Deveillance takes preorders for Spectre I microphone detection device

In short: Deveillance is taking refundable preorders for Spectre I, a small device it says can detect nearby microphones and interfere with audio recordings.

What happened

Deveillance, a San Francisco startup founded by recent Harvard graduate Aida Baradari, has introduced Spectre I, a pocket sized device aimed at people who worry about being recorded. The company says it can detect nearby microphones and show the user what it finds.

Spectre I is priced at $1,199, and the company is offering refundable preorders and a 20% early buyer discount. Deveillance says it plans to ship in the second half of 2026. The product is still in early development, and there has not been third party testing or a public proof of concept demo.

The company’s main promise is “jamming,” meaning it sends out ultrasonic sound waves. Ultrasound is sound at a pitch humans cannot hear (like a dog whistle, but even higher). Deveillance says this creates an “ultrasonic fog” that can make speech hard to understand on recordings from phones, smart speakers, and other devices within about 2 meters.

Why it matters

Many everyday devices have microphones that are always listening for a wake word, and that makes some people uncomfortable. Spectre I is trying to act like a personal privacy shield, but experts quoted by Wired question how reliable ultrasound jamming will be across different recording setups, like wired microphones or standalone recorders. Until independent tests confirm what it can and cannot block, buyers are being asked to trust claims for an expensive product.

Source: Wired