How to Disable an Unknown AirTag Found Moving With You to Prevent Being Tracked

[KeithJenner]

I wonder if the original owner can still see AirTag's location after it has been disabled by someone else

No, the original owner (or their family members) are the only people who could see it in the first place.

The original owner is the person who the disabling of the airtag is aimed at (the assumption being that they have put it with someone in order to track them).

 

[KeithJenner]

Why?

Because the thief will get a message saying that there is a tag in the car and then it will start beeping so they can find it and discard it.

 

[matrix07]

Because the thief will get a message saying that there is a tag in the car and then it will start beeping so they can find it and discard it.

Did you read the article?

AirTag has been designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If you are an iPhone or iPad user, the built-in Find My app will notify you if an unknown AirTag is seen moving with you over time by displaying an "AirTag Found Moving With You" message on the screen.

 

[SBlue1]

I wonder if the original owner can still see AirTag's location after it has been disabled by someone else

As far as I can see on Apples website it doesn’t look like it can be disabled. You can mute the alarm you get on your phone if you know the person. If it’s someone elses tracker you can search for it by making it beep. But it states at no point that you can disable it.

 

[ErikGrim]

Because no one ever bothers to read apple's own materials:

YES, it will start sounding an alert "after a while"* if a thief has taken it
NO, it won't trigger on public transport or anywhere it is travelling with you

* The unknowns here is what "after a while" means and how soon it starts sending you alerts after it has started travelling with you after being separated from its owner. Better hope the thief is an android user with hearing problems I guess.

 

[KeithJenner]

There have been a few suggestions here as to how the system may get round the privacy setup to use the tags as an anti theft device.

Lost mode isn’t going to stop people from being able to deactivate the tags. If it did then Apple may as well just rename it perverts mode. If that was all it took then there would have been no point in setting up the privacy as it is, because if someone is going to plant a tracker on someone else then having to flick a toggle on their phone to mark it as lost is to going to deter them.

There have also been some suggestions that law enforcement may be able to override this, but it would be way too late before they get involved. Even if they could override things (which sounds extremely unlikely), doing so wouldn’t go back in time and stop the alerts, beeping and discarding which probably happened days ago. I suppose it may recover your tag from the ditch it was thrown into.

Privacy alerts will start fairly quickly (not days or weeks as has been suggested). If they allow someone to plant a tracker on someone else to find where they live then there are privacy concerns. It’s a fine line (that could only take minutes), but my guess is that the alerts will start within minutes rather than hours.

These are devices for tracking and finding lost items. They are not anti theft devices.

 

[KeithJenner]

Did you read the article?

Yes, I have read the article many times.

It will start alerting people “after a time”. Considering that the intention is to avoid people being tracked, it is quite clear to me that this time will be relatively short. As I said above, I expect it to be measured in minutes rather than hours.

If it gives enough time for you to recover a stolen car then it will certainly give time for someone to fine where someone lives/works etc.

 

[matrix07]

it is quite clear to me that this time will be relatively short. As I said above, I expect it to be measured in minutes rather than hours.

There is still no explicit explanation on this but I would bet big dollars that you are substantially wrong. This is anti-stalking feature and people who stalks do so for days and weeks. It's useless to stalk someone for only a day so I would guess that time period will be a day at least.
In essence you will know about your car stolen long before the thief knows about your AirTags.

 

[KeithJenner]

Actually, one thing which I had missed is that the Apple site doesn’t seem to say that the tag can be disabled, just that there are warnings about one being there and beeping to help locate it.

Still doesn’t help theft much,as people will be able to locate it and throw it away. The owner will be able to go care the discarded tag (and maybe their bag with the valuables removed).
It would give a hint as to which direction a car thief headed I suppose.

 

[kiensoy]

This is not what Apple sais on its site. It states you have to actively make it beep if you have an unknown AirTag in your vicinity and can’t find it.

Yes, you are correct in that you can actively make it beep if it’s within range, but Apple also says that if someone is trying to track you with an AirTag it will make a sound by itself. It says so in Apple’s website:

AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s travelling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.

So if a person with an Android phone (or no phone at all) has an AirTag hidden in their car they can find where it is because it will start beeping by itself.

 

[James Godfrey]

i think this was explained, but what if someone stole your bag and then did this? wouldn't that defeat the purpose of having an airtag in it?

Problem is with AirTags... and a huge flaw with them is... you can just remove the battery... this makes them a no from me, I was hoping to use them in things like a bag or wallet for theft reasons... but a removable battery destroys it being used for this purpose.

 

[contacos]

So these things don’t actually have gps build in? They always rely on other iPhones to be nearby to work? my only use case was putting it on my dog, but how many iPhones are in the woods. None 😩

 

[ErikGrim]

There is still no explicit explanation on this but I would bet big dollars that you are substantially wrong. This is anti-stalking feature and people who stalks do so for days and weeks. It's useless to stalk someone for only a day so I would guess that time period will be a day at least.

Huh? That's an assumption and a half and you know what they say about assumptions. It makes an ass out of u and mptions.

It's perfectly viable to drop a tag in someone's bag in a club to see where they live or even which direction they walk when they leave. That's the most insidious and common way of stalking. Stalking isn't spies holed up in a van outside a building.

 

[KeithJenner]

There is still no explicit explanation on this but I would bet big dollars that you are substantially wrong. This is anti-stalking feature and people who stalks do so for days and weeks. It's useless to stalk someone for only a day so I would guess that time period will be a day at least.
In essence you will know about your car stolen long before the thief knows about your AirTags.

This isn’t anti stalking, it is privacy.

If someone is sitting on a bus and someone slips one of these in their bag to they can be tracked for an hour until they get to their home then there are privacy issues there.

There is zero chance that this will only kick in after a day. Hours is possible (but in my opinion unlikely), but my guess will be minutes.

This feature kicks in when a tag is moving with you. How would that be measured over days (and someone is likely to come across the tag in that time anyway). The suggestion isn’t that people with actually stalk someone using the tag, but they will use it to find out info about them.

I’m sure they will clarify soon. I suspect it will be about 30minutes.

 

[Lesser Evets]

Sigh... guess it’s back to the old way of doing business...

 

[SBlue1]

Ok now the support document clears things up but raises more questions.

It really sais you can not only mute but disable location sharing with unknown AirTags. So anybody can disable my tracker, no matter if it is in lost mode or not.

And B, it sais the AirTags do start to beep by themselves if they are separated from you. So I can’t use them to secure anything that is not with me all the time. No AirTags in my bicycle, on my dog, my kids backpack or even on my keys cause they are in my locker when I work out in the gym.

What is this?

 

[matrix07]

It's perfectly viable to drop a tag in someone's bag in a club to see where they live or even which direction they walk when they leave.

If someone is sitting on a bus and someone slips one of these in their bag to they can be tracked for an hour until they get to their home then there are privacy issues there.

If you simply want to put this into somebody bag for hours to know where somebody lives there's already a better method. Following them. No need for AirTags.

 

[KeithJenner]

Ok now the support document clears things up but raises more questions.

It really sais you can not only mute but disable location sharing with unknown AirTags. So anybody can disable my tracker, no matter if it is in lost mode or not.

And B, it sais the AirTags do start to beep by themselves if they are separated from you. So I can’t use them to secure anything that is not with me all the time. No AirTags in my bicycle, on my dog, my kids backpack or even on my keys cause they are in my locker when I work out in the gym.

What is this?

Interesting about disabling. I thought I had seen that somewhere. I think this only becomes an issue if the privacy alerts have started (following them whilst you aren’t there), so doesn’t mean that anyone can do it.

My understanding of the second point is that it only beeps if they are separated from you and start to move. So you can leave one on your bike and it wouldn’t be beeping all the time, but may start if someone moves it.

I haven’t seen a full support document yet, just the airtags page on the Apple site. I’ll have to have a look at this.

 

[Ont]

One useful application I see is when traveling. (yeah traveling...). Put each of them in my suitcases for peace of mind at a baggage claim.

 

[yegon]

The one and only item that I frequently lose (inside my house) are my glasses. Unfortunately, the AirTag is too big to discretely attach to a pair of glasses.

12South will make a bizarre leather thing that hangs off your glasses.

Only $199!

 

[evoga]

Apple have ruined the best function of the device which is to track the item if stolen.

It would only be a minuscule percentage of people who use it to stalk someone and there are far superior hidden gps trackers for that.

 

[BvizioN]

Basically they’re useless at finding stolen goods 🤦‍♂️

Correct. These are for lost items, not the stolen ones. But then again, some thieves are absolutely stupid so someone could have a luck getting their stuff back or reporting the location to the police.

 

[Lapidus]

"Even if you don't use an iOS device". How does this work? How can an Android user receive a notification about unwanted tracking?

 

[yegon]

“After a while” needs clarifying, but currently it appears I will be spending zero pennies on this events doodads.

I think my bank account is going to love it!

 

[BvizioN]

Apple have ruined the best function of the device which is to track the item if stolen.

Apple has never had that function. It does not say anywhere "mark as stolen" but rather "mark as lost" As far as I know Apple does not mention anywhere the word "stolen". They call it "fallen on the wrong hands" for which they suggest the option of erasing all data. There is just so much you can do with the technology, which has proven to be helpful on a wide variety of scenarios. But your stuff falling on thieves hands means just that, you won't get it back.