To quote a worn-out – but sometimes true – saying from Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you.” The popularity of Airbnb and other informal rentals coincides with the increased production of less expensive hidden cameras, making it increasingly likely that your stay can be viewed by the person who rented the property to you.
Do you want to be sure that your privacy is respected? There are a number of ways you can find out if there are hidden cameras in your space.
When a camera wants to capture motion or take pictures in low light or dark rooms, it usually uses infrared (IR) light, which the human eye cannot detect. But even if you can’t see the IR light emitted by the camera, the sensor on your smartphone camera should be able to. In some phones, only the front camera can capture IR light; in others, like my Pixel 6, it works with both the front and rear cameras.
To try it out, first check if and how your phone finds IR signals using a TV or other remote control:
Understood? Okay, now all you need to do to check if there is an IR camera is to make the room as dark as possible (so that if there is a camera, the IR will be activated) and then slowly scan the room with your phone . If there is an active camera with IR illumination, you should be able to find it.
If you’re wondering if there’s an active camera in your room and the IR trick doesn’t work (because there’s no camera or the camera isn’t equipped with IR), another way to possibly find an active device is to check what else is connected to the local network.
There are a number of network analysis apps that can find which devices are connected to your local network. I tried one called Fing (which is available for both Android and iOS), but there are several useful ones available. These apps can find and list all devices on your network; they can also let you confirm which devices you recognize, making it easier to find devices that shouldn’t be there.
Of course, neither is foolproof – they are just possible methods for you to try. (And it’s kind of fun to play with the IR sensing features on your phone.) If you’re seriously concerned, you can get a radio frequency (RF) detectorwhich should pick up all signals from hidden microphones or cameras.
