ZuckOff: The App That Hears Smart Glasses Coming
A free app called ZuckOff launched this week, and Hacker News responded with 419 upvotes and 164 comments in just over two hours[1]. The premise is simple: camera glasses like Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta, and Snap Spectacles advertise themselves over Bluetooth. ZuckOff listens for those signals and tells you when someone nearby is wearing them.
How it works
Smart glasses are not silent. When they power on, pair with a phone, or leave their charging case, they broadcast Bluetooth advertisements with manufacturer-specific signatures. ZuckOff identifies these signatures and flags them[2].
The app recognises four primary signal types. Luxottica's signature 0x0D53 covers Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta. Meta Platforms Technologies' 0x058E catches Meta wearables. Snap's 0x03C2 identifies Spectacles. And 0xFD5F picks up Oculus VR devices. Product names like "Spectacles", "HeyCyan", and "VisionPro" trigger lower-confidence matches[2].
Nothing leaves your phone. There is no account, no cloud processing, no telemetry. The app logs every Bluetooth device it hears, glasses or not, and you can export the whole log as CSV. If you own a pair yourself, you mark them once and they stop raising alerts[2].
What it cannot do
The app is honest about its limitations. Glasses are loudest when they power on, pair, or leave the case. Most pairs keep advertising while worn, so you can usually hear them, but a few standalone models stay silent. Quiet is not proof that nobody is recording, and a detection is not proof that anyone is. Signal strength gives a rough distance estimate but no directional information[2].
The HN debate: open source vs marketing
The Hacker News discussion quickly split into two camps. One side pointed out that an existing open-source app called "Nearby Glasses" already does this, collects no data, and predates ZuckOff. They questioned why a closed-source alternative that collects app activity data is getting attention when an open, trusted alternative exists[1].
The other side argued that ZuckOff wins on packaging. The name is memorable, the marketing is clean, and normal people will never install something called "yj_nearbyglasses". One commenter put it bluntly: "ZuckOff is a better quality marketing name for an app like this, vibecoded or not. The media and consumers have talked more about ZuckOff than Nearby Glasses, so a winner has already been chosen"[1].
The debate touches a nerve. Is it better to have a polished closed-source app that people actually install, or an open-source app that nobody uses? The ZuckOff team addresses the trust question partly: nothing leaves the phone, no account required, full CSV export. But without source code audit, that is a promise, not a guarantee[1].
Why it matters
Ray-Ban Meta glasses have sold well. Meta has shipped millions of units, and the glasses look indistinguishable from regular Ray-Bans. You cannot tell, by looking at someone across a cafe table, whether they are recording you. The glasses do have a recording indicator light, but it is small and easy to miss in daylight[3].
ZuckOff is not a perfect solution. It cannot detect glasses that are not broadcasting, it cannot tell you if someone is actually recording, and it works only on phones that can run background Bluetooth scanning. But it shifts the asymmetry. Right now, the person wearing smart glasses knows exactly what they are doing, and the person across from them knows nothing. An app like this gives the other person some information too[2].
Available on iOS and Android. Free, no account[2].
Sources
[1] Hacker News discussion: "ZuckOff Know when a camera is in the room" (419 points, 164 comments, September 21, 2026)
[2] ZuckOff app website, zuckoff.app
[3] Wired: "ZuckOff Is a Free App That Sees Meta Glasses Before They See You" (216 points on HN)