Eye Spy Display | Surveillance, Tracker, ALPR & Drone Awareness Detector with 2” IPS Screen

Broad Surveillance Awareness with a Larger Display

Eye Spy Display brings the open-source Eye Spy surveillance-awareness platform to a larger, easy-to-read 2-inch IPS display.

Built by ⁠STS Collective on the M5Stack Basic ESP32 platform and shipped with Eye Spy firmware preinstalled, this model monitors nearby Bluetooth LE and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi activity for supported wireless signatures associated with surveillance equipment, personal trackers, automated license plate readers, drones, body-camera equipment, smart glasses, wireless cameras, iBeacons, and other devices.

Unlike our purpose-set FlockYou products, Eye Spy takes a broad-spectrum approach. It combines several detection engines and an aggregate scoring system to give you general awareness of supported wireless surveillance and tracking technologies around you.

The 2-inch 320 × 240 IPS display provides room for the current Eye Spy score, CLEAR, CAUTION, or ALERT status, detection information, signal strength, scan phase, tracked-device information, runtime data, and local controls.

An integrated 1W speaker provides audible alerts, while three physical buttons give you direct control without requiring a phone.

No cloud account. No subscription. No required phone.

Eye Spy is an open-source project developed by ⁠SimeonOnSecurity.

⁠View the Eye Spy source code, detection logic, documentation, and development history on GitHub.

What’s Included

• 1 × Eye Spy Display
• Eye Spy ESP32 firmware preinstalled
• 2-inch 320 × 240 IPS color display
• Integrated 1W speaker
• Three physical control buttons
• Bluetooth LE monitoring
• 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi scanning
• Passive Wi-Fi promiscuous monitoring
• Confidence-based aggregate scoring
• Integrated rechargeable battery
• USB Type-C cable
• Expandable M5Stack hardware platform
• No cloud account required
• No subscription required
• Ready to use out of the box

What Eye Spy Looks For

Eye Spy combines several wireless detection methods instead of concentrating on one type of surveillance infrastructure.

Current detection logic includes supported signatures associated with:

• Flock Safety ALPR systems
• Motorola Solutions and Vigilant Solutions ALPR/LPR systems
• Axon equipment
• Apple AirTags
• Samsung SmartTags
• Tile trackers
• OpenDroneID-compatible drones
• Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses
• Hikvision cameras
• Dahua cameras
• Axis cameras
• Ring devices
• Google Nest cameras
• Arlo cameras
• Wyze cameras
• Reolink cameras
• FLIR equipment
• Amcrest cameras
• Vivotek cameras
• Hanwha surveillance equipment
• Mobotix cameras
• Ubiquiti UniFi surveillance equipment
• Apple iBeacons
• Supported Bluetooth modules associated with some card-skimmer designs
• MeshCore nodes
• Persistent unidentified Bluetooth LE devices
• Additional supported surveillance and tracking signatures

Eye Spy identifies supported wireless characteristics. A detection does not establish the ownership, purpose, or use of a nearby device.

One Continuous Awareness Screen

Eye Spy uses a different display philosophy from FlockYou.

Rather than replacing the interface with a dedicated detection screen for every event, Eye Spy maintains one continuous awareness screen.

The display centers around your current aggregate Eye Spy score and status.

CLEAR | Score 0–2

The interface uses a green status theme when the score sits between 0 and 2.

CAUTION | Score 3–5

The interface changes to amber when lower-confidence detections or several indicators increase the score to 3 through 5.

A short audible tone marks the transition into CAUTION.

ALERT | Score 6+

The interface changes to red when the score reaches 6 or higher.

A stronger audible tone marks entry into ALERT.

This approach gives you an ongoing view of the surrounding wireless environment instead of treating every individual observation as an isolated event.

Larger 2-Inch Eye Spy Display

The defining feature of Eye Spy Display is its larger 2-inch IPS screen.

With a 320 × 240 resolution and up to 853-nit rated maximum brightness, the display provides substantially more room than smaller ESP32 display platforms.

The interface presents information such as:

• Current Eye Spy score
• CLEAR, CAUTION, or ALERT status
• Current scanning phase
• Number of tracked devices
• Total detection events
• Last detection information
• Detection method
• RSSI signal strength
• Signal-strength visualization
• Estimated range information
• Signal trend information
• Runtime information
• Local firmware logs

This larger format works well for vehicle installations, desktops, field kits, demonstrations, training, and wireless research.

Bluetooth LE + Wi-Fi Monitoring

Eye Spy monitors both Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi.

The firmware rotates through several detection phases to work within the ESP32’s shared wireless-radio resources.

Its normal cycle consists of approximately:

• 9 seconds of Bluetooth LE monitoring
• Approximately 3 seconds of Wi-Fi scanning
• 5 seconds of promiscuous Wi-Fi monitoring
• Repeat

This lets one device observe several different categories of supported wireless activity.

Bluetooth LE Detection

Eye Spy performs passive Bluetooth LE scanning.

The BLE detection engine evaluates supported:

• Device names
• Service UUIDs
• Manufacturer data
• Advertisement payloads
• MAC and manufacturer information
• Persistent-device behavior

Supported BLE detection logic includes signatures associated with AirTags, SmartTags, Tile trackers, Axon equipment, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, OpenDroneID, Flock-related devices, iBeacons, and other supported targets.

Wi-Fi Detection

Eye Spy scans nearby 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi activity for supported characteristics.

Detection methods include:

• Manufacturer OUI matching
• BSSID matching
• SSID keyword matching
• Flock Safety signatures
• ALPR/LPR signatures
• Surveillance-camera manufacturer signatures
• Camera-related network names

The firmware also enters a promiscuous Wi-Fi monitoring phase for supported 802.11 frame-level detection.

Drone Remote ID Awareness

Eye Spy includes OpenDroneID detection over supported Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi broadcasts.

During its promiscuous Wi-Fi phase, the device channel-hops across several 2.4 GHz channels while looking for supported Remote ID characteristics.

This adds drone-awareness functionality to the same device used for tracker, ALPR, body-camera, and surveillance-camera awareness.

Personal Tracker Awareness

Eye Spy includes detection logic for supported wireless characteristics associated with:

• Apple AirTags
• Samsung SmartTags
• Tile trackers

Eye Spy also maintains a persistence tracker for unidentified Bluetooth LE devices.

The firmware tracks up to 50 unknown BLE addresses and looks for devices repeatedly observed over time.

This provides another awareness signal for nearby devices that do not match a known Eye Spy signature.

Body Camera & Smart Glasses Awareness

Eye Spy monitors supported Bluetooth LE characteristics associated with Axon equipment and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

These high-confidence signatures contribute directly to the aggregate Eye Spy score.

This expands Eye Spy beyond fixed infrastructure and personal trackers into supported wearable and portable equipment.

Surveillance Camera Awareness

Eye Spy contains manufacturer signatures associated with numerous network-camera and surveillance vendors.

Supported manufacturer tables include equipment from brands such as Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Ring, Nest, Arlo, Wyze, Reolink, FLIR, Amcrest, Vivotek, Hanwha, Mobotix, and Ubiquiti UniFi.

The firmware also evaluates nearby SSIDs for supported camera and surveillance-related patterns.

Broader manufacturer and SSID matches receive lower scores than more specific device signatures.

Confidence-Based Scoring

Eye Spy does not treat every wireless observation equally.

Specific signatures receive higher scores. Broader or more ambiguous indicators receive lower scores.

Several independent observations also contribute to the same aggregate score.

The result is a simple three-level interface:

GREEN | CLEAR | 0–2

AMBER | CAUTION | 3–5

RED | ALERT | 6+

The score decreases by one point every 60 seconds without new qualifying activity.

Each detection type also has a 120-second re-score cooldown, preventing one persistent signal from continuously increasing the score.

Signal Strength & Proximity Information

When Eye Spy has usable RSSI information for a detection, the larger display presents additional signal information.

The interface includes:

• Five-bar signal-strength visualization
• RSSI in dBm
• Signal-strength classification
• Approaching or receding trend information
• Approximate range estimate

Wireless range estimates are informational. RF propagation changes significantly with antennas, vehicles, walls, reflections, interference, orientation, and the transmitting device.

Audible Alerts

Eye Spy Display includes an integrated 1W speaker.

The firmware uses different audio behavior when the aggregate score crosses its awareness thresholds.

Entering CAUTION produces a short alert tone.

Entering ALERT produces a stronger alert tone.

The display simultaneously changes its status colors, giving you both visual and audible feedback.

Three Physical Controls

Three integrated buttons provide direct interaction with the Eye Spy interface.

On Eye Spy Display, the controls provide:

A | RESET

Resets the current Eye Spy score.

B | BRIGHT

Cycles display brightness.

C | SCAN

Forces an immediate scan-cycle restart.

Physical controls make the device easy to operate in a vehicle, on a desk, or in a field kit without relying on touchscreen controls or a separate phone.

Eye Spy and FlockYou Serve Different Purposes

Eye Spy includes supported Flock Safety and ALPR detection, but it is not intended to replace our purpose-set FlockYou products.

⁠FlockYou concentrates its firmware, radio time, processing, and detection logic on supported Flock Safety and ALPR infrastructure.

Eye Spy spreads those resources across a much larger collection of detection categories.

This difference is intentional.

Choose FlockYou for Dedicated ALPR Awareness

FlockYou is purpose-set for users whose primary goal is supported Flock Safety and ALPR awareness.

Its narrower mission lets the firmware concentrate on the relevant wireless detection methods instead of rotating through numerous unrelated surveillance and tracker detection engines.

⁠Explore the FlockYou product line.

Choose Eye Spy for Broader Surveillance Awareness

Eye Spy trades specialization for breadth.

It looks for supported ALPR systems alongside personal trackers, body-camera equipment, drones, smart glasses, surveillance cameras, iBeacons, persistent BLE devices, and other wireless signatures.

If you want one device covering several categories of wireless surveillance and tracking technology, Eye Spy is designed around that use case.

Why We Keep Eye Spy and FlockYou Separate

The ESP32 has finite processing resources and shared Bluetooth/Wi-Fi radio time.

Some Eye Spy detection methods require radio modes and scanning schedules that compete with methods used for dedicated FlockYou monitoring.

Eye Spy must rotate between BLE scanning, Wi-Fi scanning, promiscuous Wi-Fi monitoring, channel hopping, persistence tracking, and its other detection logic.

FlockYou has a narrower workload.

For this reason, Eye Spy carries a greater risk of false negatives for individual detection categories than a purpose-set detector concentrating on a narrower task.

A short wireless transmission, for example, might occur while Eye Spy is working through another phase of its scan cycle.

Eye Spy and FlockYou therefore represent two different approaches:

FlockYou prioritizes dedicated supported ALPR awareness.

Eye Spy prioritizes broad supported surveillance and tracker awareness.

Users primarily concerned with Flock Safety and ALPR systems should choose FlockYou rather than treating Eye Spy as a replacement for the dedicated product line.

Open-Source Eye Spy Firmware

Eye Spy Display ships with the open-source Eye Spy firmware installed and configured.

The project is developed by ⁠SimeonOnSecurity and released under the Apache License 2.0 with SimeonOnSecurity attribution.

Researchers, developers, and users have direct access to the source code, detection tables, scoring logic, documentation, tests, and development history.

⁠View the Eye Spy project on GitHub.

Open development also makes the detection methodology inspectable instead of hiding it behind a proprietary cloud service.

Local Processing

Eye Spy performs its detection and scoring locally on the ESP32.

It does not require:

• An Eye Spy cloud account
• An STS Collective cloud account
• A Flock Safety account
• A surveillance-provider account
• A phone application
• A recurring subscription

Power on the device and Eye Spy begins monitoring supported nearby wireless activity.

Built for Vehicle and Desktop Use

The approximately 54 × 54 mm M5Stack body provides a larger interface while staying compact enough for portable use.

Eye Spy Display works well for:

• Vehicle installations
• Dash-mounted surveillance awareness
• Desktop monitoring
• Everyday carry
• Field research
• Wireless security research
• Privacy research
• Tracker awareness
• ALPR awareness
• Drone Remote ID awareness
• Security demonstrations
• Cybersecurity education
• Training environments
• Portable surveillance-awareness kits

Expandable ESP32 Hardware

Underneath Eye Spy is a full M5Stack ESP32 development platform.

The system includes M5-Bus expansion, Grove connectivity, available GPIO, and support for M5Stack modules.

This gives researchers and developers room to experiment beyond the standard Eye Spy configuration.

Ideal For

• Privacy-conscious individuals
• Security professionals
• Penetration testers
• Journalists
• Digital rights advocates
• Wireless security researchers
• Cybersecurity students
• RF and wireless enthusiasts
• ALPR researchers
• Drone researchers
• Tracker-awareness users
• Vehicle-based monitoring
• Security demonstrations and training
• Eye Spy developers
• Users seeking broader wireless surveillance awareness

Technical Specifications

Hardware Platform

M5Stack Basic

Processor

ESP32-D0WDQ6-V3 dual-core 32-bit processor

Up to 240 MHz

Wireless

2.4 GHz Wi-Fi

Bluetooth LE

Display

2-inch IPS color TFT LCD

320 × 240 resolution

Up to 853-nit rated maximum brightness

Memory

16MB Flash

520KB SRAM

Audio

Integrated 1W speaker

Controls

Three physical programmable buttons

Battery

Integrated 110mAh rechargeable lithium battery

Connectivity

USB Type-C

HY2.0-4P interface

M5-Bus expansion interface

Expansion

15 broken-out I/O pins

M5Stack module support

Grove expansion support

Dimensions

54 × 54 × 17 mm

Weight

Approximately 49.5g

Important Detection Limitations

Eye Spy identifies supported wireless signatures. It does not detect the physical presence of every camera, tracker, microphone, drone, ALPR system, or surveillance device.

Detection depends on the target exposing a supported wireless characteristic while Eye Spy is observing the relevant radio mode or channel.

A device might go undetected when its relevant radio is disabled, its signature changes, its signal is too weak, it operates on an unsupported protocol or frequency, or its transmission occurs outside the applicable Eye Spy scanning window.

Manufacturers also change firmware, hardware, identifiers, and wireless behavior over time.

No detections should therefore be interpreted as confirmation that an area contains no surveillance or tracking equipment.

Which Eye Spy Is Right for You?

Choose Eye Spy Mini if you want the smallest Eye Spy configuration with an integrated display.

Choose Eye Spy Display if you want a larger 2-inch screen, integrated speaker, physical controls, and a platform well suited to vehicle and desktop use.

Choose Eye Spy Display Pro if you want the higher-end touchscreen platform with a larger battery, vibration hardware, additional memory, sensors, and greater expansion capability.

All Eye Spy models share the same broader goal: local awareness of supported wireless surveillance and tracking technologies without a required cloud service or subscription.

Broad Surveillance Awareness Without a Subscription

Eye Spy Display combines a larger 2-inch screen, audible alerts, physical controls, Bluetooth LE monitoring, Wi-Fi monitoring, confidence-based scoring, persistent-device awareness, and open-source firmware in a compact ESP32 platform.

It gives you one local device for awareness of supported trackers, ALPR systems, body-camera equipment, drones, surveillance cameras, smart glasses, and other wireless technologies.

No cloud account. No subscription. No required phone.

Eye Spy is developed by ⁠SimeonOnSecurity and offered preconfigured by ⁠STS Collective.

⁠View Eye Spy Source Code & Technical Documentation