MENLO PARK, September 11 — A small, free app built by one developer in Poland is giving people a new way to know when Meta’s camera-equipped smart glasses are nearby, a quiet but striking answer to privacy worries that have trailed the devices since they first went on sale. The application is called Zuckoff. It was created by Krzysztof Wojtas, a Polish software engineer, as an open-source project, and it was brought to wider attention by The Verge in a report published on Friday, October 17, 2025.
Zuckoff scans for Bluetooth Low Energy signals emitted by Meta’s smart glasses. When a signal turns up, the app alerts the user.
That is the whole idea, and its simplicity is the point. The app does not intercept data. It does not disable the glasses.
It only tells you someone wearing them may be close by.
How the detection works
The glasses are made through a partnership between Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of Ray-Ban. They arrived in 2021 as Ray-Ban Stories and were rebranded as Ray-Ban Meta in 2023. Built-in cameras and microphones let wearers capture photos and video discreetly.
An LED indicator light switches on during recording, but critics say it is easy to miss. Because the glasses rely on Bluetooth Low Energy for connectivity, Zuckoff can pick up their presence within a certain range — typically up to 30 feet, or about 9 meters, depending on the environment.
The app runs on Android and iOS, though users may need to grant Bluetooth and location permissions. Meta has sold millions of units. The company reported in 2024 that Ray-Ban Meta glasses were outselling earlier versions, though exact sales figures have not been disclosed.
Meta has not publicly commented on Zuckoff.
Privacy alarms, and a lawsuit
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, has previously called for stronger privacy protections around smart glasses. In 2023, Meta faced lawsuits over the glasses’ recording capabilities, including a class-action complaint alleging the devices violate wiretapping laws. Meta has defended its products, saying the LED indicator and user controls promote responsible use.
Zuckoff is not the first attempt to detect smart glasses. In 2023, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University built a system called GlassesDetector that used Wi-Fi signals to identify camera-equipped glasses.
What sets Zuckoff apart is that it is a consumer-facing app made by a single individual rather than a research team. Wojtas has released the source code on GitHub, so others can inspect it and improve it. For communities and families, the tool lands at a moment when wearable cameras are becoming more common in public spaces — train stations, markets, school gates, cafes.
Knowing a device is present is not the same as controlling what it records, but it hands a measure of awareness back to the person standing nearby. Watch for two things next.
Whether Meta responds to the app, and whether other developers follow Wojtas in building detection tools of their own as the glasses spread.
