Have you ever wanted your digital ad blocker to work offline as well? This in-development AR Glasses software could do just that, and it can be one of the first apps I download when I get a pair.
AR – Glasses – Whether it’s from Snap, Meta, Google and its Android XR partners or one of the other brands pursuing this field – increasingly looks like they will be the next big thing in technique, but a fear I’ve heard from some is that they will give our tech a new avenue to blast ads in front of our faces.
We are bombarded by inevitable banners and the pop-ups frustrating experience that sounds like first-class material to a Futurama Episode.
Fortunately, a AR Software Developer has created a tool that goes in the opposite direction by blocking ads wherever they appear.
🚫🕶 I’ve built an XR app for a real 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
Stijn Spanhove went to social media to show an “early and experimental” structure of the app, but even at this early stage it already offers some impressive features.
As you would expect, when the app is turned on, the app can hide large character ads that cover them with a red block and a brief description of what’s downstairs, such as “Bol. Billboard” – but it can also hide ads in newspapers and logos on soda mows and cereal boxes.
For now, however, the blocking is not perfect.
I would argue that the big red blocking is more distracting than an advertisement, and it can take a moment to show up, even though there is some great spatial attention as the blocker does a good job of floating in place as AR glasses carry their heads around.
That said, with AR glasses that are still some time away from their consumer debut, there is plenty of time for these kinks to be prepared.
As Spanhove highlighted, AR -Glasses will enable us to control the content we see in both the digital and virtual world, and while it is reasonable to be concerned about how this feature can be abused, it is always nice to be reminded that lots of app producers will be responsible with power AR accidents.
