Skip to main content

How to Use Your Phone to Detect Hidden Surveillance Cameras at Home

If you have reason to be suspicious of a partner or employer, or they have reason (good or bad) to be suspicious of you, and you fear they might be filming you with a hidden surveillance camera, what can you do about it, other than use some futuristic, James Bond-style camera detection device?
Well, you could use a modern day, smartphone-style camera detection device.

You Are Being Watched

Someone is watching you. This is pretty much irrefutable in the post-Snowden era. But digital surveillance of emails and telephone records is a little less hair-raising than someone actually observing your movements via a hidden surveillance camera.
muo-smartphone-cctv-detector-cam
It’s unlikely that you have never been filmed out in public, either on CCTV or in the distance on a TV news report, and as a society we’ve become more accepting of closed circuit cameras, security cameras, and so on (rightly or wrongly).
But what about closer to home? What about in the office, development room, bathrooms and dressing rooms, or any number of places where you wouldn’t normally expect to find a camera watching your every move?
Without being made aware of such surveillance in advance, you could find yourself being recorded, your movements and actions tracked, judged, no doubt misinterpreted. This intrusion might be performed using professionally manufactured security cameras, or custom built ones, perhaps using a webcam with an old PC, or a Raspberry Pi.
It might even be an old smartphone or tablet, re-purposed for hidden observation.
What can you do about this?

Smartphones Can Detect Hidden Surveillance Cameras!

While it might seem like something straight out of a James Bond movie, it is possible to use your smartphone to detect hidden cameras, as well as other 007 devices. In general, two common methods are used to achieve this.
The first is by using the smartphone hardware to detect electromagnetic fields. With the installation of a single app, you can move your phone around the area you suspect a camera to be hidden, and if a strong field is detected, you can be sure there is a camera secreted within the wall or object.
Another way that smartphones can be used is by detecting light reflecting from a lens. While this method isn’t quite as reliable, it is still worth having such an app, if only to find small objects dropped on a carpet!

Using Android or iOS to Find a Hidden Camera

You’ll find apps for both major smartphone platforms available in the respective app stores. For iPhone, the $4.99 Hidden Camera Detector is the best option, while Android users should spend some time looking at Hidden Camera Detector. You can also check out Glint Finder for visible lens detection.
Remember that other options are available. If you have access to an infrared camera, for instance, this should detect a hidden camera, while low-cost devices using wireless networking may well appear in the list of nearby Wi-Fi devices in your home.
If you’re particularly concerned, you might also consider a $130 piece of RF detection hardware, capable of reading the signals broadcast by traditional wireless cameras, as demonstrated here:

Use Android to Find a Hidden Surveillance Camera

Hidden Camera Detector for Android is a well-regarded app, and is free to download and install. With the app running on your device, finding the hidden camera should be straightforward, thanks to the radiation detection. This algorithm is constructed to reduce noise from other electromagnetic radiation, such as from cellphone towers, non-camera hardware, and even the Earth itself.
muo-smartphone-cctv-detector-app
Ready to use when you load the app, the detector software will display a red glow when the smartphone is in the proximity of a camera. However, it will also glow when near other types of hardware, so keep an eye on the number displayed in the middle of the screen, as this will exceed 100 when a camera is detected.
For added camera detection magic, Hidden Camera Detector also features an IR mode (limited to portrait orientation) with which you can find cameras that have so far eluded you. This is done by pointing the smartphone at an area where a camera might be hidden and looking for a bright white disc. The disc indicates the presence of a hidden camera.

What to Do When You Find a Hidden Camera

It’s all very well knowing that a hidden surveillance camera is watching you, supposedly without your knowledge. But what should you do about it? Well, you could always take it to a higher authority, but in the meantime, you might wish to take action.
Note, however, that the problem with this is as soon as you do this, you may well alert the observer to your realization.
However, if you’re determined to be seen, you should employ things like masking tape or adhesive putty to cover the lens, or conduct affairs beyond the camera’s viewing angle. For cameras possibly hidden high up, in lightbulbs or smoke detectors, staying out of sight can be difficult.
Do you suspect unauthorized surveillance of your movements? Have you been filmed without your knowledge? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

So, when will your device actually get Android Oreo?

Google officially just took the wraps off of Android Oreo, but there are still some questions left to be answered — most notably, precisely when each device will be getting the latest version of the mobile operating system. Due to Android’s openness and a variety of different factors on the manufacturing side, it’s not an easy question to answer, but we’ll break it down best we can. First the good news: If your device was enrolled in the Android Beta Program, you’ll be getting your hands on the final version of the software “soon,” according to Google. Exactly what that means remains to be seen, but rest assured that you’ll be one of of the first people outside of Google to take advantage of picture-in-picture, notification dots and the like. No big surprise, Google handsets will be the first non-beta phones to get the update. The Pixel, Nexus 5X and 6P are at the top of the list, alongside Pixel C tablet and ASUS’s Nexus Player set-top box, which will be receiving the upgrade i...

Shatterproof screens to protect smartphones

Polymer scientists at the University of Akron in Ohio have developed a transparent electrode that could change the face of smartphones, literally, by making their displays shatterproof. In a recently published paper, researchers show how a transparent layer of nanowire-based electrodes on a polymer surface could be extraordinarily tough and flexible, withstanding repeated scotch tape peeling and bending tests. This could revolutionise and replace conventional touchscreens, according to Yu Zhu, UA assistant professor of polymer science. Currently used coatings made of indium tin oxide (ITO) are more brittle, most likely to shatter, and increasingly costly to manufacture. “These two pronounced factors drive the need to substitute ITO with a cost-effective and flexible conductive transparent film,” Zhu says, adding that the new film provides the same degree of transparency as ITO, yet offers greater conductivity. The novel film retains its shape and functionality after tests i...

Get 56GB of free cloud storage in one folder!

Bring Your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, & OneDrive All Together In One Folder With odrive! Dropbox gives you up to 16GB free.  Google Drive & Gmail give you 15GB. OneDrive gives you 15GB. Box gives you 10GB. odrive brings all your cloud storage apps together in one folder right on your desktop. Just link your Dropbox, Google Drive, Gmail, Box, and OneDrive accounts to odrive and instantly get all your files scattered everywhere in one place! You can even link multiple accounts from each app to get even more! 1. Install odrive. DOWNLOAD It's free! And available for Windows & Mac :) 3.Get all your stuff! 2. Link all your cloud storage accounts. Note:  This gives odrive permission to download your files for you. odrive doesn't store anything, we promise! OXYGEN CLOUD, INC., 1600 SEAPORT BLVD, REDWOOD CITY, CA, 94063, UNITED  ...

Facebook Messenger For Apple Watch Officially Launches

During Apple’s keynote in September, they announced that Facebook Messenger would be coming to the Apple Watch, as long as you’ve updated to watchOS 2. Well, it’s here.   You can now share things like voice clips, likes and stickers from your Apple Watch. From my experience, little interactions like this are what works best on the Watch. I’ve found that as soon as I have to do anything more than pick a person and an action, things go haywire. Sure, there’s a lot more to do with watchOS, but I’d say that 2 is lightyears ahead of what the device shipped with. When Messenger for Apple Watch was first announced, our own Josh Constine said: The more platform ubiquity Facebook Messenger can achieve, the stronger its network effect will be entrenched. Each time a friend messages you from Facebook Messenger, it draws you closer to the Facebook ecosystem. Each time they text you from SMS or another app (other than WhatsApp), it pulls you further away. That’s why despit...

How To Bring Back The Old Windows Photo Viewer As Your Default Image Viewer

When you upgraded to Windows 10, from either Windows 7 or 8.1, you must have realized that Microsoft did away with the old Windows Photo Viewer. In its place, you now get the Windows Photo App. While Windows Photo App might have its advantages like being able to edit pictures really quickly and share them online. For me, and many others, the old Windows Photo Viewer, is just straightforward, faster and we are used to it. The new Photo App takes some time getting used to, and it is just not the same as the old Windows Photo Viewer. If you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10, you should find the Windows Photo Viewer when you right click a picture and go to the ‘Open With’ options. But if you performed a clean install of Windows 10, Microsoft has completely disabled the Windows Photo Viewer. But Geek Savanna has come across a simple hack at  Ten Forums  that will enable you to get back the Windows Photo Viewer. This hack is revealed by a guy called Edwin, wh...