Why Clubs Are Banning Phones and Now Smart Glasses

When Sankeys reopened in Manchester at the end of January 2026, nine years after its Ancoats home closed, it arrived with three rules: no VIP area, no advance line-ups and no phones on the dancefloor. A month later the team told Beatportal the last rule barely needed enforcing. "People are self policing," said Wilf Gregory of the relaunch team. "We've not had a single person reprimanded for getting their phone out." According to the same Beatportal profile, every event since the reopening had sold out.

Sankeys is not an outlier. The phone-free dancefloor has moved from a quirk of a few Berlin institutions to something closer to a standard for clubs that want to be taken seriously. And just as the policy was settling in, a new device arrived to test it: the camera built into a pair of glasses.

The Numbers Behind the Unplugged Dancefloor

The clearest measure of the shift comes from ticketing data. In April 2026, Mixmag reported on an Eventbrite study, "Offline by Design: The Rise of Phone-Free Experiences in 2026's Analog Era", which tracked listings using "phone-free" or "photo-free" wording. Globally, those events rose by 567% in 2025. The UK was named the global leader, with listings up 1,200% and attendance up 1,441% between 2024 and the first quarter of 2026. In the US, listings rose 337% and attendance 913%. In the first three months of 2026 alone, phone-free events had already reached more than a third of 2025's global volume.

The study covered everything from raves to analogue game nights, so it is not a pure club measure. But it points in the same direction as what clubbers say. A Censuswide survey of 2,000 UK adults, carried out in October 2025 and reported by NME, found that half of clubbers believe phones are ruining the dancefloor. The same survey found that 55% admitted using their phone while dancing, and 60% use it to film themselves and their friends.

That contradiction is the whole story. People want the room to feel free of screens, and they also want a record of the night. A rule set by the venue solves the problem for them: nobody has to be the first to put their phone away.

From Berlin House Rule to UK Habit

Berghain's camera sticker is the famous version, and Dazed reported in February 2025 that around 90% of Berlin venues enforce a no-phones-on-the-dancefloor code. In London, fold has run a no-photo policy since opening in 2018, and fabric introduced an official no unauthorised photo or video policy in 2021. Portugal's Waking Life festival has framed privacy as a condition for "liberation and expression" since 2017.

The spread into bigger and more commercial spaces is more recent. Beatportal noted in 2024 that Hï Ibiza introduced a ban for Damian Lazarus's party that May, and Pikes extended its policy to seven nights a week that August. Lazarus explained his reasons plainly: "I was finding the phones in the air super disruptive to my flow when DJing."

Manchester has become the UK's test case. Amber's, a 1,000-capacity venue on Oxford Road, opened with a total filming ban, and its director Jeremy Abbott told Dazed: "There are arms in the air, rather than phones." In August 2025, The Warehouse Project announced that selected events in Concourse, its smaller room at Depot Mayfield, would be phone-free. Founder Sam Kandel told Time Out the aim was "to take the clubbing experience back to its core, which is being in a room with like-minded people feeling connected through music." Then came Sankeys.

How the Rules Actually Work

"Phone-free" covers a range of approaches, from gentle to strict:

• Camera stickers at the door, the Berlin model used at Amber's, where repeat offenders are ejected according to Dazed.
• Locking pouches such as Yondr, which let people keep their phone but not use it. Beatportal reported that Miami's Club Space provided secure phone pouches for its 24-hour events.
• Zoned rules, like the attached pub area at Sankeys, where guests can step out to check messages before going back to the floor.
• Partial bans, such as The Warehouse Project limiting the rule to one room and promising official photos and videos after each event.

The last point matters. Venues are not giving up on content. They are taking control of it, so the night still shows up online without a thousand screens lit up between the crowd and the booth.

The Smart Glasses Problem

There is an obvious irony in that UK survey: it was commissioned by Ray-Ban Meta. NME reported that the launch event, a phone-free club night at FRAMELESS Lates in London, was captured by guests wearing the company's camera glasses while their phones stayed in their pockets. A phone in the air is easy to see. A pair of glasses is not.

Clubs have started to respond. On 27 August 2026, Basement in Queens, New York, a techno club that already ran a no photo, no video policy, announced that smart glasses were banned outright. "Devices that allow discreet recording are incompatible with that policy," the club said, as reported by PetaPixel. "Anyone bringing smart glasses into the venue, whether wearing them or carrying them in a bag, will be asked to leave and may be permanently banned."

According to Hypebot, London's Body Movements festival also banned smart glasses in August 2026, saying the event is "not a place for surveillance culture, non-consensual filming or exploitation." Hypebot named New York venues Nowadays, Green Room and Signal and Denmark's Radar among others taking a similar line.

This changes what a no-phones policy is for. The original case was about attention: phones pull people out of the music. The smart glasses debate is about consent. A dancefloor where you can be filmed without knowing is a less safe place to let go, especially for queer crowds and anyone for whom being seen in a club carries risk.

The Case Against

Not everyone is convinced. In the 2024 Beatportal feature, London DJ Parris said: "I don't have a problem with people having phones on the dance floor... there's nothing wrong with a moment." DJ and producer Anna Prior questioned whether artists should be setting rules at all: "I don't believe that an artist should be dictating if a fan... should or shouldn't be using their phones on a night out."

The writer Ed Gillett told Dazed that camera bans can help build a good space, "but they're also capable of being a bit of a gimmick." A sticker on a lens does not fix a bad sound system, a bored crowd or a rushed booking. And for newer venues, a phone-free rule doubles as a marketing line that signals taste, which is not quite the same as creating it.

What It Means for DJs and Producers

For a decade, the crowd's phone was a free promotion channel. A clip of a big drop, a reaction shot or an ID request could travel further than any press release. In phone-free rooms, that channel closes, and artists who relied on it need other ways to be seen: official venue content, recorded sets, radio and the slower route of word of mouth.

There is also a musical upside. DJs who play these rooms often describe more freedom to build long sets and take risks, because the crowd is listening rather than waiting for a filmable moment. Sam Divine, who tested a no-phones policy at her 555 parties, told Decoded Magazine in January 2026 that "the energy was significantly better with no phones" and that "music isn't about going viral on TikTok."

The shift from phones to glasses suggests the argument will not settle soon. Every new device with a camera will force venues to decide again what their dancefloor is for. The clubs that answer clearly, and explain why, look likely to keep the trust of the people who fill them.

Cover photo by Godefroy Boutet on Unsplash