This sounds like AirTags are mostly to find missing things in your house or things misplaced during a short period of time.
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How to Disable an Unknown AirTag Found Moving With You to Prevent Being Tracked
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What if the person being tracked uses an Android smartphone? How they will get a notification that an Airtag is moving with them?
I would think if you marked a tag as “lost”, like you would with an iPhone, the ability for someone to disable it would be blocked.
I read on a competing website that "Apple also says that AirTag offers 'over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use,'" so if you lose an item and you place its AirTag in Lost Mode, and the item remains lost for seven years, then a good Samaritan finds your item (and the AirTag) and replaces the battery on the AirTag, will the AirTag be able to alert you that it was found? Or will the extended time with no battery charge cause the AirTag's "memory" to be wiped and render the AirTag useless?
Maybe but then a stalker just needs to plant the tag and then mark it as lost right away and then they can continue being a creep.
They won't. The AirTag will beep or hiss at them.
this will be abused and misused and misunderstood in ways nobody predicted
They haven't confirmed this but I can almost guarantee that people still get a notification if they have the thing with them that has your tag on it, even when in lost mode. My only hope is that not to be the case, then you may have a workaround for using it to track stolen items (with the unfortunate side effect of being able to nefariously track people). Just keeping it in lost mode all the time if possible (probably not possible). Or perhaps they did a lot of testing and determined that the amount of time a thief has your item is small compared to how often they pass by it so in practice it may still work ok. In any case I will need to wait for people to do real field testing/reviews to know if it will work for my needs.
Apple needs to clarify this. Soon. Not wait a month like they did with those AirPods Max going into "ultra low power mode" or what-not.
Speaking of AirPods Max, Apple should build the AirTag electronics into all AirPods Max sold from today on forward. And also offer to retrofit the AirTag electronics into your AirPods Max purchased before today at your local Apple Store. 😊😊
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I have to admit, the "anti-stalking" features really make it much less useful than I was hoping for (although I certainly understand the necessity of them). Oh, well, maybe I have too many gadgets anyway!
I think that’s why it starts making a sound by itself if it has being separated from its owner for too long and it starts moving.
Sounds to me like their backpack would end up beeping all day long every time it was moved until they get home and the AirTag connects to your iPhone again.
I keep posting this but stalkers are rare to the point of fictional and theft is common. This is a very silly trade off to favor irrational fear instead of practical reality.
I don't see why not. I imagine there will be some sort of parental controls in this regard.
Everyone’s talking about bags & keys, this is going in my car!🤣
So, just like every technological advancement since stone tools then.
That won’t happen, according to Apple, since it will only notify users of the original owner isn’t moving along with the tag.
Android users are already used to being stalked all the time. Also...
Even if you don't use an iOS device, an AirTag that isn't with the person who registered it for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved.
I think it might be possible to disable the speaker, though.
Yeah, I think that won’t be a solution, either. I think there should just be some kind of resolution service where you can mark something as stolen, you can’t see where it is, but only apple can and to find out where it is, you need to have a warrant.
Hey Cook, I don't think those precautions are strong enough.
Would like to see one additional option, "Assign to Apple Hit Squad" !
Would like to see one additional option, "Assign to Apple Hit Squad" !
Am I the only one that thinks this is great for your kids?
Once they've taken your bag and got away, it's over. As someone who has lived in or next to a big city their entire life, the police will NOT help you track down stolen property, even if you have a map leading them right to it.
mine too, and when we're stuck in traffic some paranoid old people will assume that they're being stalked and disable our airtags)
If the AirTag was marked as stolen in Find My they wouldn’t get the option to disable of if I understand correctly.
If I were to slap an AirTag on my car and loan the car out for a while, the person using my car would probably see the option to disable it if they were driving it all the time. If I marked it as stolen, I don’t think they could disable it, and the message to the user would be different.
yea, i was just reading up on apple's website and also got that if you mark it as lost, most likely it wouldn't allow anyone to disable it. i guess pro thieves will be disabling these before cutting the lock/hotwiring the car)))