Camera AirPods Code Reveals Image Capture Resolution, Status Light, Person Detection, and More

[eifelbube]

I completely understand that blind and visually impaired people could genuinely benefit from camera technology.

If you’d understood it, you wouldn’t have written your comment.

I read MacFin’s comment in its entirety, so I know MacFin completely understands. Could it be that you stopped reading before the next to last paragraph? It begins with “There are smarter ways to solve the accessibility problem …”

 

[eifelbube]

That’s your biggest concern from this? Lol

I wonder how much compute is needed to constantly process stereoscopic images from the 200 million people who will buy and use these.

Also, the clutching of pearls and rending of hair/clothes over the surveillance aspect… we’re already constantly watched. Every inch of this planet’s surface is watched 24/7 by satellites, drones, etc. There’s nothing you can really do about it.

I wonder how many drones have been spotted inside gyms yet? Any guess? 😊

 

[jimscard]

Am i the only one who is tired of this surveillance culture, with cameras everywhere ? Cameras in your phones, in your glasses, in your headphones, in your watches, soon you won’t be able to buy a Tshirt without a built-in mini-camera filming everything around you in 360 degree angle.

It’s a self-inflicted Orwellian world. We’re willingly building a Panopticon to live in.

Surveillance implies someone other than you I watching, which, of course, is not the case with any Apple product including these.

It’s also worth noting that what was shown in the leaked video - “save for later” can also be done with an iPhone running iOS 27 today.

 

[jimscard]

I wonder how many drones have been spotted inside gyms yet? Any guess? 😊

Done on the iPhone, so not relevant

 

[eifelbube]

The problem with your argument is that you're treating “I can't imagine how it would happen” as proof that it can't happen. You said, “No one is going to capture your private parts if you're just using the urinal.” But that's an assumption about how every person will use the technology. I'm not claiming everyone wearing camera-equipped AirPods is going to secretly record people. My point is that putting a camera into something people can wear everywhere, while making it tiny, discreet and difficult for others to notice, creates another opportunity for potential abuse. We have already seen phones and camera glasses misused, and making cameras smaller and less noticeable doesn't eliminate that risk; it can make misuse harder to detect.

There's also an important distinction between “the device isn't intended to record you” and “the device cannot record you.” The first is an intention; the second is a safeguard. Imagine you're standing at a urinal and the person next to you deliberately points an iPhone at your lower body and starts recording. You'd quite rightly consider that invasive, wouldn't you? The fact that the camera is attached to someone's ear rather than being held in their hand doesn't fundamentally change what is happening or what could be happening. If anything, a smaller, more discreet camera makes it harder for you to know you're being recorded in the first place. That's the point I'm making: I'm not saying everyone wearing camera-equipped AirPods would be a creep. I'm saying everyone around them shouldn't have to trust that they're not. With a phone, you can at least see someone holding up a device. With a tiny camera integrated into something that looks like ordinary AirPods, you may have no idea. And that's particularly relevant in places like bathrooms, changing rooms, gyms and hospitals where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Ultimately, you don't have to prove that misuse will happen to recognise that the possibility matters. Anything capable of recording video or audio can potentially be used to record people who don't want to be recorded, and once that footage exists, you have to consider who can access it, where it goes and what happens if the system is compromised. So “bro, nobody's going to do that” isn't a privacy safeguard. It's simply an assumption that everyone will behave responsibly.

Privacy shouldn't depend on trusting every stranger around you. If we're going to put cameras into devices people can wear literally everywhere, including places where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy, then the question shouldn't be “Why would anyone misuse it?” It should be “What prevents them from doing so?” The person being recorded never chose to have a camera pointed at them, so why should they be the one expected to take the risk and simply trust that the person wearing it is responsible? That's the fundamental issue. We shouldn't design privacy around the assumption that nobody will abuse a technology. We should design the technology so that, wherever possible, abuse is difficult in the first place.

Points well taken. Definitely not a laughing matter as one reaction sadly seems to suggest.

 

[eifelbube]

… we’re already constantly watched. Every inch of this planet’s surface is watched 24/7 by satellites, drones, etc. There’s nothing you can really do about it.

I wonder how many drones have been spotted inside gyms yet? Any guess? 😊

Done on the iPhone, so not relevant

Constantly … watched 24/7, on the iPhone, got you. I’ll check next time I go the gym.

 

[eifelbube]

Done on the iPhone, so not relevant

To borrow MacFin’s words:
“That's not how we normally think about security. We don't say that because someone can break into one house, there's no reason to improve the locks on every other house.”

 

[pdfu]

Apple may use the new AirPods cameras to improve head tracking for Spatial Audio by detecting physical screens while watching content:

Upcoming AirPods may use cameras for improved Spatial Audio head tracking

The first macOS 26.7 Release Candidate revealed that Apple's upcoming AirPods will come with color cameras that can take 1MP pictures in active and passive modes. There's more to the story. Code in the same update suggests that the cameras may be used to improve head-tracked Spatial Audio by...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Razmatazz]

Seriously, how many guys go into a public bathroom, stand at a urinal and still have their AirPods in? I don't want someone next to me suddenly having the ability to record my private parts.

Must ... resist ... punchline.

There's also an important distinction between “the device isn't intended to record you” and “the device cannot record you.” The first is an intention; the second is a safeguard.

Drones have geo-fencing. Apple can do the same.
AirPod user walks into a toilet, camera's off, no blinking red light...