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How to Disable an Unknown AirTag Found Moving With You to Prevent Being Tracked
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Whilst I agree with your first few sentences, I think you (and lots of other people) are also misunderstanding how these things work. You don't have to be within 30m of the item to locate it - you just need anyone of the millions of people with a suitable iOS device to be within 30m of it.
No, if the owner of the AirTag isn't nearby, and the Tag itself is "following" another person (stalking), it will start beeping by itself, of the person doesn't have an iPhone but an Android device.
No, but only because you misunderstood what they can do. They are not GPS trackers.
They are the wrong solution for this type of use.
You'd need a GPS tracker (which could be purpose built or just a cheap phone)
Theres so many posters in here that seem to think these are global always on tracking devices. They are not.
They are local to you, with some happenstance ability to be located should someone with a phone pass near them and want to get involved returning them.
I think your image of a stalker is some random dude. There are many abusive relationships where the abuser will try to use any tool at his/her disposal to exert control over their victim.
Unless the other animals in the woods, and even better, the trees, have their own iOS devices, it wont help you because they are not GPS tracking devices.
LOL at your complete misunderstanding of how this works. The air tag only needs to be within 30 feet of ANY iOS device globally to be tracked 🙄
You really think people would read it?
I really like that (and their keyring holder) - only trouble is that if I put a cord on my glasses, rather than me putting them down in random places around my house, they'll be hanging off my neck which kind of defeats the purpose of the AirTag... YMMV.
Ships by July 20 though, that's a shame.
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Thats an interesting use case. If it works the same as similar devices, no because it will be set not to alert if in range of your home wifi. But I guess we need to wait to see.
The notification is the beep of the Tag then.
I think the AirTag recognizes other bluetooth devices nearby, even if they don't support Apples FindMy.
And if the iPhone of the owner isn't nearby, it will start to beep.
You envisage the thief finding a tag, removing the battery and then putting the airtag back again??
Not sure you thought this through.
A thief would likely think it’s worth something with it having an apple logo on it, especially if they don’t know that they’re only £29
But then the collar can just have the owners details on it in the first place.
And its not dependent upon turning up near someone that has an iPhone.
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I was so fascinated and intrigued by the presentation yesterday and liked the idea, but reading now all these valid questions I can’t keep up with how exactly it’s supposed to work and what it eventually means as a customer. I just hope this is not one of those totally bizarre releases because I was feeling ready to order - not sure now anymore.
It’s a shame there isn’t a safe solution to the anti-privacy/stalking issues. To those saying use a GPS tracker for kids etc, the advantage of AirTag is the long battery life and no data contract required.
We’ve been researching trackers for a relative with dementia, they all have battery life measured in days and require paying for data.
Although AirTags have some limitations, the use case for us would almost always involve him being in range of other people. The discreet size, battery life and cost would make this very useful. If the alarm when away from iPhone is a couple of hours this might be enough for us.
We’ve been researching trackers for a relative with dementia, they all have battery life measured in days and require paying for data.
Although AirTags have some limitations, the use case for us would almost always involve him being in range of other people. The discreet size, battery life and cost would make this very useful. If the alarm when away from iPhone is a couple of hours this might be enough for us.
The solution might be to develop a stolen mode. That can be activated by giving the id of the tag to the police who can then work with Apple to find it. Stolen mode would keep the tag from making noise or alerting the thief the stolen item has a tracker.
I NEVER lose or misplace anything. Theft protection, however, is my primary use case for these. I was imagining tagging all of my bicycles, motorcycles, travel bags etc. I will really need to know precisely how all this works, time durations before audible alerts etc.
AirTags are not intended as anti-theft devices. They’re for convenience tracking- there’s a difference.
There’s nothing to prevent a thief from rummaging through your bag and tossing your AirTag, or cutting off the fancy leather keychain your AirTag is in (which is exactly what they would do). You would have to actually build or stitch (hide) these into your personal belongings for it to have the sort of anti-theft effect you’re thinking of.
I'm thinking 'extended period of time' means longer than say 24hrs or something that can rule out public transport and theirs who hardly keep your stuff with them for more than 24hrs.
Apple Watch costs hundreds of dollars, would require the user to want to wear it, needs a cellular data plan and requires charging every day.
For someone with dementia this wouldn’t be practical.
I realise this isn’t the intended purpose of AirTags but it’s tantalisingly close!
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/21/airtags-play-sound-after-three-days/ this makes it more useful for me
I think you're wrong.
Look at how serious an issue domestic abuse is globally: those are the sorts of untrusting people who will jump on an opportunity to nefariously track their partner's movements.
