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iOS 15.2 Adds Option to Scan for Nearby AirTags and Find My-Enabled Items
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I agreed with everything here except the lawsuits part. They’re actually afraid of the “trial by social media” of people who probably haven’t ever even used their products, but would paint Apple as “pro-stalker” for not making a useless product. Definitely not buying any AirTags after this mess.
There certainly should be a warning that an unkown airtag is following someone and means to allow them to find it but I’m leery of having back door into it that allows permanent disabling of the tracker. Once an airtag is located its battery can easily be removed so a wireless method of permanently disabling these things seems like overkill and has the potential to damage sales as has been stated by others in this thread. I certainly don’t want to invest in a product that someone can render disabled without my consent and I not know about it until I have lost the item it was intended to protect. I think Apple knows this and wouldn’t do remote disabling without failsafes.
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Disabling is a physical action that involves opening the battery cover
https://mashable.com/article/how-to-disable-unwanted-airtags-apple
Privacy was already embedded in that you’d be alerted of a tag not belonging to you following you around.
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For the fifty billionth time: AirTags are not an anti-theft device, are not designed to be an anti-theft device, and are not marketed as an anti-theft device.
So yes, a robber absolutely can discover and deactivate an AirTag if they steal your property.
For the fifty billionth time: "AirTags are not designed to be an anti-theft device" is not an argument. The point is that they *functioned* extremely well as an anti-theft device whether they were "designed" to be used that way or not. And many, many people bought them precisely because they had that functionality. When you've spent money on something for a particular function it can perform (and Apple had to be well aware that many people were using the AirTags in this way), and then months after the purchase the manufacturer cripples that functionality, people are within their rights to be annoyed.
Many people will do this. Just because. Apple needs to fix this dumb feature.
Then that's their problem. Not Apple's.
Nothing stopping you from shifting a new car into reverse while doing 80MPH. Good luck getting the manufacturer to care about a warrenty repair if you do.
I'm sure SOME people will do it but most who would won't bother and most in general wouldn't anyway
Yes but you wouldn’t be doing the shifting. Someone else would. Who gave the other person the way to shift?
Again, you're focused on wanting Apple creating a device to help track STOLEN items.
Airtags are not that device, they were not designed to be that device, and won't be that device.
And that’s fine if that what’s apple wants. But they are leaving a security issue open if some random stranger can find and deactivate your tag.
No, they're not. Because as you even just confirmed, these are NOT security devices.
Good grief!
What's to stop a thief from throwing a tag away, or stamping on it, or flushing it down the toilet or any other way of "deactivating" the tag?
There isn't - which is why Apple don't market them as Security devices.
Or, simply remove the battery and then throw it away!
At the end of the day, an Airtag is an item thats helps you find misplaced items, such as keys etc - its not an anti-theft device and should not be treated as such.
It's clear Apple isn't actually concerned with safety. Either that, or their attempt at safety features is comically half-baked. They are essentially training me to ignore "AirTag following you" notifications because my wife has no option to share her AirTag (which lives in the car) with me, nor is "Find My" smart enough to realize that my iPhone's location is already being shared with her, anyway. Left Hand, Right Hand.
Until family sharing of AirTags is available, the "security/privacy" features are going to be pointless for a pretty substantial portion of the iOS userbase.
Until family sharing of AirTags is available, the "security/privacy" features are going to be pointless for a pretty substantial portion of the iOS userbase.
Is it though?
Woman discovers tracking device on her vehicle after receiving iPhone alert
A Jonesboro, Arkansas woman said she received an iPhone alert about an Apple tracking device traveling with her.
Thieves are using Apple AirTags to track luxury vehicles to owners' driveways before stealing them, police say
Police in the York Region of Ontario, Canada, said they'd investigated five vehicle thefts involving AirTags since September.
www.businessinsider.com
Airtags are a quantum leap for stalkers, because they are tiny, cheap, require no cellular contract, and have a year-long battery life.
I dunno, because 5 cars were stolen and one case was reported is it really a quantum leap?Is it though?
Woman discovers tracking device on her vehicle after receiving iPhone alert
A Jonesboro, Arkansas woman said she received an iPhone alert about an Apple tracking device traveling with her.www.wect.com
Thieves are using Apple AirTags to track luxury vehicles to owners' driveways before stealing them, police say
Police in the York Region of Ontario, Canada, said they'd investigated five vehicle thefts involving AirTags since September.
Airtags are a quantum leap for stalkers, because they are tiny, cheap, require no cellular contract, and have a year-long battery life.
And how many go unreported and undiscovered? This is definitely not an "imaginary non-issue" as the previous poster suggested.
The Airtags are a quantum leap in terms of their stalking "features". There has never been a tracking device this cheap, small and capable available on the consumer market. Tile was close in theory, but they didn't have the critical mass to make their tags trackable almost everywhere like the Airtags are thanks to the "Find My network".
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Hmm, not seeing the feature on my phone either. Maybe it was pulled at the last moment?