Wondering if anybody can further clarify exactly how the alert for an Airtag potentially tracking/following a person alert system works, or how people feel about how we believe it works at the moment.
As an experiment, I gave my Airtag to my son today, while he went a walk into town for a coffee. It's a reasonable distance, and he was away a good hour or so, and he would have stood still at least for a few minutes, while ordering/collecting his coffee. During that whole time, he got no notifications pop up on his iPhone to say that the Airtag was with him, or an audible alert from the Airtag itself. It was only when he'd been back home for about 10-15 mins that the alert popped up to say there was an Airtag "following" him.
Looking online this evening, I watched this video, which suggests that the alert isn't issued until the person carrying the airtag stops moving for certain period of time (watch from about 2:40):
Or, actually arrives at home/a known address, as per this article:
"Apple has built some protections into this system. If you are an iPhone user, for instance, and someone has placed an AirTag on your person, your phone will eventually alert you that an AirTag that isn’t yours has been found “moving with you.” Apple didn’t clarify how quickly or often this alert will arrive, but it did share that it will occur when you arrive at your home (the address stored in your Apple “Me” card) or at certain other locations that your phone has learned you frequent over time. Apple declined to disclose further specifics, citing the interest of public safety."
This seems a bit odd to me.
1) What if you were out for the whole day, constantly on the move. Do you not get notified all day that you are potentially being tracked, and could therefore be letting the person tracking you figure out your exact daily moves/routine etc?
2) Why on earth would you want the Airtag to wait until the person carrying it stopped moving or arrived at home? Within reason, surely the sooner the person knows that an Airtag has been placed on them, the better. If they don't realise the Airtag has been placed on them, and then go straight home without stopping anywhere, they could literally be leading somebody straight to their home address or workplace etc.
Are people actually ok with this, as I personally find it a bit worrying. I know I will only use my own Airtag for legitimate purposes, but there's plenty that might not.
As an experiment, I gave my Airtag to my son today, while he went a walk into town for a coffee. It's a reasonable distance, and he was away a good hour or so, and he would have stood still at least for a few minutes, while ordering/collecting his coffee. During that whole time, he got no notifications pop up on his iPhone to say that the Airtag was with him, or an audible alert from the Airtag itself. It was only when he'd been back home for about 10-15 mins that the alert popped up to say there was an Airtag "following" him.
Looking online this evening, I watched this video, which suggests that the alert isn't issued until the person carrying the airtag stops moving for certain period of time (watch from about 2:40):
Or, actually arrives at home/a known address, as per this article:
"Apple has built some protections into this system. If you are an iPhone user, for instance, and someone has placed an AirTag on your person, your phone will eventually alert you that an AirTag that isn’t yours has been found “moving with you.” Apple didn’t clarify how quickly or often this alert will arrive, but it did share that it will occur when you arrive at your home (the address stored in your Apple “Me” card) or at certain other locations that your phone has learned you frequent over time. Apple declined to disclose further specifics, citing the interest of public safety."
This seems a bit odd to me.
1) What if you were out for the whole day, constantly on the move. Do you not get notified all day that you are potentially being tracked, and could therefore be letting the person tracking you figure out your exact daily moves/routine etc?
2) Why on earth would you want the Airtag to wait until the person carrying it stopped moving or arrived at home? Within reason, surely the sooner the person knows that an Airtag has been placed on them, the better. If they don't realise the Airtag has been placed on them, and then go straight home without stopping anywhere, they could literally be leading somebody straight to their home address or workplace etc.
Are people actually ok with this, as I personally find it a bit worrying. I know I will only use my own Airtag for legitimate purposes, but there's plenty that might not.
