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Has anybody actually genuinely lost something outside, in the wild and found it with an AirTag yet?

Sill said:
That is an excellent summary of my concerns, but I have to press you a little bit on this one: you're looking at the top layer of this, think a few layers deeper. And I'm sorry if this seems a little obtuse and byzantine, but you're going to get a lot more out of this if you do the exercise as opposed to me trying to instill it. Let me give you an example, taken from previous threads where I've discussed privacy issues:

Google regularly comes under fire here and elsewhere for their slights, both real and imagined, against privacy. Even the most stalwart Google apologists here can't manage much more than "oh well, everyone is watching you, and I'm willing to trade my privacy for their excellent services, you should too or you'll get left behind". For the most part though, the ready response is either "what do you have to hide?" or "you're not important to this big company".

When I push people to understand the level of Google's invasion of their private life, they seem to think it stops with what they search for on Google.com. Some people understand it includes parsed emails and texts but don't look further. Even the Apple fans don't think any farther than this, because they always use this incredibly lame saying "At Google - YOU'RE the product!". And you can almost hear them saying "ZING!" afterwards. Its ridiculous and it shows that they have no idea of what goes on behind the scenes at Google.

Layer 1: search information including search variations
Layer 1a: how fast do you vary your searches
Layer 1b: what do you click through
Layer 1c (mobile devices) : how long do you spend on a given page? How many times do you back up?

Layer 2: emails and texts parsed
Layer 2a: what do you receive and from who?
Layer 2a1: how quickly do you read the next message ?
Layer 2b: how fast do you forward, and what do you forward?

Layer 3: navigation data
Layer 3a: how often do you go where?
Layer 3b: who do you meet. how often?
Layer 3c: how long do you stay?
Layer 3d : what else happens in the area while you are there?
Layer 3e: who else is in the area, however tangential? How many times have you been near that person?

Layer 4: what music do you listen to?
Layer 4a: how often do you repeat this music?
Layer 4b: who do you share your music with?
Layer 4c: what purchases do you make while listening to what music, and where are you at those points?

These are just the first 4 layers available to them during the normal course of your day. By the time you get to the bottom of that short list, they know an immense amount about you. The behavioral modifiers I've listed produce an alarming amount of data on you, far more serious than "he bought this brand of toilet paper on the way home from this movie".

Google has done an alarming amount of activity tracking. Their Android phones will track you in Airplane mode with the SIM card pulled and the phone turned off. Proven story. Their response to getting caught is usually "That never happened. Ok, it happened but you misunderstood what was going on. Ok thats exactly what was going on but it was a simple mistake, a debug feature that should have been turned off. it'll never happen again." But it does, usually before the reporting on the current privacy breach is completed.

Apple now seems to have the beginnings of an equally nasty system happening. Back to my original point, look at my layer model explanation of Google's bad actions. Then use that same mode of thinking to see what mal use Apple's new tools could be put to.

BTW: don't forget Apple has now enabled MacOS to always phone home and report on what apps you're using, and when, and how often, and you get the picture. And anyone who produces a VPN for MacOS must use the new VPN framework that conveniently tunnels Apple home calls right through the VPN layer. Still think they're benevolent?
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Your perspective on this is frightening, yet captivating. Much respect!
 
Sill said:
I'm not worried about anyone else's phone, per se, my concern lay with Apple deciding to volunteer an individual's location to someone or some agency based on crowdsourced tracking.
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Then just turn off Find My Network if that concerns you. It’s something optional.

The Find My network has existed since iOS 13, by the way. Even if your Mac is in sleep mode and not on Wi-Fi, for example, it can still send a secure and encrypted Bluetooth signal.

Also, the way the Find My network is set up, your Doomer scenario isn’t really possible either.
 
I found the secret cabin my wife was going to with my neighbour from time to time.
 
Very useful to discover that my housekeys had slid under my fathers couch as I had finally arrived in front of my own door.
 
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Well I found one at the park this week in a black leather Apple holder. I followed the instructions to put tap the white side to the top of my iPhone 10 to see the owner reunification info but nothing happens and I've tried multiple times. This wannabe good Samaritan can only do so much if the original does not turn on lost AirTag to enable this.

How long to be a generous lost and found?
 
caranddriver said:
Well I found one at the park this week in a black leather Apple holder. I followed the instructions to put tap the white side to the top of my iPhone 10 to see the owner reunification info but nothing happens and I've tried multiple times. This wannabe good Samaritan can only do so much if the original does not turn on lost AirTag to enable this.

How long to be a generous lost and found?
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I'd give it a few days - hopefully they turn on lost mode so you two can connect. If not by then, I'd just toss it (you could always keep the Key Ring as your reward for trying to do the right thing. :)

The airtag is locked to their Apple ID (activation lock) - if they don't enable lost mode, it should be trashed.
 
Yes, my wife lost a house key at the mall - fell out of her coat pocket. She came home and realized it was missing. Turned on Find My app and went back to the mall and found it on the floor in a store isle.
 
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fischersd said:
I'd give it a few days - hopefully they turn on lost mode so you two can connect. If not by then, I'd just toss it (you could always keep the Key Ring as your reward for trying to do the right thing. :)

The airtag is locked to their Apple ID (activation lock) - if they don't enable lost mode, it should be trashed.
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Thanks - you just reminded me to tap the white side of the AirTag to my iPhone and nothing popped up. What is the point of buying one if you don't enable the lost functionality. Definitely going to wait a week or so and then just open it up take the battery out and see if it still has charge and e-waste the rest.

I looked closer at the tag and appears to be a knockoff ESR from Amazon. Two for $14.99. Wouldn't use it to hang outside a bag since the snap doesn't appear to be as hard to pull apart as it should
 
caranddriver said:
Thanks - you just reminded me to tap the white side of the AirTag to my iPhone and nothing popped up. What is the point of buying one if you don't enable the lost functionality. Definitely going to wait a week or so and then just open it up take the battery out and see if it still has charge and e-waste the rest.

I looked closer at the tag and appears to be a knockoff ESR from Amazon. Two for $14.99. Wouldn't use it to hang outside a bag since the snap doesn't appear to be as hard to pull apart as it should
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Heh. You typically only enable lost mode then it is. :) You don't necessarily want people to just walk up to your airtag, tap and get your contact info. :) Maybe you plan on tracking it down yourself and confronting the would-be thief? ;)
(not recommended...especially in the US where they have more guns than people) :)
 
A stolen car was recovered by police last month that had an AirTag affixed.

cwbchicago.com

Man faces carjacking charges just months after prosecutors dropped another carjacking case against him

A three-time felon who's accused of battering and carjacking a food delivery driver on the North Side last weekend was accused of committing another carjacking on the same street last autumn.
cwbchicago.com cwbchicago.com

From the article.

But Sanchez’s getaway was quickly foiled by one of Apple’s newest products: The driver had an AirTag affixed to the car, according to Burkhardt. Cops tracked the vehicle and trapped Sanchez when he turned down a dead-end street, Burkhardt said.
 
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