Camera inspection tools
Three ways to use the iPhone camera while inspecting an object at close range: an infrared viewing mode, a lens-glint finder, and an automatic lens scan. They make certain reflections and light sources easier to notice. They do not identify cameras.
The camera tools require the Findy subscription ($39.99 per year in the US). The Bluetooth scanner, magnetic checks and guided inspection information are free.
What the three tools do
Infrared viewing mode
A camera view tuned to make faint light sources easier to notice in a dark room — the kind some night-vision cameras emit while illuminating a space.
Lens-glint finder
A manual mode: you light the object and look for the small, distinctly bright point that a lens returns when you view it close to the light's axis.
Automatic lens scan
The same principle, with the app watching the camera feed for candidate bright points as you move slowly across an object, so you are not judging every frame yourself.
How lens reflection works
Camera lenses reflect directed light back towards its source. When you shine a light at an object and view it from close to the light's axis, a lens can appear as a small, distinctly bright point that shifts and flares as you move. This is a physical property of the optics, not a fingerprint — which is precisely why other objects produce it too.
What limits it
- Ordinary glass, polished screws, LEDs, mirrors, metal trim and glossy plastic reflect light in the same way.
- The reflection depends on viewing angle. A lens can be invisible from one position and obvious from another 10 cm away.
- A covered, dirty or deeply recessed lens may not reflect visibly at all.
- It requires physically inspecting objects at close range. It is not a room sweep, and it does not work from a doorway.
- The automatic scan finds bright points, not cameras. Every candidate still needs your eyes on the object.
How infrared viewing works
Many cameras with night vision illuminate a room using infrared LEDs. That light is invisible to the eye, but some infrared wavelengths reach a phone camera's sensor and appear on screen as a faint white or purple glow. Findy's viewing mode is intended to make such sources easier to notice in a dark room.
Findy does not turn your iPhone into an infrared camera. iPhone cameras include infrared-cut filtering, and no software can remove a physical filter. Depending on your model, the camera module and the wavelength involved, an infrared source may be strongly attenuated or simply invisible. Results vary between the front and rear cameras and between iPhone generations.
What limits it
- Not every surveillance camera uses infrared illumination — many do not.
- Cameras that only illuminate on motion, or only at night, may show nothing while you look.
- Remote controls, sensors, some LED lighting, heating elements and sunlight all emit or reflect infrared.
- A visible infrared point does not mean surveillance. It means something nearby emits infrared.
Using the camera tools well
- Darken the room as much as you can. Both modes depend on contrast against the ambient light.
- Work object by object rather than sweeping the room. Start with items facing the bed, sofa or bathroom door.
- Hold the phone close to your light source so you are looking along the beam, not across it.
- Move slowly. A glint appears and disappears within a few centimetres of movement.
- When something flares, change your angle and repeat. A genuine lens reflection reappears predictably from the same axis.
- Finish by looking at the object itself, in normal light, with your own eyes.
How Findy labels what it sees
Reflective point detected
A bright point the scan considers worth checking. Inspect the object from another angle before drawing any conclusion.
Hidden camera confirmed
Findy never says this. It cannot classify or validate the object behind a reflection, so the claim would be false.
These tools narrow down where to look. They do not tell you what you have found. A glint from a screw head and a glint from a lens look the same on a phone screen — the difference is decided by you, holding the object.
Related
The guided inspection checklist tells you which objects to point the camera at. How Findy works covers all five methods together.
Last reviewed 2026-07-23 · Written and reviewed by the Findy developer.