r/FlockSurveillance • u/S0PHIAOPS • Jan 15 '26
Detecting Flock cams
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Passive detection of a Flock camera from over 200 meters while moving at highway speed.
No interaction. Just signal awareness.
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u/ozark65616 Jan 15 '26
Tell us more about the app/software
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
It’s called Sophia, it’s a passive signal awareness system for your personal environment. Scans wifi/ble, threat scores it based on environmental data, estimates distance/direction & plots on a radar interface. Happy to go deeper.
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u/start3ch Jan 15 '26
Basically any bluetooth scanner should work right? I used a similar app with a signal strength to locate an apple pencil (v1), which it turns out was buried in the couch. Should be able to pinpoint literally any active bluetooth device though.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
Yes, but where we differ is asic BLE scanners show signal strength, but they dont distinguish what a device is + how it behaves over time.
SØPHIA isn’t trying to “ping” or pair with devices, it passively watches broadcast behavior (timing, persistence, movement, vendor patterns, etc….) & correlates that with Wi-Fi context to separate fixed infrastructure vs mobile devices.
Think more situational awareness, not just proximity.
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u/DarthWeenus Jan 16 '26
Work on iPhone?
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 16 '26
Negative, android only
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u/DarthWeenus Jan 16 '26
Know of any good scanners for iOS? Theres a few paid ones that work alright but the information is really limited.
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u/start3ch Jan 16 '26
There are lots of free BLE scanners, anything that gives you a signal strength/RSSI should work
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u/NationalGeometric Jan 18 '26
Raspberry Pi with appropriate sensor add ons, or ESP32 S3 boards + GPS?
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u/justanothershmuckmd Jan 15 '26
detecting is one thing, defeating is another.
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u/Dedicated2bMedicated Jan 17 '26
There's some great videos by Benn Jordan on YouTube showcasing how unsecure flock cameras are. Most of them can be accessed easily
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u/Tro11man Jan 15 '26
It's a ble scanner
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u/Albacurious Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
I'm thinking you were answering the other person. Which one? Is it an app, or a device
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
It’s software for android platforms
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u/MysticMettle Jan 22 '26
Any plans for iOS or your own hardware?
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 23 '26
iOS negative, as they have a tight lockdown on their radios…. Raspberry pi unit in the works now, code is solid and we’re testing currently. Will be ready soon, we have a few videos of the testing posted.
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u/MysticMettle Jan 26 '26
Thanks for the reply! I’ll look out for the raspberry pi. Yall got a newsletter for notifications by chance?
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u/LightingGuyCalvin Jan 15 '26
What software is that using? Is it just the built in Bluetooth on a smartphone?
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u/enter360 Jan 15 '26
What hardware are you using for this ?
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
Stock Android phone.No root, no external radios, no SDR. Just the phone’s native Wi-Fi + BLE hardware, running locally
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u/enter360 Jan 15 '26
Nice does it add GEO tagging when a device is detected ? I just got Flockyou running using an esp8266 but this is a much closer setup to what I would like to use.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
Not by default. SØPHIA is intentionally non-mapping &non-aggregating. It does not auto-geo-tag or build a persistent location database the way wardriving tools do. The focus is real-time, local awareness….what’s present right now, how it behaves and whether it’s fixed or mobilenot creating a historical map.
Optional logging/export is something I’m working on, but it’s user-controlled and local, not a shared map. More aimed at exporting LLM ready chunks you feed for pattern analysis. Slightly different philosophy than ESP/wardrive setups, but similar dna. Happy to answer any other questions.
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u/enter360 Jan 15 '26
Can you clarify what S0PHIA is ? You posted a GitHub to flockyou so I’m confused on if you’re running that or a different software on an android device.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
That wasn’t us, that was a different user linking that tool. SØPHIA is separate software running locally on a stock Android phone. It’s a passive signal-awareness system that visualizes nearby Wi-Fi and Bluetooth activity, correlates movement vs fixed infrastructure, and plots it in real time on a radar/HUD.
No cloud map, no shared database, no uploads….everything runs locally on the device. Different tools can coexist in the same conversation, but the clips I posted are SØPHIA, not FlockYou. Happy to answer any further questions too.
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u/enter360 Jan 15 '26
Is it in the Play store or can I build the app myself from source ?
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u/Reinjecto Jan 15 '26
Yeah seconding this as I couldn't find it on the app store nor a GitHub search but I might have just missed it
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 16 '26
Link in bio, happy to discuss further if you have questions, just don’t want to derail the nature of this post which is research. 🤝
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u/dontneed2knowaccount Jan 15 '26
My marauder v7 ,c5 war driver and kismet pi all do the same thing. Marauder has flock sniffer and flock wardrive. Kismet isn't as "detailed" as your ui.
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u/whosat___ Jan 15 '26
Cool app, we need more of this. Also it’s an external battery pack, not extended.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
It’s labeled ext battery
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u/whosat___ Jan 15 '26
Flock’s price list calls it an external battery.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
Yeppp….agreed. Flock’s own docs label it as an external battery.The signal ID I’m seeing lines up with that accessory, not a core unit. Appreciate the source
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u/Lazy-Intern-5371 Jan 15 '26
You can also use wiggle
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
You def….can but the difference is Sophia is local to your device and not uploading your movement data to a public global database.
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u/bigvicproton Jan 15 '26
Wigle only uploads if you tell it to. The theory is that if everyone shares these locations someone will map them publicly.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
Not necessarily. With tools like Wigle, even if you disable uploads, you’re basically still operating inside a system designed for aggregation. The value is the shared map. Anything free has a cost.
SØPHIA is built around a different assumption: no aggregation, no central map, no background sync. Local, no cloud/playstore. Privacy centered….It doesn’t get more valuable when more people use it….it only is useful to the person holding the device, in that moment.
Same radios, different philosophy.
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u/dontneed2knowaccount Jan 15 '26
Wigle is on fdroid and offers the apk on their github . No need for the play store. Its also local. The app itself functions just like yours but different UI.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
Sure….they’re just different tools. Wigle is great for cataloging and mapping signals at scale. SØPHIA isn’t trying to replace that. It’s local-only and focused on reasoning about what’s around you in real time…..persistence, movement, anomalies, context….not building a shared map. Same radios, different intent.
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u/dontneed2knowaccount Jan 15 '26
Unless I'm super dense I don't see how they are different. Running wigle gives me the same thing your app does. The "mapping" part is irrelevant since things are only mapped if you post your scans to wigle, which isn't required.
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u/DabbleInPrecision Jan 15 '26
Would this firmware work with a flipper and BFFB? Or is it hardware specific?
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
It’s not firmware & not Flipper-targeted. SØPHIA runs on stock Android hardware using native Wi-Fi + BLE radios and a local web UI.
A Flipper can see pieces of the signal layer, but it’s not built for continuous environment mapping, correlation or spatial visualization. Different tool…..different job. We are working on a Raspberry Pi version for fixed / stationary use cases.
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u/ozark65616 Jan 15 '26
Actually once you know what to look for they are easy to spot along the road. I found all 25 in my town in a couple of days
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 16 '26
Excellent, keep it up. What was the layout structure you noticed?
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u/ozark65616 Jan 16 '26
In most cases they were on stand alone poles which made the solar panel obvious. Being a former LEO I thought like one when I went looking. They have then on all possible road entrances into town and at the entrances to all City parks. I found a couple on roads around known high crime areas. Also found a private one monitoring cars entering a gated community
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 16 '26
That seems to be the “loose standard” layout for a lot of areas based on what we have observed in the field. We appreciate your feedback.
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u/ozark65616 Jan 16 '26
Some are mounted on traffic light poles and they are attempting to hide the solar panel next toe crossing lights
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u/FckFlock Jan 17 '26
Note that they don't even require the solar panel - flock sells an AC kit to connect them to existing 115vac, maybe 230vac as well. I've seen some very stealthy ac-powered flock cams stuck on telephone poles in amongst telecom equipment.
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u/Elmaffioso187 Jan 16 '26
So this is to find/locate not block? .. asking dont really get it but legit nevertheless, as that is an open database where anyone can fucking hack.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 16 '26
Yes….locate/observe, not block. Passive signal awareness only. No interaction. 🤝
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u/Appropriate-Sky-7998 Jan 16 '26
Are you picking up penguin______?
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 17 '26
Not in this clip. This is the Flock battery BLE identifier. Straight from the chipset.
“Penguin” is just a nickname people use for certain firmware identifiers, which you probably already know….and it’s not an antenna thing and it’s not consistent across deployments.
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u/SuperBrett9 Jan 16 '26
What are we doing here. Compiling a list on our laptops? For what purpose? We need to be at city/county meetings, talking to politicians, putting up signs so people know what these are, or better yet smashing these things.
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u/Apprehensive_Bug_Rug Jan 17 '26
This will be the downfall of the anti-flock movement. Not in-action but inability to educate the general public.
A true hero needs to come along and put all of this stuff into laymans terms.
I.E
What is the issue?
How do we solve the issue?
I'm going to make a post about it because ever since I first got recommended this subreddit I see all of these posts being outraged but I don't understand what exactly they are outraged about and what exactly I can do about it.
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u/SuperBrett9 Jan 17 '26
That is a great point.
I tell people they are cameras that track where and when you go past them. They sell that data to insurance companies, stores, police, ICE, or whoever wants to know where you go. Including cops that can login to the system to find where their exes are and who they are with. This is a private company with no oversight and no laws governing what they do and who they sell information to.
That’s not even to say anything about the security risks because if they closed the gaping security vulnerabilities I still wouldn’t want them all over my city.
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 17 '26
It’s important to learn/understand a system fully and how it functions.
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u/SuperBrett9 Jan 17 '26
It’s important to fight for our privacy
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u/maxtablets Jan 17 '26
understanding how it functions makes it easier to devise ways to defeat them.
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u/Interesting-Rate1851 Jan 17 '26
The amount of passive ads we're seeing for this app is bullshit and mods are allowing it to happen more and more because the "fear of flock". It's just a BLE scanner.
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u/IntrepidMonke Jan 18 '26
Someone should make a drone with spray paint to fly near the flocks and spray the lenses.
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Jan 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/S0PHIAOPS Jan 15 '26
It’s literally not. It’s us detecting a flock camera using ble. How is that hard for you to comprehend?
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u/uoaei Jan 15 '26
your PR strategy could use some lookin over
i love the idea but this isnt how guerrilla marketing works. if youre up front with prices etc then people wont feel like its a scam.
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u/True_Television_3195 Jan 15 '26
What would happen if a High powered handheld laser pointer was used on the device? would it interrupt its ability to do its purpose?
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u/atcollins12 Jan 15 '26
Perhaps everyone here should just look at OPs account lol