ZuckOff App Detects Nearby Meta Smart Glasses Using Bluetooth

Free mobile app ZuckOff was built by 30-year-old Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski. The app uses Bluetooth detection to alert users when compatible smart glasses may be nearby.

How the ZuckOff smart-glasses detector works

ZuckOff has reportedly been available since its release in August. At the time of writing, it had been downloaded by more than 5,000 people from Apple’s App Store and 1,000 times from the Google Play Store.

Szydlowski recorded the Bluetooth signals broadcast by different smart-glasses models and created a digital fingerprint for each one. The app can flag when a unique identifier matches a manufacturer’s identifier, including models such as Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta and Snap glasses in the surrounding area.

However, ZuckOff cannot determine whether nearby glasses are recording or identify who is wearing them. It reads signal strength and provides only rough proximity information, turning an otherwise invisible privacy concern into a partially visible one.

Why Meta smart glasses are raising privacy concerns

Meta’s smart glasses have faced intense scrutiny in recent months. Unwanted recordings and photographs have raised concerns about public safety, while some schools, movie theaters and other facilities have banned their use.

A BBC investigation reported that dozens of accounts had posted content showing women filmed in public without their consent. One video showed a 21-year-old woman’s face and phone number and had been viewed more than 1.3 million times.

The recording indicator light on Meta’s glasses has also been shown to be vulnerable to a simple hardware hack. This can allow wearers to record without others noticing. Almost 7 million pairs of Meta’s smart glasses went on sale in 2025.

Meta plans an update for tampered recording lights

In July, Meta announced plans to release an update that detects when the glasses’ LEDs have been “physically tampered with or destroyed.” The update is intended to prevent users from taking pictures when the camera indicator has been compromised.

Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, said in an Instagram video that the camera indicator was designed to draw the attention of people nearby. That design has attracted criticism because one of the product’s key commercial features is that the camera does not look like a traditional camera.

ZuckOff Pro features and limitations

ZuckOff does not interfere with signals sent by smart glasses, which could make it difficult for Meta to legally remove the app. Its basic scanning functionality is free, while ZuckOff Pro is available for $25.

The paid version adds historical logging, CSV data exports, home-screen widgets and continuous background monitoring. These features can scan for nearby smart glasses and send alerts even when the phone’s screen is turned off.

In California and other areas, steps have been taken to make it a crime to disable recording lights or record people without their consent.

This story originally appeared in WIRED Middle East.