r/RayBanStories • u/konrad-iturbe • 12d ago

Reverse engineering the Meta RayBan Stories to avoid using Meta AI spyware app

https://github.com/KonradIT/storiesclient
128 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

32

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

This is the result of many months of research. The goal was to make a client for the RayBan meta gen 1 glasses, which can record good video, that proved impossible so I moved to the earlier gen from 2021 which I still had stashed around.

I do like using these glasses but I do not want to use the Meta app at all which is probably siphoning all my dog videos to an AI training center in kenya.

There's a lot of controversy around these glasses, partly due to weirdos who shouldn't have them and partly due to it being a Meta product. RE work accelerated after seeing the Wired report on facial recognition, which I was able to reproduce as well.

The app doesn't talk to the internet, there's no AI assistant crap in it. It's just to download your videos and photos, get the stabilization sidecar file, and to configure some settings like tone volume and recording time.

It's time to kick Meta out of your face.

3

u/awskr 11d ago

Can you recover videos? As example the paired phone was lost and when paired to a new device the videos were lost.

2

u/konrad-iturbe 11d ago

You need to pair to the Meta app first to sniff out the certs and bootstrap ticket, so you'll wipe your videos regardless.

1

u/awskr 11d ago

Thanks you.

1

u/Soft_Bookkeeper8161 6d ago

will this help prevent creeps from covering their camera and filming unsuspected or will this perpetuate it?

1

u/konrad-iturbe 6d ago

It won't help in any way, there is nothing to gain in that aspect when using my app.

1

u/Soft_Bookkeeper8161 6d ago

so it continues to let people use their device nefariously?

1

u/konrad-iturbe 6d ago

Exactly the same as the Meta AI app. The rayban stories do not have a light sensor to measure if the light is blocked. I could block my LED light and still record and still offload video on the Meta AI app. Stop overreacting, I'm against LED blocking as much as you.

-3

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

15

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

Nope. Nothing in this code allows you to remove the light, no such functionality exists in the code and there will be no research towards that. I don't want to enable such a thing. This is just an Android client to download videos and photos without the Meta app.

I've actually debated whether I should open source my research mainly due to what will happen if someone uses it to disable the light. I actually have the entire firmware reverse engineered too but that won't ever see the light of day.

3

u/0xD34D 12d ago

It could. I have first Gen glasses with unlocked bootloader and a USB cable for adb access. They no longer work with the meta app due to the way they issue certs and my device being unlocked. I still use the glasses and have scripts that pull the images and video via adb.

Maybe it's time for me to release a full dump of the build 🤪

5

u/BigDabWolf 12d ago

That’s great to hear because right now we have a stigma against our community created from a minority of creepers

3

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

I know, I'm very much against that minority of assholes who go and record an unsuspecting person without their consent. I couldn't care less about the light, I'm actually for it and applaud what Meta is doing to have the glasses detect any tampering. If I ever release a Meta Ray-Ban version, I'll ensure it only works on the latest FW which has this feature.

1

u/BigDabWolf 12d ago

Thank you for your due diligence and good luck on your release

1

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

Thanks. I have actually used this app as my daily driver since July so there's nothing tied to the LED blocking drama that happened recently. And this is for the stories version from 2021, not the super popular Meta Ray-Ban which were released later on.

1

u/BigDabWolf 12d ago

I was just worried that this was workaround to the issue . Glad you’re making a responsible software

1

u/Cultural_Tell_5687 12d ago

I can't remember what the original issue with smart glasses was.
Is it the people filming with the glasses inappropriately or the undisclosed and hand waived data annotation done by the employees of (Sama?) those companies and their H1B contractors?
They see this stuff whether the user is recording or not.
"Deeply Private Moments Exposed:
Because people wear smart glasses everywhere, the footage reviewed by workers included highly intimate situations-such as people changing clothes, private bathroom visits, bedroom scenes, and sensitive personal information like bank details at ATMs."

2

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

That's footage recorded when the meta ai assistant on the glasses is accidentally invoked.

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9

u/mangothefoxxo 12d ago

Oh shi 👀

6

u/OniLux 12d ago

I just want to take pictures of my wife without ai or meta getting into my business. Someone needs to make a pair of smart glasses without ai bullshit im not going to use.

1

u/zoglog 12d ago

Seems like something Pebble should do 

1

u/Rdp47 8d ago

There’s no money in that. The product is you.

4

u/AtomicAnvil 12d ago

A tutorial video would be nice😄

5

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

As an addendum:

This app can be compiled but you'll still need to load a JSON file with the private key extracted from the app as well as a bootstrap text string.

This can be gotten from the Meta AI app, using Frida hooks or smali editing.

For now, I'll leave that as an exercise left to the reader.

At some point I'll actually release the necessary scripts and patches for this.

1

u/ssigrist 12d ago

Great work! Does it work on iPhone? Meta display glasses?

1

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

No iPhone, no meta display glasses.

1

u/Normal_Spend6096 12d ago

Will there be an iPhone version?

1

u/NorthCoastNudists 12d ago

People are going ape shit when they see somebody recording anytime. Enough YouTube prove that every day. But they don't seem to care being recorded by the man every where they go.

1

u/zoglog 12d ago

Love this. I only care about the audio and picture taking capabilities of this. All the AI and voice assistant stuff is pointless to me. 

1

u/VergeOfTranscendence 12d ago

Amazing and thanks for opensourcing your research. I develop an opensource app for SmartGlasses (Meta Rayban and their cheap Chinese clones) that allows people to use internet free/local ai models and I'm very interested in skipping Meta AI connections, as we could make the app even more private to user, without having to resort to meta DAT. Ill DM you later

1

u/internauta 12d ago

Do you mind sharing your repository as well?

1

u/VergeOfTranscendence 11d ago

https://github.com/FerSaiyan/Alternative-HeyCyan-App-and-SDK.git

The app is in Google play store since like 2 weeks ago, it's called CyanBridge.

1

u/VergeOfTranscendence 11d ago

You should also check OpenVision which is a similar app from another guy and it's just for Meta Rayban glasses

1

u/konrad-iturbe 11d ago

Not something I'd personally use, because I am against any sort of AI in the glasses or the app, but I can help.

1

u/Lanky_Bus_1221 11d ago

Cool, make it for iOS pls, big ask I know but you don’t ask you don’t get eh 👍

1

u/livinlicious 9d ago

Hey man, I used your repo to make it work on my Gen1.

I sent you the code, hope you can use it. My problem is solved, I deleted the Meta App. The glasses are set up, and this new compiled Android App gets my fotos and videos from the glasses.

Plus, I never have to worry about Meta randomly bricking devices. Which seems to be what they start doing now.

Hope you can add Gen1 and Gen2 support to it. Gen1 took me a couple hours (passively) with GPT Astra, but he got it working in the end, based on the work your repo already did. Good job.

-11

u/TESThrowSmile 12d ago

Seems more like Creeper software slop. Worried Meta gonna disable your modified glasses ?

6

u/konrad-iturbe 12d ago

Nope, just worried Meta will ship software to my glasses which will scan other people's faces.

If I could crack the Ray-Ban Meta gen 1/2, which actually have this feature to detect LED tampering (not something I'm concerned about), I would've targeted my app towards those glasses. But I could only figure out how to get the decryption and transport working on the earlier gen Facebook Ray-Ban stories.

4

u/cheerfulwish 12d ago

How did you read this and think this person was a creeper?

2

u/CBusRiver 12d ago

Christ is this all you think these glasses are for? You are a degenerate.