iFixit Shares AirTag 2 Teardown, Here's What's New

[MacRumors]

We were so busy covering Apple's earnings call last Thursday that iFixit's AirTag 2 teardown video that afternoon went under our radar until now.

For those who have yet to watch the video, iFixit opens up the AirTag 2 and reveals what is new inside, including a redesigned speaker that is up to 50% louder than the one in the previous AirTag, according to Apple. The teardown also provides a look at the AirTag 2's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip and more.

The overall design of the AirTag 2 is similar to the original version of the item tracking accessory.

While a previous teardown showed that it is more difficult to remove the speaker in the AirTag 2, compared to the one in the original AirTag, iFixit was still able to disable the speaker's audible chime with the use of a soldering gun.

For those who are not familiar, the AirTag is a small accessory that you can attach to your backpack, keys, or other items. Then, you can track the location of those items in the Find My app on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and iCloud.com.

Apple released the new AirTag last month. In addition to the louder speaker, Precision Finding works up to 50% farther away from an item compared to the previous-generation model, and the overall Bluetooth tracking range is also improved.

Related Reading: AirTag 2 Hands-On: What's New and Should You Upgrade?

Article Link: iFixit Shares AirTag 2 Teardown, Here's What's New

 

[egdiroh]

I don't know how I feel about iFixit demonstrating how to disable the speaker, since that is a feature that helps protect against misuse. I think mentioning that it is still possible is ok, and responsible but maybe not giving directions.

 

[q3anon]

I don't know how I feel about iFixit demonstrating how to disable the speaker, since that is a feature that helps protect against misuse. I think mentioning that it is still possible is ok, and responsible but maybe not giving directions.

I completely agree with you. The speaker is a crucial feature. Imagine the disaster if it was silent: you might actually catch a partner somewhere they claimed they wouldn’t be.
That audible chime gives them the necessary heads-up to ditch the tracker and come up with a solid alibi before coming home. It saves everyone from awkward conversations. Honestly, iFixit shouldn’t be teaching people how to ruin that kind of blissful ignorance. 😂

 

[idahohand]

I don't know how I feel about iFixit demonstrating how to disable the speaker, since that is a feature that helps protect against misuse. I think mentioning that it is still possible is ok, and responsible but maybe not giving directions.

I agree completely. As someone who works in the crisis support industry this is irresponsible at best.

 

[jdavid_rp]

I don't know how I feel about iFixit demonstrating how to disable the speaker, since that is a feature that helps protect against misuse. I think mentioning that it is still possible is ok, and responsible but maybe not giving directions.

Security by obscurity is not really a solution, they dont demonstrating it in a video won't fix how easy is to tamper with it and surely other people would post their own videos showing how to do it anyways. I would say its better to see tech sites commenting on how easy is to disable it to make more people know that a tampered AirTag 2 is real possible issue and maybe make Apple engineer it a bit better for a future generation (or hopefully a 2.1 revision)

 

[foobarbaz]

I you might actually catch a partner somewhere they claimed they wouldn’t be

Sure, you could catch a cheating partner that way. Or an abuser could catch a partner seeking help.

You might think the first case is fair game, but the second is the exact same use case, unfortunately.

 

[Rychiar]

I don't know how I feel about iFixit demonstrating how to disable the speaker, since that is a feature that helps protect against misuse. I think mentioning that it is still possible is ok, and responsible but maybe not giving directions.

Since a large portion of the practical use of these things is theft prevention I'm cool with it

 

[Jamie0003]

I don't know how I feel about iFixit demonstrating how to disable the speaker, since that is a feature that helps protect against misuse. I think mentioning that it is still possible is ok, and responsible but maybe not giving directions.

My question is, why can’t Apple, with all their hardware wizardry, stop the AirTag from working if the speaker is faulty?

It’s literally a safety risk

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I completely agree with you. The speaker is a crucial feature. Imagine the disaster if it was silent: you might actually catch a partner somewhere they claimed they wouldn’t be.
That audible chime gives them the necessary heads-up to ditch the tracker and come up with a solid alibi before coming home. It saves everyone from awkward conversations. Honestly, iFixit shouldn’t be teaching people how to ruin that kind of blissful ignorance. 😂

The speaker doesn’t keep a notification from going to their phone, though. So, what’s likely to happen is that “AirTag found moving with you” shows up, they see who it belongs to, then intentionally goes to places that will make their blood boil, returns acting like nothing’s going on and when the person goes ballistic, they can give them back their little speaker less toy and walk out the door never to return. 😉

 

[dtemp]

Security by obscurity is not a strategy. We've learned this over the decades with mechanical locks, with cryptography, and numerous other fields. I guarantee you, anyone with enough motivation to pry apart an AirPod, already had the motivation to find the "real directions" on the backwoods of the internet; this will lead to near-zero abuses of the AirTags that wouldn't have happened anyway.

iPhone users should watch for "airtag traveling with you" alerts, and Android users should install Apple's Tracker Detect app.

I was hoping Apple was doing something more complicated here, where they were measuring some sort of electrical impedance or vibration to verify operation of the speaker. Which, of course, you could design an electrical circuit to circumvent that too, but it would be more difficult. The idea is to greatly increase the barrier to entry.

 

[Toratek]

I've always thought the iFixit people were kinda shady, but showing exactly how to disable the speaker on these things is irresponsible and incredibly inappropriate. This is a bad company. Full stop.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I was hoping Apple was doing something more complicated here, where they were measuring some sort of electrical impedance or vibration to verify operation of the speaker. Which, of course, you could design an electrical circuit to circumvent that too, but it would be more difficult. The idea is to greatly increase the barrier to entry.

The barrier to entry is increased both by the price (trackers on Amazon with MORE features are cheaper) and by the owner having to connect the AirTags to an Apple ID and to a device to even use the network. Anyone that wants to use an AirTag for a nefarious purpose just wants to be caught doing it.

 

[svish]

Fun to see these teardown videos. Overall the internals look similar.