Link: https://thenextweb.com/news/zuckoff-app-detects-meta-smart-glasses-bluetooth

A 30-year-old Polish software developer has built an iPhone app that detects Meta smart glasses in the vicinity and estimates how far away they are by reading the Bluetooth signals the glasses broadcast. It has around 5,000 users a month after launch.

The app is free, with a paid tier that sends notifications in the background.

Not the best policy for a privacy app

Wouldn't it also require authorization and use of your Bluetooth connection?

Nearby Glasses is FOSS and configurable. This seems like a "sponsored content" kind of article.

Plus would it not require the phone to have an open bluetooth connection with their device marked discoverable? Or does it transmit over the same frequencies?

I'm pretty sure you could have it on without being discoverable, but Im not positive. Either way, having it on opens a door id rather not just leave open.

Oh that too. I was unclear I meant would not the smart glasses need to have bluetooth on and discoverable for the app to find it?

Bluetooth is very insecure I've heard, that information is rather old though.

Ohh ok I gotcha. Yeah normally you'd have to leave the device discoverable to find it, but you could probably get around that, by just searching for devices transmitting? I'm not sure if meta glasses record stuff to the glasses themselves or if they need to be connected to another device to function. If they can record to the glasses, it'd be harder, but if they need to be connected then you could find them.

Your phones settings and a Bluetooth device have to have discovery on to connect, but not to detect. So your phone would normally just ignore something like that, but it still detects it. This would just use detection that would be behind the veil of your phone that "normal users" would be interested in.

Imagine being on a subway and trying to connect your earbuds, and having to go through a list of every single transmitting Bluetooth device in your vicinity. So your phone typically ignores anything already connected and not discoverable. The way I would do it is to open up that list of detectable, but not discoverable devices, and search for the identifier of the meta glasses. However, like I said, if they can record internally, it could be much harder to discover, especially if the user is savvy enough to keep it in that mode, and disable Bluetooth every time they go out to use them.

Ah thanks that answers that.

I once read that with the right equipment or programs, if withing so many feet of someone, you can pick up audio and visual being recorded right onto a phone as they leak a bit of their rf waves. iirc.

Yup. It's really not that hard, or as expensive as you might think. That's why... I think it was Obama(?) that said that 100% privacy is impossible. It wasn't about just the government, but your phone is always trasnmitting something, and unless it's encrypted beyond the simple IP designations to keep overlap from happening, it's out there.

People think it's secure because they're not picking up others phone calls anymore but it's just an invisible wire. A completely unprotected, digital wire. And that wire can be tapped into with the right equipment and knowledge. Whether that's the government, someone trying to steal your information to sell or use your credit card/bank info, or just the paranoid conspiracy theorist down the street with a suspicious amount of antennas.

They can even be mobile, it's small enough to fit in the trunk of a car and you can block 4/5G signals forcing phones in the area down to 2G which is completely unencrypted. They can then transmit a fake text to you with a phishing link. So you should check your settings for an option to block your phone from dropping to 2G.

'...or just the paranoid conspiracy theorist down the street with a suspicious amount of antennas.' Ha ha, I am going to use some version of that.

Thanks for the tip on the 2g thing. I actually downgraded from a smart phone to a flip phone (new, old ones they said they couldn't get to work,) and that might be a rather larger concern for me now.

Well if it's dumb enough, you wouldn't want to input information that would be harmful if it got out anyway. Just stick to text and calls and you'll be fine. Just don't click on any links from people you don't know.

Proprietary app, just waiting to get enshittified