Here’s how Apple plans on tackling ‘stalker-ready’ AirTags

You may have heard that there were sellers online putting up silent ‘stalker-ready’ AirTags for sale earlier this month. It took a while, but Apple finally released a statement regarding the issue, with plans to introduce new updates to make AirTags safer—including something called ‘Precision Finding’.

“AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products. Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag,” wrote Apple.

On 4 February, we reported that AirTags with physically disabled speakers were for sale online for more than double the price of a regular AirTag. These ‘silent’ AirTags reportedly included a small hole made underneath the battery to deactivate the speaker—which would normally let out a beeping sound to help you locate the item. There have also been multiple reports of AirTags being misused as items to help with things like car thefts and stalkers.

Apple stated that they “have been actively working with law enforcement” on “AirTag-related requests”. The company also added that “incidents of AirTag misuse are rare; however, each instance is one too many”.

“Every AirTag has a unique serial number, and paired AirTags are associated with an Apple ID. Apple can provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or valid request from law enforcement. We have successfully partnered with them on cases where information we provided has been used to trace an AirTag back to the perpetrator, who was then apprehended and charged,” continued Apple.

Upcoming AirTag updates

In addition to “working with law enforcement”, Apple announces that it’s introducing several new updates for the AirTag coming in the “next software update. This includes new privacy warnings during AirTag setup stating that law enforcement can “request identifying information about the owner of the AirTag”, as well as updating the “Unknown Accessory Detected” alert to specifically say if a device has been travelling with them.

Apple is also aiming to introduce more updates “to be introduced later this year”:

• Precision Finding: This allows recipients of an unwanted tracking alert to locate an unknown AirTag with precision. iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 users will be able to use Precision Finding to see the distance and direction to an unknown AirTag when it is in range. The feature fuses input from the camera, ARKit, accelerometer, and gyroscope to guide them to the AirTag through sound, haptics, and visual feedback.

• Display alert with sound: To specifically “help in cases where the AirTag may be in a location where it is hard to hear, or if the AirTag speaker has been tampered with”, the AirTag all automatically emit a sound to alert anyone nearby of its presence and is detected moving with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Apple will also display an alert on your device that you can then take action on, like playing a sound or using Precision Finding.

• Refining unwanted tracking alert logic: Apple plans to update their unwanted tracking alert system to notify users earlier that an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory may be travelling with them.

• Making the AirTag’s sound “louder”: Currently, iOS users receiving an unwanted tracking alert can play a sound to help them find the unknown AirTag. They will be adjusting the tone sequence to use more of the loudest tones to make an unknown AirTag more easily findable.

Additionally, Apple has already updated its unwanted tracking support article. It now includes additional explanations of which Find My accessories may trigger an unwanted tracking alert, more visuals to provide specific examples of such alerts, and updated information on what to do after receiving an alert, including instructions for disabling an AirTag, AirPods, or Find My network accessory.

While it’s a sigh of relief that Apple finally addressed the issues of the very flawed Apple AirTag, it feels like they should have brought this up—or thought about something like this—from when they introduced an accessory like this. I’m also not sure if the measures that they will introduce will be enough to have AirTag-based crimes stop completely, and it’s even worse for Android users as they’d need to manually check for any rogue AirTags.

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Related reading

• Silent and ‘stalker-ready’ Apple AirTags have been seen for sale online
• Android users will soon know if they are being tracked with an AirTag