AirTags Anti-Stalking Features

Discussions focus on Apple's AirTag anti-tracking notifications that alert iPhone users to unknown tags traveling with them, debating their impact on preventing stalking versus limiting utility for tracking lost or stolen items like bikes.

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GP AirTags BLE ID HT212227 apple.com B00A6092TY OS amazon.com GPS tracking apple tag alert stalking iphone bike tracked ios stolen

Sample Comments

numpad0 Aug 19, 2024 View on HN

(in case elaboration is useful: AirTag relies on GPS location reports from user unaware iOS phones. This enables a stalker to throw a tag into your backpack and follow you. iOS notifies this happening to the user based on tag ID, and presumably GP meant that cycling through fake IDs could bypass triggering that.)

reed1234 Dec 19, 2021 View on HN

And AirTags even alert those (iPhone users) being tracked so they are even less practical

FabHK Feb 11, 2022 View on HN

The AirTags are explicitly designed to track lost items, not stolen items.

x0x0 Feb 12, 2022 View on HN

Apple has made no attempt at getting consent from whomever the airtag is on. Maybe if you have an iphone it could alert you.

chrisma0 Jan 28, 2022 View on HN

AirTags have this feature where you are notified if an unrecognised tag is travelling with you, right? https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227That makes them not as useful of these kind of applications, no? Or what is the range of this feature?

isoprophlex Feb 10, 2022 View on HN

Are airtags still useful for eg. tracking a stolen bike? Or will it now alert the thief within minutes that the bike contains a tracker?

olliej Jan 27, 2022 View on HN

What's your worry about the static AirTag scenario?

jaywalk Feb 22, 2023 View on HN

How does Apple's anti-tracking for AirTags make them unusable?

olliej Dec 14, 2021 View on HN

what? This isn't apple tracking you, this is a defense against other people hiding an AirTag on your person and them using it to track you.

ndsipa_pomu Dec 14, 2022 View on HN

Airtags could be detected if the thief has an iPhone and gets a warning that they're being tracked.