Secondly if this is true and you stole a bag, all you need to find the air tag would be to hold an iphone close to it for a few minutes. So what's the point of it then?
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac...
A much better alternative is the free and open source AirGuard app developed by the Technical University of Darmstadt. It automatically scans for AirTags, Tiles, and other Bluetooth tracking devices in the background. When AirGuard detects an AirTag, the user can immediately force the AirTag to emit a sound without having to wait.
- AirGuard: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard
Wait, anyone in my building can make an AirTag go off? Can't wait to annoy a few people at 3am /s
- BlueHydra: https://github.com/pwnieexpress/blue_hydra
- Ars Technica article: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/hands...
Airtags should be illegal, at least in Europe.
I mostly use mine to find my keys or wallet, or be reassured that they're in my office and not lost when I've gone home without them.
Worked great.
Sure its not bullet proof, but I really don't know they had any better options. Apple is currently by far the best at attempting to stop tracking of all the tracker tile products.
An end game solution would be all the OEMs working together one some anti tracking notification spec but that isn't easy to arrange.
Apple could just publish their spec so that Android can also implement it.
There are no technical reasons why they couldn't add all their phones to the Find My network. Only political.
But neither G nor S is willing to provide extra coverage for Apple nor do they want their phones connecting to a system they can't datamine.
Currently it's a unique selling feature of the Apple ecosystem. If every phone could do it, then Apple would lose this benefit, and Apple would still be paying for all the servers.
Pretty sure Apple would make a special "Apple-Fi" incompatible with standard Wifi if they could get away with it.
It's impossible to make a knife that isn't trivial to abuse but we accept that the utility makes it worth allowing them and use the legal system to go after the abusers.
It's not like someone gleefully commented that they are tracking their father with it without clarifiying if the father in question is aware ...
What about not designing or selling products that can be used to violate the privacy of others?
It’s not that simple. I have some AirTags that I keep in my kids school backpacks and they don’t trigger other people’s phones at school.
Nobody at my office gets warned about mine…
I believe it takes much longer than a few minutes and other factors into consideration.
The point appears to be that someone is going to trial for theft.
The primary reason is to increase user privacy from apps constantly logging everything they see while in the background.