How it helps,
and when it can't.
Most questions about a detector are really one question: why isn't it detecting anything? Usually because there is nothing to detect — and sometimes because there is, and it can't hear it. Both answers are below.
Email hello@lenssentry.com. A person reads all of it. There is only one of us, so replies are not instant.
"It says all clear
and never finds anything."
This is the most common report, and most of the time the app is working correctly. Camera glasses are not continuously shouting — they are loudest at specific moments.
Glasses announce themselves in bursts, not constantly
The reliable moments are powering on, leaving their case, and pairing. A pair that has been sitting on someone's face, already connected to their phone, can be genuinely quiet for long stretches. If you want to see the app react, put your own glasses back in the case and take them out again.
Check Bluetooth is actually on
If Bluetooth is off, the app says so directly rather than showing a false all-clear. If the permission was declined, the app shows an explanation instead of a dead end — grant it in your system settings and reopen.
Update the detection library
Signatures update over the air. If the app warns that the library was last checked a while ago, tap update — manufacturers change their broadcast patterns, and a stale list is a real cause of missed detections.
Some glasses we genuinely cannot hear
This is the honest one. Detection depends on a device broadcasting something recognisable. A model we have no signature for, or one that is connected and silent, will not appear. A quiet screen has never meant "no cameras here", and we would rather say that plainly than let the interface imply otherwise.
What each one
can actually do.
These differences are enforced by the operating systems, not by us, and we would rather you know them before you rely on one.
| iPhone | Checks while the app is open. iOS does not let a third-party app scan continuously in the background in a way we would be willing to call reliable, so we do not describe it that way. Open the app, check the room. |
| Android | Keeps listening with the screen off and resumes after a reboot, using hardware signal filters so battery is not the price of awareness. |
| Mac | A menu-bar radar for a machine that sits still. macOS lets it listen for as long as it is running. Signed and notarised by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click. This is an early build: the engine is the same one the phone apps use, but it has not yet been confirmed against real smart glasses in the field. |
| Alerts | Three states, and they mean different things. Possible is a matching manufacturer identifier and not a named device. Likely is a recognised signature. Neither is proof that anyone is recording. |
The rest of it.
Does it know who is recording?
No, and it cannot. It hears a radio signal and tells you a matching device is nearby. It does not know where the wearer is looking, whether the camera is on, or whether anything is being saved. Treating an alert as an accusation would be a misuse of it.
Why did it flag something that isn't glasses?
Several devices share manufacturer identifiers with smart glasses — VR headsets in particular. Known lookalikes are excluded outright, and anything matching only a manufacturer ID is reported as Possible rather than a named device. If something is still misfiring, tell us what it was.
Can I stop my own glasses alerting me?
Mute them. Muted devices stay visible in the list so you can still see them, but they never raise the alert level and never hold the room on alert.
Does it track me?
No. Bluetooth scanning is declared never-for-location at the operating-system level, so the app cannot see where you are. No accounts, no ads, and the app sends no analytics of any kind. Full detail on the privacy page.
Does it work offline?
Fully. Its only network use is downloading updated detection signatures. Nothing about a detection leaves your device unless you have explicitly turned on fingerprint contribution, which is off by default.
How do I delete my data?
There is no account to delete and nothing stored on our side tied to you. Removing the app removes the session log with it. If you joined the waitlist and want that row gone, email us and it will be.
Tell us what
we didn't hear.
A device we failed to detect is the single most useful thing you can send us — it is what the signature list is built from. If you can include these, it goes straight into the work.
| The device | Make and model of the glasses, as exactly as you know it. |
| What happened | Whether they were powering on, pairing, coming out of the case, or already worn and connected. This matters more than anything else on this list. |
| Your setup | Phone or Mac, OS version, and the LensSentry version from Settings. |
| The session log | Whether anything appeared at all, even something that looked wrong. |
Still stuck?
Write to us. Bug reports, missed devices, false alarms, or questions about how any of it works — all of it is read by the person who built it.