Say what you will about going outside, but there isn't an AdBlock program for real-life billboards and ads. At least, there didn't use to be. A software engineer on X (formerly Twitter) has built an augmented reality app to identify and block out advertisements, billboards, and product branding in real life.
Stijn Spanhove, a Belgian programmer, has engineered an advertisement-blocking app for use with Snap's fifth-generation AR Spectacles. Google's Gemini AI identifies advertisements and brands visible through the smart glasses, and promptly blocks them, replacing the advertisement with a red square, naming and shaming the blocked brand.
🚫🕶️ I've been building an XR app for a real-world ad blocker using Snap @Spectacles. It uses Gemini to detect and block ads in the environment.It’s still early and experimental, but it’s exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see. pic.twitter.com/ySkFfF6rxSJune 19, 2025
The above video shows the glasses in action, with the app correctly identifying and visually blocking out ads on posters, pedestrian billboards, and a newspaper. The captured video also shows the glasses blocking out the brand names on food packaging.
Spanhove says the project is still very early in its production, but "it’s exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see." Spanhove continues to brainstorm the future of the app in his replies, hinting at future features allowing users to replace the glaring red prohibited square with custom photos or lists from a notes app.
The app is built from libraries and APIs shared by Snap on its Github on its Depth Cache development, making the app, for now, a Snap Spectacles exclusive experience. Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest enjoyers will need to wait a bit longer for similar experiences to arrive on their screens.
Snap, best known for its flagship social media app Snapchat, has been developing its AR Spectacles since 2016, though the goggles were originally hidden-camera glasses rather than AR devices. While companies like Microsoft and Meta have abandoned or paused their augmented reality projects in recent months and years, Snap has seemingly been carrying the banner forward, with its fifth-gen Spectacles available for $99 per month for developers.
While mere mortals without development interest will need to wait a bit longer to experience a true They Live anti-propaganda glasses experience, the questions the app raises are perhaps the most interesting part of it. What will a world look like where we can control what, or perhaps who, we see? At least for now, it will look just like the normal world, just with a few extra red rectangles.
