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Work · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Glasses to detect smart-glasses that have cameras

Hi! Recently smart-glasses with cameras like the Meta Ray-bans seem to be getting more popular. As does some people's desire to remove/cover up the recording indicator LED. I wanted to see if there's a way to detect when people are recording with these types of glasses, so a little bit ago I started working this project. I've hit a little bit of a wall though so I'm very much open to ideas! I've written a bunch more on the link (+photos are there), but essentially this uses 2 fingerprinting approaches: - retro-reflectivity of the camera sensor by looking at IR reflections. mixed results…

This project aims to detect when smart glasses with built-in cameras, such as Meta Ray-Bans, are actively recording. The creator uses two approaches: analyzing infrared reflections off camera sensors and monitoring… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites.

  1. 1

    Embedded camera sunglasses by Snapchat

    2016 · spectacles.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    All new smart glasses from Meta and Ray-Ban

    2023 · about.fb.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Meta's first AI glasses built for prescriptions

    Apr 2026 · about.fb.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    The next evolution of performance AI glasses

    2025 · meta.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    This project is an RF Signal Scanner built using an ESP32, AD8317 RF detector, and various other components. It's designed to detect and measure RF signals in the environment and display the signal strength on an OLED display. It's useful to find hidden cameras, wiretapping devices, and other RF-enabled devices.

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6IM

    Hey HN! A few years ago someone kept trying to steal my motorcycle, so I decided to make a small camera with really long battery life to catch them. The hardware/software is totally open source, but the companion app only supports macOS currently. (I'm a big fan of native apps, and didn't want to block releasing on Linux/Windows support.) I wrote some blog posts about the process: PCB design: https://toaster.llc/blog/pcb Enclosure design: https://toaster.llc/blog/enclosure Image pipeline:…

    2024 · toaster.llc · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    v1.0.0: https://github.com/dcrebbin/meta-vision-api/releases/tag/1.0... The previous implementation was very very hacky and used a bookmarklet alongside uglified messenger classes from 2 years ago to monitor a chat, it was also only for image messages. The new release is a browser extension for chrome & firefox that you run on an alt facebook account on messenger that can monitor for new chat & image messages + video monitoring if in a call. You can create a group chat and use a special method (instructions in the readme) to force the Glasses to be aware of…

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Detect nearby smart glasses before they detect you.

    Apr 2026 · nearlens.app · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Sunglasses that capture your world, the way you see it.

    2018 · spectacles.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    The new way to capture, share & listen

    2021 · ray-ban.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Smart Glasses that look normal

    2018 · theverge.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Video recording glasses that look like normal glasses

    2014 · epiphanyeyewear.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Hi everyone, I'm the author of ESPectre. This is an open-source (GPLv3) project that uses Wi-Fi signal analysis to detect motion using CSI data, and it has already garnered almost 2,000 stars in two weeks. Key technical details: - The system does NOT use Machine Learning, it relies purely on Math. — Runs in real-time on a super affordable chip like the ESP32. - It integrates seamlessly with Home Assistant via MQTT.

    Nov 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Smart glasses from Ray-Ban and Facebook

    2021 · ray-ban.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    A breakthrough category of AI glasses

    2025 · meta.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    This runs YOLOv8 + bytetrack with Tinygrad detections (depending on user config) are saved and can be sent to the companion iOS app along with a notification, all video processing is done locally, all footage is encrypted before leaving your computer, and the sending notifications + videos part is optional. This uses tinygrad, so it runs well on my apple silicon macs and should be able to run on a lot of hardware (or will be able to when I remove other deps).

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    The difference in cost between products that are developed as accessibility tools compared to consumer products is huge. One example is camera glasses where the accessibility product costs ~$3000 (Envision Glasses), and the consumer product costs ~$300 (Ray-Ban Meta). In this case the Ray-Ban Meta is getting accessibility features. The functionality is promising according to reviews, but requires the user to say "Hey meta what am I looking at" every time a scene is to be described. The battery life seem underwhelming as well. It would be nice to have an cheap and open source alternative to…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Live IRL (In Real Life) and see everything except screens

    2018 · kickstarter.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    A guided tour using smart glasses, powered by Amazon Alexa

    2019 · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    I built a live video privacy filter that helps smart glasses app developers handle privacy automatically. How it works: You can replace a raw camera feed with the filtered stream in your app. The filter processes a live video stream, applies privacy protections, and outputs a privacy-compliant stream in real time. You can use this processed stream for AI apps, social apps, or anything else. Features: Currently, the filter blurs all faces except those who have given consent. Consent can be granted verbally by saying something like "I consent to be captured" to the camera. I'll be adding more…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Detect smart glasses around you, entirely on your iPhone

    Aug 2026 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22
    EyesOff▲184

    I built EyesOff after getting fed up with people glancing at my screen in coffee shops. I trained a, custom and small, neural network to detect when people look at your screen. Whenever more faces than your allowed threshold are looking at your screen an alert will show. The model being ran locally ensures all data stays on your device - no cloud processing. I would love feedback on the application and any features you think I should implement!

    2025 · eyesoff.app · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    The most accessible AI assistant, now wearable

    2025 · ally.me · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Future Glasses for AI and AR Research.

    2025 · projectaria.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →