whoknows2597
macrumors 6502
That’s the thing. AI. Does EVERYTHING need to have AI in it? Will that justify price increases for a good portion of consumer goods?
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Camera AirPods Code Reveals Image Capture Resolution, Status Light, Person Detection, and More
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I mean you forfeit privacy when you go out in public…?
Cameras have been everywhere for years lol, why is it suddenly a problem 😂
It will probably be limited to Vision AI. So you cannot take pictures and video or save them into your gallery. Just vision AI and then image deleted.
Siri will probably reply with voice and display the results on your phone without showing the original picture.
Siri will probably reply with voice and display the results on your phone without showing the original picture.
iMac The Knife
macrumors 68000
Really? I don't remember anyone saying that. Not a single person. I remember people talking about how cool it was to be able to take photos on their phone though.
I guarantee that the snowballing opposition to Meta RayBans will mean that these Airpods will never see the light of day. Apple's commitment to privacy extends to more than the internet
'Person detection', I can see a lot of privacy cases coming against these devices with cameras and Ai systems.
Also sounds like something I would turn off immediately - anything that drops the battery life is a hard no to me
Personally I do not like the idea of cameras in everything, especially the Apple Watch! The only use I could see for cameras or some other kind of sensor in AirPods is for Conversation Awareness. Right now, Conversation Awareness only works when you start talking to someone. If Apple could figure out how to have the AirPods cameras/sensors know if someone was talking to you and turn on Conversation Awareness, it could be very helpful. That being said, I still don’t like the idea of cameras in AirPods.
My bet is that Apple will position these AirPods as privacy safe because images won't be saved to your photo library, they'll 'just' be processed by Siri/on-device AI in real time. Apple will frame this as solving the privacy problem. It doesn't.
If someone near me is wearing AirPods with a camera, I'm now being captured and run through an AI system even if that AI runs entirely on-device and nothing is ever stored. I never agreed to that. I didn't choose to trust Apple's AI with my image. The person wearing the AirPods did, on my behalf, without asking me. When I buy an iPhone, I'm making a choice to trust Apple with my own data. When someone else wears Airpods or smart glasses with cameras, that's no longer the case. Someone else's decision now gives Apple or Meta much more data about me, with zero consent on my end.
The usual counterargument is "phones already have cameras, what's different?" Two important things:
- Visibility: When someone points a phone at me, I can see it (and possibly react like looking away or leaving). A camera in an earbud is much more discrete.
- It's constant: Taking a photo with a phone is a much more bounded act. A wearable camera can run continuously, with no clear start or stop, and no external signal of when it's on.
This isn't just an Apple issue, it applies just as much (arguably more) to Meta's RayBan smart glasses, and to any other wearable that puts a lens on a body worn in public.
One additional thing: You may trust Apple to properly secure/process data, such that you wouldn't have a problem with someone else wearing these Airpods. But do you trust Meta? Do you trust Google, OpenAi, etc.? Because if we allow wearables with cameras from one manufacturer we're going to have to allow them all.
If someone near me is wearing AirPods with a camera, I'm now being captured and run through an AI system even if that AI runs entirely on-device and nothing is ever stored. I never agreed to that. I didn't choose to trust Apple's AI with my image. The person wearing the AirPods did, on my behalf, without asking me. When I buy an iPhone, I'm making a choice to trust Apple with my own data. When someone else wears Airpods or smart glasses with cameras, that's no longer the case. Someone else's decision now gives Apple or Meta much more data about me, with zero consent on my end.
The usual counterargument is "phones already have cameras, what's different?" Two important things:
- Visibility: When someone points a phone at me, I can see it (and possibly react like looking away or leaving). A camera in an earbud is much more discrete.
- It's constant: Taking a photo with a phone is a much more bounded act. A wearable camera can run continuously, with no clear start or stop, and no external signal of when it's on.
This isn't just an Apple issue, it applies just as much (arguably more) to Meta's RayBan smart glasses, and to any other wearable that puts a lens on a body worn in public.
One additional thing: You may trust Apple to properly secure/process data, such that you wouldn't have a problem with someone else wearing these Airpods. But do you trust Meta? Do you trust Google, OpenAi, etc.? Because if we allow wearables with cameras from one manufacturer we're going to have to allow them all.
btrach144
macrumors 68040
Yeah, the ability to snoop on others or catch people in compromising or exposing situations and record that moment is too risky with something like this. It's going to ruin people's trust of AirPods and hurt the overall brand.
On top of that, the battery life on these would be awful?
I wrote this in June 2026. I still believe it:
——————
I believe there is going to be a company or developer who creates a safety / security App linked to these cameras in the AirPods and the enhanced Siri on the iPhones.
Siri will be able to say to the camera-enabled AirPod wearer:
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "AirPods Personal Security Alert has detected the same person has been following you 10 feet back for the last 3 city blocks. There is a secure banking location 8 feet ahead of you on your immediately left. Please enter that location as soon as possible. I have sent a image of the person to your iPhone. If this is an emergency, please alert bank security and local police and show them the photo."
Or...
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "AirPods Child Security Alert has detected a potential threat to your child. Please look at your child on the swing. A person not in your approved child contacts has just approached your child with candy. Because she is listening to music on Airpods, I was able to record what the person said to your child. Please listen to the exchange now. Please retrieve your child now. Your child's AirPods captured a photo fo the person. I have forwarded the photo to your iPhone. If this is an emergency, contact the local police and give them the photo."
Or...
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "I must interrupt your call. AirPods Executive Security Alert has detected a possible threat. AirPods camera and iPhone Lidar indicates a person 10 feet to your right is carrying an object that possibly matches the shape of a knife. The person's trajectory will shortly intersect with you. Quickly, visually verify the accuracy of this assessment. If needed, activate the iPhone emergency alarm. Then immediately move to secure location."
Or...
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "AirPods Personal Security Alert has detected a possible threat to your elderly mother. She was wearing her AirPods when she answered her door. Please listen to this exchange. AirPods audio sensors indicate a struggle and quick movements. She is no longer at the address you associate with her. Mapping indicates she is moving rapidly in a Northwesterly direction. If you believe this is an emergency, please call 911 and send local police the audio and AirPods images that have been sent to your iPhone. I can link you directly to your mother should you wish to check-in right now."
If there is a truly robust safety / security App tied to the camera-enabled AirPods and AI-enabled iPhones... and their ability to use cameras, lidar, real time mapping, and AI to do measured personal threat assessments, I see many, many buyers for this:
- executives and companies wishing to buy these to protect C-Suite leadership
- women
- parents buying these for their children to enhance child security when out in public
- people buying these as an extra layer of monitoring for elderly relatives
- travelers buying these for security against muggings / pickpockets
- police departments and law enforcement
- public figures of all types
This will sell nicely with the right safety / security Apps
——————
Churchman
macrumors regular
I see a huge market for these new AirPods. IF....I believe there is going to be a company or developer who creates a safety / security App linked to these cameras in the AirPods and the enhanced Siri on the iPhones.
Siri will be able to say to the camera-enabled AirPod wearer:
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "AirPods Personal Security Alert has detected the same person has been following you 10 feet back for the last 3 city blocks. There is a secure banking location 8 feet ahead of you on your immediately left. Please enter that location as soon as possible. I have sent a image of the person to your iPhone. If this is an emergency, please alert bank security and local police and show them the photo."
Or...
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "AirPods Child Security Alert has detected a potential threat to your child. Please look at your child on the swing. A person not in your approved child contacts has just approached your child with candy. Because she is listening to music on Airpods, I was able to record what the person said to your child. Please listen to the exchange now. Please retrieve your child now. Your child's AirPods captured a photo fo the person. I have forwarded the photo to your iPhone. If this is an emergency, contact the local police and give them the photo."
Or...
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "I must interrupt your call. AirPods Executive Security Alert has detected a possible threat. AirPods camera and iPhone Lidar indicates a person 10 feet to your right is carrying an object that possibly matches the shape of a knife. The person's trajectory will shortly intersect with you. Quickly, visually verify the accuracy of this assessment. If needed, activate the iPhone emergency alarm. Then immediately move to secure location."
Or...
"Churchman..." "Yes Siri?" "AirPods Personal Security Alert has detected a possible threat to your elderly mother. She was wearing her AirPods when she answered her door. Please listen to this exchange. AirPods audio sensors indicate a struggle and quick movements. She is no longer at the address you associate with her. Mapping indicates she is moving rapidly in a Northwesterly direction. If you believe this is an emergency, please call 911 and send local police the audio and AirPods images that have been sent to your iPhone. I can link you directly to your mother should you wish to check-in right now."
If there is a truly robust safety / security App tied to the camera-enabled AirPods and AI-enabled iPhones... and their ability to use cameras, lidar, real time mapping, and AI to do measured personal threat assessments, I see many, many buyers for this:
- executives and companies wishing to buy these to protect C-Suite leadership
- women
- parents buying these for their children to enhance child security when out in public
- people buying these as an extra layer of monitoring for elderly relatives
- travelers buying these for security against muggings / pickpockets
- police departments and law enforcement
- public figures of all types
This will sell nicely with the right safety / security Apps
AirPods are much more difficult to detect someone taking a record versus a phone, even with an “indicator light”. Who knows what Apple will allow on these things in a few years’ time. People may cancel memberships over the increased, uncontrolled surveillance.
Weren't these supposed to not even need a recording light because they are not able to take photos at all by reducing captured image data to non-personalized image features on-device and do further processing with cloud Siri? The real-world examples in the Visual Intelligence book video and the Apple Intelligence accessibility VoiceOver video would work just fine with that privacy-centric concept.
If this (need for a) recording light is real, AirPods are dead to me. People don't like having a camera pointed to their face/body by a person they don't know.
If this (need for a) recording light is real, AirPods are dead to me. People don't like having a camera pointed to their face/body by a person they don't know.
NightFox
macrumors 68040
Google Glass may not have gone mainstream, but Meta glasses and the numerous Temu copies certainly have over the last 5 years. Apparently there's 2 million pairs of just the Ray Ban smart glasses out there already, with the EU being one of the primary markets for them.
NightFox
macrumors 68040
Why does it have to be 'instead of' though? Why would the inclusion of cameras have to be at the cost of further development of the audio features? I'd imagine we've got two specialist groups working alongside each other here, not just one.
NightFox
macrumors 68040
This will maybe give you an idea of the consensus back in 2003, with some gyms even banning them at the time, though that was short-lived as they became more ubiquitous.
Camera phones cause privacy concerns
The camera cell phone, one of the hottest items on this year's Christmas gift list, is a growing privacy issue for both consumers and organisations.
www.abc.net.au
iMac The Knife
macrumors 68000
Yeah, I can see them saying this on the news since the news is all about fear-mongering. I was talking about people in general, and I never heard anyone say that. Of course that doesn't mean no one ever said it. Gyms still ban them in locker rooms to this day, at least all the gyms I've gone to.This will maybe give you an idea of the consensus back in 2003, with some gyms even banning them at the time, though that was short-lived as they became more ubiquitous.
Camera phones cause privacy concerns
The camera cell phone, one of the hottest items on this year's Christmas gift list, is a growing privacy issue for both consumers and organisations.
You are too young then.
Many gyms did not let people bring in phones with cameras when they first came out and that lasted about a year or two before nobody cared.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
iMac The Knife
macrumors 68000
You shouldn't assume such things. I was going to gyms to workout well before there were camera phones (in the US anyway). No gym I ever worked out at in the USA banned cellphones outright, meaning you couldn't even bring them into a gym.
Who needed a thousand songs in your pocket? The reflexive retort many here used after Jobs introduced iPod 25 years ago.
Macaholic868
Contributor
Yes, everything must have AI in it. Next up, AI enabled toilet paper rolls with a camera. “Excuse me, sir, that wipe left a little something to be desired (or not).”
jdavid_rp
macrumors 6502a
seems quite utopic. First i don’t see feasible a good battery life with all that hardware, also how you get a camera with enough resolution to identify faces or objects and lasty, to see behind you.
Also elderly people can use smartwatches to get tracked or even monitor falls or issues with the bpm