Nearby Glasses helps you detect nearby smart glasses using Bluetooth LE, delivering timely alerts with Canary Mode. It’s open-source and free, licensed under AGPL-3.0, with a privacy-forward approach. Total installs reach 100,000+ and 7.7K occurred in the last 30 days, reflecting steady interest in niche wearable discovery.
Pros & Cons
Open-source and AGPL-3.0 license ensures transparency and community review
Free to use with no ads
Privacy-focused: does not record location despite BLE requirements
Bluetooth LE-based nearby glasses detection targets a niche market
Lacks broader device-scanning features and trackers emphasized by some competitors
Relies on Android BLE location permissions, which may appear intrusive to some users
About Nearby Glasses
Nearby Glasses is a tools app developed by my PocketPC GmbH.
Download Statistics
Nearby Glasses has been downloaded 200 thousand times. In the last 30 days, the app was downloaded 7.7 thousand times.
User Ratings
Nearby Glasses is rated 3.96 out of 5 stars. The rating is based on 480 ratings.
App Information
Nearby Glasses is FREE to download. The APK download size is 1.22 MB. The latest version available is 1.0.10. The last update was on September 6, 2026.
Technical Requirements
The app has a content rating of Everyone. The app has been available on Google Play since February 2026.
Description
Smart glasses are becoming more and more parts of our daily encounters. However, they are often not easy to distinguish from regular eyewear. This app looks for their Bluetooth identification (Company Identifiers in the BTLE advertising frame, ADV_INV). It displays a notification when smart glasses may be nearby (distance may be customised), hence you may act accordingly. In Canary Mode, the bird hides when smart glasses may be nearby. You can switch the mode in the app's settings. Persmissions: The app needs permissions to use Bluetooth and to set Foreground services (if you enable this under settings). Furthermore, for Bluetooth LE, it is mandatory to get permissions for location services. However, app does not record your location at all! you can look into it's source code if you want. It is just a requirement by Android to have location permissions when you deal with BLE device recognition features.
For more details, please see: https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglasses
This app is free, open source, does not track you and does not contain ads or other nuisances. May it be useful.
App Icon: The icon is based on Eyeglass icons created by Freepik - Flaticon: https://www.flaticon.com/free-icons/eyeglass License: This app Nearby Glasses is licensed under the AGPL-3.0 license: https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglasses/blob/main/LICENSE Canary: The canary drawings are made by me and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. I provided them as raw svg files (done in InkScape) and converted to xml, obviously, for the app's resources
Recent changes: - Turkish translation added - minor bugfixes See https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglasses/ for full changelog
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It works as described. I would like some sort of acknowledge button or snooze feature. The default time between alerts is 10 seconds. So if someone is next to you and has smart glasses, your phone is going to alert you every 10 seconds. You can manually go in and extend the time between alerts, but a one time acknowledge feature that would pause alerts for that specific device would be great.
★★★★☆Bethany· Mar 6, 2026
I can confirm that the UI issues reported by other users have been fixed; the app works great on my Pixel 9 Pro. I tested the app with a friend's Meta glasses, and it works as intended. However, the app needs to be open in the background the entire time it is scanning. If you accidentally close it or your phone's battery management pauses it, it will stop scanning. I think a home screen widget or Quick Settings toggle would improve usability a lot.
★★★★☆Angela Sekulovska· Apr 8, 2026
Can you please describe and provide accurate screenshots of how the canary is supposed to look like if it detects smart glasses nearby? I am a bit confused because beforehand it would write down whether it detected something
★☆☆☆☆Phil Kraft· Jul 22, 2026
I'm sitting beside my friend who is wearing his Meta glasses and this app did NOT detect them. Yes, foreground services turned on
★☆☆☆☆Jeremy Dunworth· Jun 28, 2026
App does not work. Says it needs Bluetooth and location permissions. Gave it those permissions onmy while using app. Did not give notification permissions. Still won't scan. Uninstalling.
★☆☆☆☆Michael C· Aug 27, 2026
Doesn't work. Even right next to glasses. Tested filming Take pic also Bluetooth transfers to phone. Not a peep out the bird.
Google Play Rankings for Nearby Glasses
This app is not ranked
Technologies used by Nearby Glasses
10 permissions
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Trust & Safety: Permissions include Bluetooth and location (required for BLE). The app is open-source (AGPL-3.0) with no ads and a stated stance of not tracking users. Source code is available on GitHub.
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the same time period. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time before the renewal.
