meta is reportedly developing next-generation AI glasses that can remember what users see and hear throughout the day and plans to disable the recording warning light.
While regulatory actions are lagging behind, the market is filling up with applications that allow worried users to at least be notified if someone might be recording them.
One of Zuckoff's competitors in the market is Nearby Glasses. The free and open-source app Nearby Glasses was released in February 2026, even before the new popular term “pervert glasses” was coined.
Since its launch, the app has been suffering from impostors. Nearby Glasses’ creator warned that copycats are reusing open-source code and similar branding to profit from privacy concerns.