BLE Sniffer vs NearSight

BLE Sniffer turns your iPhone into a passive Bluetooth Low Energy scanner. See the BLE devices broadcasting around you, log what they're advertising, and use a proximity radar to gauge how close they are — all without connecting to anything. Think of it as a "sniff raw" mode for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum: capture the advertisements in the air, filter nothing, analyze offline. Whether you're mapping the BLE devices in your own home, auditing your gear, or reverse-engineering your own hardware, BLE Sniffer shows you what's broadcasting nearby. WHAT IT DOES Live device scanning See a real-time list of the nearby BLE devices that are advertising — name, identifier, signal strength (RSSI), manufacturer, service UUIDs, advertisement count, and first/last-seen times. Sort by signal, activity, name, or recency. Device categorization (heuristic) A built-in lookup of the complete Bluetooth SIG manufacturer registry — 4,000+ vendor IDs — plus vendor and name heuristics attaches a visual badge to some devices to help you triage a long list — for example dev boards, smart-home gear, and devices whose manufacturer ID or advertised name matches known camera vendors. These are best-effort guesses based on what a device broadcasts, not confirmed identifications. Proximity radar & "Geiger" mode A radar view plots advertising devices on concentric rings by signal strength. Pick one device and switch to single-device mode: a big live RSSI readout with color-coded background plus audio and haptic feedback that speeds up as the signal gets stronger — walk around and home in on it like a metal detector. Sessions & baseline diffing Save a scan as a named session. Capture a baseline in one location, scan another, and diff the two — see which advertising devices appear in the new scan but not the baseline. A quick way to narrow a long list down to what changed. Full CSV export Export any session or live scan as CSV — one row per advertisement, with timestamps, identifiers, RSSI, manufacturer IDs, service UUIDs, TX power, and raw advertisement bytes. Share it anywhere via the system share sheet for offline analysis. Optional device inspection For devices you own, opt in to connect and browse the GATT service tree — read manufacturer, model, and firmware info and explore characteristics. Connections are always explicit and per-device; the app never auto-connects. PRIVACY-FIRST BY DESIGN • Passive by default — it listens, it doesn't transmit or pair • No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions • No telemetry, no accounts, no cloud — your data stays on your device • Everything is logged locally and exported only when you choose GREAT FOR • Mapping and auditing the BLE devices broadcasting in your own home or office • Hardware hackers, makers, and security researchers • Anyone curious about the invisible radio traffic around them PERMISSIONS BLE Sniffer asks only for Bluetooth access, which it uses to listen for nearby device advertisements. It does not pair, transmit, or request your location. Each device appears under an app-scoped identifier assigned by iOS — no hardware addresses are exposed. NOTE BLE Sniffer is a passive observation tool for the Bluetooth Low Energy spectrum. It detects Bluetooth Low Energy advertisements only — it is not a hidden-camera or surveillance detector and cannot find devices that don't broadcast BLE (including many cameras, and anything using Bluetooth Classic, Wi-Fi, or cellular). RSSI indicates rough proximity (distance), not direction, and device categories are heuristic guesses, not guarantees. Please use it responsibly and legally.

See the hidden world around you. NearSight listens for the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signals that nearby devices are constantly broadcasting and decodes what they actually are. Earbuds, watches, fitness trackers, beacons, smart-home sensors, item trackers, and more turn from anonymous radio noise into a clear, readable list right on your iPhone. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Scan live. Watch nearby devices appear in real time, sorted by how close they are. • Know what's there. NearSight recognizes a growing catalog of device types and shows make, model, and what each signal means, not just a cryptic address. • Notice the unexpected. Surface unknown or unfamiliar devices around you and decide for yourself what belongs. • Go deeper. Open any device to inspect its raw advertisement, signal strength, and parsed technical details. OPTIONAL AI INSIGHTS Turn on AI to get plain-language explanations of what NearSight is seeing. Bring your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key, or run a compact model entirely on your device. Your choice. AI is completely optional and stays off until you enable it. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Scanning happens on your iPhone. NearSight works fully offline and shows what it sees to no one but you. AI insights and anonymous telemetry are strictly opt-in and off by default. Nothing leaves your device unless you turn it on. No ads, no third-party tracking, no account required. WHAT NEARSIGHT CAN (AND CAN'T) SEE NearSight decodes the Bluetooth signals that devices broadcast but it can't see everything: • Not every device is recognized. New or niche hardware may show up as Unknown until we've researched it and added support. • Some devices are intentionally excluded. We don't surface certain safety-sensitive devices (for example personal panic buttons), because revealing someone's private safety equipment could put them at risk. However, AI Insights may identify such devices. • It only sees Bluetooth. Devices that are powered off, not currently broadcasting, or that use other radios (Wi-Fi-only cameras, wired, or cellular devices) are invisible to NearSight. NearSight is a Bluetooth explorer, not a safety or security device, bug sweeper, or hidden-camera detector. It cannot guarantee it will find every tracker, camera, or listening device near you, and not seeing something here does not mean it isn't there. If you have a real safety concern, use dedicated tools and contact local authorities. Questions, or a device you'd like us to identify? Email hello@nearsight.one.