Flipper Zero: The ‘tamagotchi for hackers’ goes viral on TikTok | Science & Tech

Cesar Gaytán, a security consultant and the mind behind the YouTube channel HackWise, has used the Flipper Zero to turn on the television, unlock his car and even disconnect security cameras from a WiFi network. The device, nicknamed the “tamagotchi for hackers” on social media, has gone viral on TikTok. Users share videos using it to unlock hotel rooms, turn on the air conditioner and read pets’ identifying microchips. Some even claim that the device can clone credit cards.

At first sight, the device, which costs around $170, looks like a toy. It is smaller than a cellphone, and its 1.4-inch screen features a dolphin that gets happier when the device is used. In the words of its creators, it is “a tiny piece of hardware with a curious personality of a cyber-dolphin.” Inside, it contains sensors to intercept and imitate signals, like the air conditioner’s infrared waves and the TV remote control. The push of a button, Gaytán explains, can read infrared signals and then turn the television on. “The device captures the signal and saves it, and then it can replicate it. If the television is on, it turns off, and if it’s off, it turns on,” he says.

Edgar Pons For, industrial designer, biohacker and technology content creator, always carries a Flipper Zero with him. Though he rarely uses it, he feels good knowing that he carries “a technological Swiss Army knife” with the capacity to read and repeat signals. When he first got the device, which is often out of stock, he spent a few weeks trying to read all kinds of signals, including keys, home appliances and cards.

The Flipper Zero brings together several functions that can be found individually in other devices. It can, for example, analyze radiofrequency signals, like those used by car keys, garage remotes and alarm systems, among other wireless devices. It can also read cards that use RFID and NFC technology — like credit cards, gym cards and hotel keys — and sometimes replicate them.

Videos recorded to go viral

TikTok has an abundance of videos that show the Flipper Zero supposedly being used to replicate credit…