A $2 sticker let me bypass the Meta Glasses' anti-creep feature

A bright LED is supposed to flip on when Meta's smart glasses record their surroundings to alert bystanders they're being filmed. This has led to a cat-and-mouse game where Meta issues new security measures, and those wishing to use the devices for covert recording find workarounds. The latest of these are little more than light-blocking stickers. I've tested out a few of these products and they are cheap and surprisingly effective.

Meta may have rolled out a mandatory software update that permanently disables cameras on glasses if the LED is physically broken, but these products— which are often sold as "privacy" accessories — work because they don't rely on damaging the light. They also don't completely cover the LED, which would typically trigger a warning from Meta. Instead, the covers allow just enough peripheral light that Meta's safety feature is successfully foiled.

Here's one such "accessory" I bought after seeing it linked in someone's TikTok Shop. It consists of two sets of stickers: a small clear plastic piece that has some notches cut out and a black sticker that sits on top. The notches in the bottom piece allow some light to hit the glasses' sensor and the black sticker obscures the LED.

The kit I bought ran for for $16.99 and included a dozen stickers and a small pair of tweezers to help position them on the glasses. It's not a perfect cover. There is some detectable light if you look at the glasses up close or at an angle, but nowhere near enough for the average person to spot. And when I wore my second-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses outside with the sticker applied, the LED wasn't detectable at all. The stickers never triggered a warning to unblock the LED.

The fact that there appears to be a thriving market for such products underscores the challenge Meta is currently facing when it comes to its smart glasses. The company is clearly trying to get ahead of the backlash surrounding the product, yet people continue to find ways to bypass the company's restrictions.

The same company I bought the Ray-Ban stickers from sells an even more effective LED blocker designed for the Oakley Meta Vanguard sunglasses. Instead of having to mess with adhesives, it's a single piece of plastic that clips perfectly over the LED as if it's a first-party accessory. The recording light is completely imperceptible when the cover is on. It cost $15 for 10 of these covers.

I'm not naming the specific products or the company that makes them, but similar items are readily available on Amazon and other storefronts. There are dozens of videos on YouTube and TikTok promoting these devices, some of which appear to be even more effective than the versions I tried.

"I'm telling you guys right now, the new update's not going to do anything because the sensor just doesn't know that it's being blocked," one TikTokker said in a video demonstrating one of these products. "Stop freaking out and no, it's not creepy."

To be clear: that guy is wrong. It is creepy to bypass Meta's privacy features. It also violates the company's terms of service and could lead to repercussions for your accounts if you get caught. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said the company will ban users who post content of themselves harassing people using altered glasses.

At the same time, it's not clear if the company has an effective way to enforce its policies against smart glasses users who turn . While the company can detect images captured from glasses that have broken lights, these stickers keep the physical components intact, making tracing who is bypassing this security feature more difficult.

Meta did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Update 9:39am ET July 31, 2026: "Products and people that have found ways around this built-in privacy protection violate our policies, so we're exploring ways to strengthen our ability to detect
such tampering and disable the camera," Meta told Engadget in a statement. "Additionally, we remove ads, posts, and Marketplace listings that promote tampering services, and we will take action against violators—up to and including banning their accounts."