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deviceOwl v2.1 - Released

21st June, 2021 | Product Release


deviceOwl - Discover Device Potential

We're pleased to announce the next major release v2.1 of deviceOwl - an App to help you efficiently identify smart devices and covert consumer surveillance devices using AI computer vision.

DeviceOwl is a "point-and-shoot" hardware device scanner that visually comprehends and identifies thousands of popular consumer smart devices and covert spy cameras, helping individuals to identify devices, understand their sensory capabilities, and the resulting privacy implications.

Enhancements in this release focus on making deviceOwl easier to use, more interactive & effective.

Contents


Getting Started Guidance


We've introduced some Getting Started guidance, that appears when you first run deviceOwl.

This provides an introduction to using deviceOwl, as well as guidance to setup features of your smartphone that deviceOwl uses for device checking.

You can also access this guidance at any time, by tapping the steps icon from the main screen.

Improved Device Type Selection


We've added a "Popular" device types list that displays the most popular devices being checked by deviceOwl users.

We've also added a "Recent" device type list that makes it easier to find devices you've previously checked.

Enhanced Device Specific Checking Guidance


After selecting a device type, you can now review guidance that shows you specifically how to check the selected device type. Simply select the "Show me How to Check this Device" option.

Depending on the device type, this guidance may include a short video, pictures, and some best practices that cover the best way to check the selected device type.

If you're familiar with checking devices, you can disable this switch by default via the "Detection Preferences", "Enable Guidance by Default" option under Preferences.

Interactive Device Checking Guidance


To help improve the chances of detection when a device cannot be identified, deviceOwl will now interactively prompt you to check the device from several additional angles. This gives deviceOwl a better chance of recognizing the device, based on it's device knowledge training.

If a device cannot be identified after several tries, you'll be asked to report a sample of the device to Entropic Labs for analysis, including the sample photos captured during device checking.

If you don't feel comfortable reporting one or more specific device sample photos, you can selectively remove specific photos from the sample, prior to reporting it to Entropic Labs, or you can just choose not to report the sample.

Cognition Boost (Advanced Edition Only)


If you're having problems identifying a device that is partially damaged, or has permanent marks or stickers that can't be removed, this feature allows you to temporarily increase the sensitivity of deviceOwl to help identify the device.

Additionally, if a device is not known by deviceOwl, this feature can help you to identify devices with a similar appearance to devices that are created by the same manufacturer. In some cases, this can help you to identify the possible manufacturer of the device.

To activate Cognition Boost, simply tap the coffee icon in the lower left corner of the viewfinder during device checking.

Important: Using this feature increases the chances of incorrect device detections so, as always please take care to confirm all device detections.

Cognition Boost should only be used for the above purposes as a temporary way to help identify a device. For this reason, this feature is can only be temporarily enabled, and will be turned off automatically once you finish device checking.

New Privacy Considerations (Advanced Edition Only)


DeviceOwl can now display additional privacy-related considerations about certain devices.

This information may appear when checking select popular smart devices. Initially our focus is on providing this guidance for some major brand devices which are heavily marketed, such as those produced by Amazon, Google & Apple.

We expect this information to become more comprehensive over time, including for other brands as we continue to build out deviceOwl's knowledge.

New Safety Considerations (Advanced Edition Only)


DeviceOwl can now display additional physical safety-related considerations about certain devices.

This information may appear when checking select devices, specifically smoke and monoxide alarms, and includes information about device manufacturer recalls, and device maintenance information.

We expect this information to become more comprehensive over time, including for other brands as we continue to build out deviceOwl's knowledge.

User Interface Enhancements & Bug Fixes


We've included minor updates to some icons and logos, and we've enhanced the way user prompts are displayed. We've also included many other bug fixes.

More Information


More information is available at https://www.scentropic.io/ow/.

deviceOwl is now available on the App Store. For more information, please refer to the deviceOwl product overview.

We hope you find this app useful, and appreciate your comments and feedback.

Thank you!
Entropic

Acknowledgements:
Smart speaker photo by James Yarema on Unsplash