Security and privacy decision
Spy Camera Scanner
A technically competent developer can reproduce basic Wi‑Fi, BLE, magnetometer and camera-filter functionality, but the app's stated value rests on a proprietary on‑device ML model and product polish that are not reproduced easily; build a narrow sweep tool, but keep paying for the full product if you need the vendor's claimed detection accuracy and tuning.
View on the App Store↗$2.5/mo
$30/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off120 h to build
$0/mo4 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 4 seats.
No open-source build does this yet
Nothing published replaces this one, so a replacement starts from an empty file. Here is what it would have to cover.
What a replacement has to do
- Point phone camera for on-device AI lens detection; scan local Wi‑Fi for devices and suspicious MAC/vendor signatures; sweep for Bluetooth trackers while showing signal strength; enable IR filter to reveal IR LEDs; read magnetometer to show EMF spikes.
What it still won’t have
- The vendor's "proprietary on-device AI" lens recognition
- Polish and tuning for low false positives across many camera types
- App Store brand, existing user reviews, and subscription management history
- Ongoing model improvements claimed by the vendor
What remains hard
- Proprietary models
Our proprietary on-device AI analyzes optical reflection and aperture geometry in real-time to identify hidden pinhole cameras, webcams, and concealed camcorders.
- Execution quality
Speed & Polish: Faster launch times and essential bug fixes keep your sweeps perfectly smooth.
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 4 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal iOS hidden-camera sweep app in Swift + SwiftUI that runs fully on-device. Stack: Xcode, Swift 5+, AVFoundation for camera preview, CoreML (use a public object-detection model converted to CoreML) for lens detection, Network framework for local Wi‑Fi enumeration, CoreBluetooth for BLE scanning, and CoreMotion/CMDeviceMotion for magnetometer access. Core features in scope: realtime camera preview with on-device ML lens highlights; Wi‑Fi device list with vendor lookup and a flagged/unknown heuristic; BLE scanner with RSSI meter and simple trace UI; IR visualization mode (camera preview with adjustable sensitivity); magnetometer baseline auto-calibration and spike alerts; simple Settings and StoreKit subscription stub (local switchable premium unlock for testing). Out of scope: training a proprietary lens model, backend/cloud analytics, and automated firmware detection. Deliverables: error handling for sensor/permission failures, unit/UI tests for detection flows, and a README with provisioning and TestFlight instructions.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Pay verdict base20
- 2 cited sources+1
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Hard moats found in the evidence-3
- Evidence score21
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 2
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productSpy & Hidden Camera Detector - App Store
- official pricingSpy & Hidden Camera Detector - App Store (pricing)
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
