Smartphone app can detect hidden camera lenses from reflections

Time-of-flight sensors built into some smartphones can be used to detect the telltale reflections from hidden camera lenses

By Matthew Sparkes

Surveillance cameras can keep us safe or invade our privacy, and improvements in miniaturisation mean they can now be hidden in almost any object. Researchers have developed a smartphone app that is claimed to detect such hidden cameras with 88.9 per cent accuracy.

Commercial devices to spot hidden cameras are available, but carrying a specific device for this purpose is inconvenient. Sriram Sami at the National University of Singapore and his colleagues hope to provide the same function via a standard smartphone.

The system …