Privacy by Design:
nothing leaves your phone.

Why NearLens exists

The ability to move through public spaces unrecorded is quietly eroding.

Camera-capable glasses are getting smaller, lighter, and harder to spot. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued public warnings about the category. In 2024, 404 Media and The New York Times documented how Harvard students paired commercially available Ray-Ban Meta glasses with facial-recognition tools to identify strangers in real-world settings without their knowledge.

Knowing a device is broadcasting nearby lets you decide what to do about your own space. The app reports presence, not proof: there is no map, no account, and no way to report anyone.

Read the full argument

Where NearLens helps

More context in places where recording changes the room.

NearLens is intended for situations where knowing that compatible smart-glasses signals are nearby may help you make an informed choice about your own space.

• Schools and universities. Classrooms, study areas, hallways, and shared accommodation where students may not expect wearable recording.
• Clinics and waiting rooms. Spaces where health conversations and personal information require particular care.
• Workplaces and meetings. Interviews, confidential discussions, and collaborative spaces where recording policies matter.
• Private events. Gatherings, changing areas, and invitation-only spaces where visible consent cues may be limited.

Use an alert as awareness, not evidence. It does not identify a person, confirm that a camera is present, or prove that recording is active. Do not confront or accuse someone based on a NearLens alert.

How it works

Four steps, entirely on your phone.

1

Passive Bluetooth scan

Listens for Bluetooth Low Energy advertisements from devices nearby, with no pairing, no connection, no interaction with the device.

2

Signature matching

Matches manufacturer identifiers and device-name patterns against a database of known camera-capable smart glasses brands.

3

Discreet alert

A confidence-rated notification tells you what was detected and how close. You choose what to do with that information.

4

Detection history stays local

The app is designed to keep detection history in local storage. You can export it through the iOS share sheet or clear it from the app.

Your data, your rules

Detection data stays under your control.

The app is designed to keep Bluetooth observations and detection history on your device. The website separately processes limited request data, consent choices, optional analytics, and fixed editorial text submitted for translation, as described in the Privacy Policy.

• No account or sign-up required
• No in-app analytics, advertising, or cross-app tracking
• No backend that stores user data
• App Store privacy label: Data Not Collected

Privacy Intelligence

Local pattern summaries, with clear limits.

Privacy Intelligence is available in the current NearLens release. It summarises local detection patterns, including repeat encounters and cluster events, and can produce an exportable report. A natural-language Q&A using Apple Foundation Models is planned.

Core Bluetooth detection does not depend on a generative model. Privacy Intelligence explains patterns that have already been calculated from local signals; it does not identify a person, prove that recording is active, or improve the certainty of a Bluetooth match.

NearLens can be installed on iOS 15.1. Any future Apple Foundation Models feature would also depend on Apple's device, operating-system, language, and regional availability requirements. The website itself does not receive or analyse detection history.

Limitations

What NearLens cannot guarantee.

Other products from the same manufacturers (VR headsets, earbuds, wireless speakers) may trigger alerts. NearLens detects Bluetooth activity consistent with smart glasses profiles; it does not guarantee that a detected device is specifically a camera-capable pair of glasses. Use your judgement.

Glasses that are not broadcasting cannot be detected. If Bluetooth is off, the device is asleep, or the wearer has paired it to another device that suppresses the advertisement, NearLens sees nothing. The app is limited to what the glasses choose to announce.

Bluetooth range is approximate and environment-dependent. In open space, advertising packets are typically detectable at 10 to 15 metres. Walls, crowds, and radio interference reduce that to 5 to 8 metres. Signal strength gives a rough distance estimate, not a direction or a precise location.

The manufacturer identifier database covers brands that have already shipped. A new product released after the last update will not produce a confirmed match. Signal pattern analysis can still surface it at lower confidence, but there is an inherent lag between a product entering the market and the database catching up.

Privacy design, not legal advice

Designed around global privacy principles.

Credits

The people behind NearLens.

The discovery research, including interviews with smart glasses owners, was conducted as part of a postgraduate programme in AI Applied to Design at IADE - Universidade Europeia.