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AirTag on buses? and a stalking question.

The_Auryn

The_Auryn

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 28, 2020
130
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I read that AirTags have an anti-stalking feature that will send an alert to your iPhone if an unregistered AirTag is accompanying you for a period of time. How would this work if the AirTag is in your luggage on a bus during a long haul trip? Would every iPhone owner on the bus be alerted? What if there were multiple AirTags in multiple bags in the storage area? It sounds like alarms would be going off all the time?

Also, the anti-stalking feature is nice but one thing I don't get ... wouldn't it also alert a thief? For example, if you hide an AirTag on a bicycle and it's stolen, wouldn't the thief get a notification that there's an unregistered AirTag following him around? He'd then deduce there's a hidden AirTag on the bike, quickly find it and dispose of it. It seems like the anti-stalking feature cancels out the ability to use AirTags to locate stolen property?
 
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The_Auryn said:
I read that AirTags have an anti-stalking feature that will send an alert to your iPhone if an unregistered AirTag is accompanying you for a period of time. How would this work if the AirTag is in your luggage on a bus during a long haul trip? Would every iPhone owner on the bus be alerted? What if there were multiple AirTags in multiple bags in the storage area? It sounds like alarms would be going off all the time?
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No one should get the anti-stalking/"AirTag is following you" notification as long as the the owner is still around the AirTag. I believe there are other factors taken into consideration as well, such as timing, distance traveled, how long the owner has been away, etc.

The_Auryn said:
Also, the anti-stalking feature is nice but one thing I don't get ... wouldn't it also alert a thief? For example, if you hide an AirTag on a bicycle and it's stolen, wouldn't the thief get a notification that there's an unregistered AirTag following him around? He'd then deduce there's a hidden AirTag on the bike, quickly find it and dispose of it. It seems like the anti-stalking feature cancels out the ability to use AirTags to locate stolen property?
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Yes, but have to keep in mind that the AirTag is designed to find lost or misplaced items...not stolen items, or to be used as a theft deterrent.
 
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@BigBlur wrote "No one should get the anti-stalking/"AirTag is following you" notification as long as the the owner is still around the AirTag."

Ah! That makes sense. Thanks. But then again ... I guess that means you could hide an extra iPhone along with its registered AirTag in your ex's car to stalk him/her. o_O
 
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The_Auryn said:
Ah! That makes sense. Thanks. But then again ... I guess that means you could hide an extra iPhone along with its registered AirTag in your ex's car to stalk him/her. o_O
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True, but then there's no need for the AirTag...just track the phone instead. ;)

Besides, if someone really wanted to stalk someone, there are other options out there. Cheap GPS trackers can be found on Amazon.
 
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Supposedly the stalking warning only comes up if the airtag travels with you to a destination you go a lot (home, work, etc) while the owner isn't around. Riding on the bus, regardless of how long, shouldn't trigger it.
 
boss.king said:
Supposedly the stalking warning only comes up if the airtag travels with you to a destination you go a lot (home, work, etc) while the owner isn't around. Riding on the bus, regardless of how long, shouldn't trigger it.
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Ah, you're making an assumption here - none of us actually knows what algorithms Apple has put in place. Yes, it seems to notify when you return to a "known location" - such as home or work in your own contact card - but, given all of the press that Apple's gotten around this, I'd expect them to be more aggressive than that - and notifying someone within X minutes of them being on the same travel path and not being paired.

Heh - then, of course, there's the bus driver - I can't help but think that bus drivers may be getting a bunch of these when people leave their things behind. (yes, you get the "you've left this item behind" notification when the bluetooth signal gets to a certain weakness, denoting a large enough distance, but it's quite likely the bus or train has already departed by then...leaving you running after it) :)
 
boss.king said:
Supposedly the stalking warning only comes up if the airtag travels with you to a destination you go a lot (home, work, etc) while the owner isn't around. Riding on the bus, regardless of how long, shouldn't trigger it.
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I don't believe that is accurate. I read an article about a teenager that received the alert when someone slipped one into her backpack. When they couldn't find the AirTag, her parents were there to help her unload her belongings and ditch the backpack.

https://www.newsweek.com/apple-airtag-tracking-detection-1703112
 
fischersd said:
Ah, you're making an assumption here - none of us actually knows what algorithms Apple has put in place. Yes, it seems to notify when you return to a "known location" - such as home or work in your own contact card - but, given all of the press that Apple's gotten around this, I'd expect them to be more aggressive than that - and notifying someone within X minutes of them being on the same travel path and not being paired.

Heh - then, of course, there's the bus driver - I can't help but think that bus drivers may be getting a bunch of these when people leave their things behind. (yes, you get the "you've left this item behind" notification when the bluetooth signal gets to a certain weakness, denoting a large enough distance, but it's quite likely the bus or train has already departed by then...leaving you running after it) :)
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I'm not actually making any assumptions, I'm saying what I've seen reported (which is why I started the sentence with "Supposedly" and not "Here are all the hard facts"). But yeah, I can imagine that sort of thing driving bus drivers crazy :oops:
 
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boss.king said:
I'm curious, if they couldn't find the AirTag then how do they know it was slipped into her backpack?
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My bad, I saw the picture and added that detail erroneously. Regardless, it seems to let you know in random places too, although it's not clear how quickly you are alerted.
 
belvdr said:
My bad, I saw the picture and added that detail erroneously. Regardless, it seems to let you know in random places too, although it's not clear how quickly you are alerted.
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All good, I wasn't calling you out or anything. What you said was also the impression I got from the article, I was just genuinely curious how they decided it was in the bag as it seems like they never actually found the airtag.
 
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boss.king said:
All good, I wasn't calling you out or anything. What you said was also the impression I got from the article, I was just genuinely curious how they decided it was in the bag as it seems like they never actually found the airtag.
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I wonder if there was a different article, because your question is valid.

EDIT: I found this article:

https://www.phonearena.com/news/airtag-stalks-mother-daughter-in-disneyworld_id139930

Says it showed as still at Disney when they left, so maybe it bounced to where they couldn't see it. If I found one on my family, I would keep it with me, call the police, and meet somewhere other than my destination. Hand it to the police and let the attacker follow them around.
 
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The_Auryn said:
@BigBlur wrote "No one should get the anti-stalking/"AirTag is following you" notification as long as the the owner is still around the AirTag."

Ah! That makes sense. Thanks. But then again ... I guess that means you could hide an extra iPhone along with its registered AirTag in your ex's car to stalk him/her. o_O
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This stalking sounds an expensive hobby! And anyway, asides from the cost of the phone (which you’d presumably then have to forfeit), the phone battery would be empty in a couple of days at the most, thereby rendering its alert-suppressing presence worthless.

Back to the drawing board…
 
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