Can you opt out of your phone doing anything with airtags? Meaning i dont want my phone looking for, or sending apple info, in regards to someones lost air tags.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Disable phone from participating in finding Airtags
- Thread starter HappySponge
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
On your iPhone, open Settings, then tap your name at the top. Then Find My -> Find My iPhone. Turn off "Find My Network".
Your phone will no longer participate in the Find My network. Of course, you won't be able to find your iPhone if you loose it either.
Can I ask why you want to turn this off? Apple has been pretty transparant about how this works and your phone updating the location of a lost AirTag does not give apple or anyone else the abiltiy to determine your location.
Your phone will no longer participate in the Find My network. Of course, you won't be able to find your iPhone if you loose it either.
Can I ask why you want to turn this off? Apple has been pretty transparant about how this works and your phone updating the location of a lost AirTag does not give apple or anyone else the abiltiy to determine your location.
So basically there isnt a way then which sucks.
Reason I dont want participate. That should be enough for anyone including Apple. Apple should include an opt out option.
Reason I dont want participate. That should be enough for anyone including Apple. Apple should include an opt out option.
There is a way, I just told you how.
It sucks that you can't disable helping other people find their lost property, but still take advantage of other people participating to help you locate your lost property?
Don't you think that's a bit selfish?
I don't think it is selfish. The OP has his or her reasons and they don't have to be validated by us.
Last edited:
I agree. Apple should provide an opt out toggle, so that you can continue to use Find My for yourself, should that be the route someone like yourself wishes to take.
So …. You want everyone else to participate so that you can find your phone / devices but don’t want to participate yourself ? 😃 …. It seems that Apple don’t want you to have your cake and eat it ….. the reality is you can opt out.
But then why is OP saying "There isn't a way". When their clearly is a way.
I'm not saying it's selfish not to participate in the find my network. If they don't want to, for whatever reason, that's fine and their choice.
But, saying "So basically there isn't a way" implied to me that they meant "There isn't a way to not help others locate their stuff, while still relying on others to help me".
In other words, I don't think its selfish not to participate, but it's selfish to want to get the advantage of everyone else participating, but not contribute back.
There is a way which you provided. The OP feels that that really isn't a valid way, since it prevents the function entirely. I don't agree with the OP's reply to your post.
And you can, but then you won't be helped by other people's iPhones.
Adding an opt out would, minimize the networks effectiveness . or at minimum give that allusion and cause people to lose trust.
Question.
Why does it suck? How is it fair as a wider community for you to opt out of finding other devices on the network. But still want others who participate in the network to find your device?
I guess I'm confused by your statement that their position isn't selfish?
It would be equivelent to not wanting to participate in buying milk for an office, but still wanting to use the milk that everyone else chiped in to buy for their coffee.
If a person doesn't want to be part of the overall Airtag mesh program, he or should be able to opt out. I don't think it is selfish of a person to want to opt out. And I don't think anyone should be shamed because he or she doesn't want to be a part of the bee hive.
Last edited:
Having the toggle would result in less people being a part of the hive. That result doesn't bother me. To each their own.
They can opt out, but when told they wouldn't get the benefit for themselves, they replied "That sucks".
It's not selfish to want to opt out if they want. Of course they can. And it would perfectly OK for them to do so, for whatever reason.
However, they seem to want to opt out of helping others, while still being helped. It's the "while still being helped" part that's selfish.
And this is the best part.. If you could easy opt out of just the airtags, you would have a Tile network, and that sucks as every one opts out..
You have been helping people out for quite a few years already. FindMy isn’t new.. why just now do you have an issue with it?
the best thing to do is buy another type of phone that does not use crowd sourcing.. I think Nokia brought out a retro phone a while ago.. 😆
Last edited:
Not sure how this selfish. If my phone is lost i use the app to find it via GPS. Not using your phone
The airtag mesh is new and something I do not wAnt to participate in.
The airtag mesh is new and something I do not wAnt to participate in.
The OP wants to use the Find My feature as it was originally intended (until AirTags) and that is fine with me. As I said, I don't think wanting to keep it for private use makes one selfish. Others here will disagree and that is fine.
Is there a way for me not to fund fire fighters, but still have them come to my house and rescue me if there is a fire?
Thank you. You are better at articulating my position than I am. 😂
I think the cries of selfishness come from not providing a reason. It could be perfectly valid l, but what the community is hearing is ‘I don’t want to, so there!’ Which honestly, sounds selfish.
I don't think the OP owes any of us an explanation. And just because he or she doesn't provide one, that doesn't by definition make him or her selfish, in my opinion.
The reason some here want to know the reason is so they can determine if they will accept the reason as being valid for the hive to agree to. The OP's reason doesn't need validation from others, unless the OP wishes to seek validation from complete strangers about a matter of personal concern.
Some here want to know the reason and then will try and shame the OP into feeling bad for not going with proverbial flow. Good on the OP for not bowing to any "peer pressure."
The Find My Network is not new. It's been used for locating offline iPhones, etc for a couple of years.
But if you just want to rely on your own phone's GPS, then turn off Find My Network.
If your phone has battery power and is connected to WiFi or a mobile signal, you'll still be able to find it.
What the Find My Network does is allow your phone to be found by relying on other people's phones, even if your phone is offline.