Are You Being Watched? How to Spot a 2-Way Mirror | Glass.com®

By now you've probably seen a news story about someone being watched or filmed while staying in an Airbnb, hotel or even a family member's or relative's house. Sometimes the viewing is being done through a two-way mirror. A two-way mirror looks almost exactly like a normal mirror on one side, but can be seen through on the other side. This makes it- almost- the perfect way to watch someone without being detected. So how do you know if you're being watched?

Two-way mirrors reflect differently due to the manufacturing process. The reflective coating on a regular mirror is on the back side of the glass. Whereas, the reflective coating on a two-way mirror is on the front side of the glass.

Learn more about two-way mirrors here:

Transcription

Daniel:
So Lyle, something we get asked a lot is about what some people would call either two-way mirror or one-way glass and how they can tell if they have it either in their home of apartment or if maybe they're in hotel rooms a lot when they travel.

Lyle:
Yeah, very simple test. If you take a mirror and put an object up to it, the point of the object in the mirror does not touch the actual point of the object itself. There's a small space in there because the reflectivity is coming from the back side of the glass. Alright. On a two-way mirror, because its been coated on the front, if we use that same object, and we touch it to the surface of the mirror, it instantly makes contact with itself.

Daniel:
The points touch. They line up perfectly.

Lyle:
The points touch. They align perfectly because the coating is on this side.

[kimeakin]

This only tests for whether the mirror is a "first" surface or "second" surface mirror.

[GoldCoast]

False. All my wall hung bathroom mirrors touch

[richard-gnes]

I have a first and second surface mirror in my home neither of these are two way. A better way to check is darken the room and shine a torch against the glass.

[whatElse]

Ok thats it, im taking all my mirrors out of my house 😅 no space between the fingerprints on my mirrors 😂

[facepalmdaily]

The touch test is BS. All it determines is how the mirror was made. Slap a pane of glass over the top of a two way mirror and it's still a two way mirror, but your touch test won't detect it.

Turn off the lights and shine a light close to the mirror. If the light goes through the mirror, bam, you got yourself a two way mirror. If all i does is reflect, it's a regular mirror.