Stay alert, daters. A concerning trend is emerging among some pick-up artists: secretly filming women while hitting on them. They’re using smart glasses—devices with discreet built-in cameras that are easy to miss unless you know exactly where to look.
I’m not a creep, but I know smart glasses better than just about anyone. I’ve been reviewing smart glasses since they first hit the market and have tested every major model. That experience means I can help you spot the warning signs. Keep reading for my best tips on how to tell if a date—or even a stranger—might be secretly recording you.
The Creepy New Trend in Smart Glasses
The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses offer good image quality, as seen in these nature and pet photos (Credit: Andrew Gebhart)
Smart glasses offer a wide range of capabilities, but you should be particularly aware of pairs with built-in cameras. The most popular, prominent, and least noticeable ones are Meta’s smart glasses. Meta has worked with both Oakley and Ray-Ban to make fashionable glasses with a built-in AI assistant, speakers for audio, and, yes, cameras. Those cameras have gotten surprisingly good recently, too; the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta and the Oakley Meta HSTN can capture 3K video and 12MP stills. They’re great for casual snapshots and video clips with friends, but that also means they’re useful to losers seeking clout.
Because Oakley and Ray-Ban designed the frames for these Meta-powered smart glasses, they’re available with multiple designs and colors, with both transparent and tinted lenses. The technology inside is so small and discreet that they look and feel almost exactly like regular glasses. There is a giveaway, though, and once you learn how to spot it, you’ll wonder how you didn’t see it before.
Spot the Hidden Camera Lenses
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, with a camera lens on the right and a recording indicator LED on the left (Credit: Andrew Gebhart)
The cameras on both Ray-Ban and Oakley versions of the Meta smart glasses are located on the end pieces of the frames, those bits on the upper-left and upper-right corners of the front that jut out to conceal the hinges. This is a popular spot for shiny little embellishments on traditional, non-smart glasses. Maybe you even own a pair of glasses with tiny diamonds, chrome ovals, or something similar in those spots. They add a bit of flair without distracting too much from the rest of the frames. You might barely notice them, and probably wouldn’t bother to examine them.
Learn to look closely at them, because those embellishments might be camera lenses. If they’re circular and black, with a glossier circle in the center? Those glasses can see you as well as you can see them.
The camera lenses stick out like a sore thumb on light-colored frames, but on black, brown, or gray pairs, they might look downright complementary. They look like shrunken-down versions of the camera lenses on the back of your phone, and typically measure only a few millimeters in diameter. They’ll seem downright obvious in hindsight, but they’re easy to miss or otherwise write off as typical glasses flair.
The ‘Recording Light’ Isn’t Always a Guarantee
Blocking stickers for indicator LEDs on Meta smart glasses (Credit: Amazon)
Most reputable smart glasses with cameras, including all Meta models, have indicator LEDs that let others know when you’re recording. In fact, of those two circles in the corners of the Ray-Ban and Oakley Meta glasses, only the right one (relative to you) is the camera. The opposite one is just the indicator LED, which lights up when the glasses are taking photos or video. It should be very easy to see. Note that I say should.
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That light is really, really easy to block. In fact, an unsettling number of Amazon sellers offer stickers or other covers designed specifically to conceal that light. I won’t be linking to them in this story, or in the similarly skeevy smart glasses I describe below.
Hidden Cameras Aren’t Always Obvious
Sunglasses with a pinhole camera in the bridge (Credit: Amazon)
Meta’s models are the most popular and stylish, but hidden camera glasses have been around for years. There are countless pairs on Amazon, many of which conceal their cameras much more than Ray-Ban or Oakley. Instead of a visible lens, they might have an unassuming, nearly invisible pinhole camera.
Pinhole cameras generally produce lower-quality video than those with larger, more visible lenses, but you probably don’t want even grainy video of yourself being recorded without your consent. Look for a telltale pinhole on the glasses, built either into the nose bridge or the end pieces. Single tiny holes usually aren’t used for decoration on glasses frames, so there’s a good chance it’s a camera.
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Not Just Glasses: Other Sneaky Spy Devices
Even without a pinhole, glasses can potentially hide cameras. One pair on Amazon that stood out to me concealed its camera behind a flat part of the nose bridge. No hole, no lens. Like a pinhole camera, it’s likely to produce poor video quality, but that doesn’t make the privacy invasion any better.
A pair of smart glasses with a hidden camera in the nose bridge (Credit: Amazon)
It’s hard to tell if glasses have a camera when it’s that well-hidden, but there can still be some signs. If the frames look awkwardly bulky, or there are spots that are uniquely flat or have slightly different textures from the rest of the glasses, that’s a hint.
If you’re getting suspicious, though, you might want to consider hidden cameras in other objects. These days, cameras can fit into almost anything. Water bottles, pens, wristwatches, phone charging docks, you name it, you can put a camera in it. These devices exist and are meant to help you surreptitiously record workplace harassment, elder abuse, or other bad behavior as evidence, but that’s a double-edged sword, and creeps can also use them. And, unfortunately, they’re designed so the cameras are extremely hard to notice at a glance, or even on close examination.
Awareness Is Key—Not Panic
Even with all the ways people can be creepy, there’s no need to panic. Filming with dedicated spy cameras is a worst-case scenario—and likely not the typical approach for most clout-chasing pick-up artist types.
When it comes to the typical manosphere types trying to prove their “value” through manipulation, they’re usually opting for the easiest, most fashionable route, like the Ray-Ban or Oakley Meta glasses. The truly obsessed individuals willing to invest in specialized hidden-camera gear are, thankfully, rare. Ultimately, it’s wise to be aware of all potential risks and take whatever precautions make you feel safe.
About Our Expert
Will Greenwald
Principal Writer, Consumer Electronics
Experience
I’m PCMag’s home theater and AR/VR expert, and your go-to source of information and recommendations for game consoles and accessories, smart displays, smart glasses, smart speakers, soundbars, TVs, and VR headsets. I’m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and THX-certified home theater technician, I’ve served as a CES Innovation Awards judge, and while Bandai hasn’t officially certified me, I’m also proficient at building Gundam plastic models up to MG-class. I also enjoy genre fiction writing, and my urban fantasy novel, Alex Norton, Paranormal Technical Support, is currently available on Amazon.
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