iOS 15.2 Beta: How to Use Find My to Locate Items That Can Track You

[slvrscoobie]

AirTag‘s location will still be reported by all the other iOS devices … I think you miss the point, all the other trackers do not even work due to no one using the App … as several tests have proven all other trackers are noting more than a marketing ploy, they work only if you the owner and near them, and there the AirTag is miles better, precision finding is next level with my tile 2 meters could be any direction, AirTag I get direction and find it immediately. So if you leave your luggage and the thieve disables follow me there are still 1 billion iOS devices potentially reporting the location, versus a few million on other platforms. In any case the thieve can remove any tracker if he has easy access as he can detect all trackers quite easily … So yeah Kudos to Apple that it can be used in situations where it was not even intended for.

No, because the DISABLE part, is to remove the battery. so NO, a billion other devices are not still tracking it.. thats the point of disabling it. thief scan for air tags. follows prompts to your left behind item, finds AirTag with pings, removes batteries, fences your stuff... WTG apple

 

[Tempor_aka]

No, because the DISABLE part, is to remove the battery. so NO, a billion other devices are not still tracking it.. thats the point of disabling it. thief scan for air tags. follows prompts to your left behind item, finds AirTag with pings, removes batteries, fences your stuff... WTG apple

Hahahahaha remove the battery, you do realize that a thief will be able to detect all your trackers, all BT trackers can be detected … so rule number one, if you want to use a tracker for anti theft, make sure it is not easy accessible/removable. You really think a thief will take the time to remove the battery, that is just plain silly he will throw away the tracker.

 

[incoherent_1]

Hahahahaha remove the battery, you do realize that a thief will be able to detect all your trackers, all BT trackers can be detected … so rule number one, if you want to use a tracker for anti theft, make sure it is not easy accessible/removable. You really think a thief will take the time to remove the battery, that is just plain silly he will throw away the tracker.

Not all objects lend themselves to having a tracker buried inside them. For example, a bike.

 

[Tempor_aka]

Not all objects lend themselves to having a tracker buried inside them. For example, a bike.

True and no other trackers will be better in that case, especially as they fail at even the basic premisse, namely that the app they need is not widely installed to help find the lost item.

 

[incoherent_1]

True and no other trackers will be better in that case, especially as they fail at even the basic premisse, namely that the app they need is not widely installed to help find the lost item

That’s fine, but to me it feels like a bait and switch insofar as Apple is making these less useful to me after I’ve purchased them. I’d much rather have known the software roadmap and saved my money than bought what are now useless gadgets to me.

 

[slvrscoobie]

yeah Apple has gone from passively saying 'these are not for theft recovery' to actively making them easier to steal by promoting you can scan for devices not with their owners.

 

[Tempor_aka]

That’s fine, but to me it feels like a bait and switch insofar as Apple is making these less useful to me after I’ve purchased them. I’d much rather have known the software roadmap and saved my money than bought what are now useless gadgets to me.

They had that features from day one, it’s only more convenient now, and a thief if educated would just use a BT device scanner or App if he want’s to steal something, making all these devices useless if you have a smart thieve. Anyway go buy a Tile, you are sure you will hardly be able to track it in the first place, let alone track it when it gets stolen

 

[Siri's Daddy]

This is awful.

An evil person can just camp out on a bench with crowds of people walking by and disable all their Air Tags.

Not only that but when I store my valuables in my trunk - the Air Tag can be disabled and when I want to check to make sure the stuff in my trunk is still there - nothing will show up.

Way to go Apple!

Just after I bought a whole bunch of these and all the accessories to hold them.

Looks like my only other option are those crappy cellular trackers that cost $60 a year and burn through batteries.

I'm going to go into the food court at the mall and turn them all off.

This will do nothing to prevent stalking.

$50 for a cellular unit and $60 a year service will allow you to stick a cellualr unit inside a bumper with 2 way tape of a girls car and you can track the car from your phone for 2 weeks before the battery dies.

Or, you can just pay a PI spy service for the phones GPS records. PI's regularly sell that data for under $200. All they need is a name.

Does anybody really think their address can be kept secret forever?

 

[Tempor_aka]

This is awful.

An evil person can just camp out on a bench with crowds of people walking by and disable all their Air Tags.

Not only that but when I store my valuables in my trunk - the Air Tag can be disabled and when I want to check to make sure the stuff in my trunk is still there - nothing will show up.

Way to go Apple!

Just after I bought a whole bunch of these and all the accessories to hold them.

Looks like my only other option are those crappy cellular trackers that cost $60 a year and burn through batteries.

I'm going to go into the food court at the mall and turn them all off.

This will do nothing to prevent stalking.

$50 for a cellular unit and $60 a year service will allow you to stick a cellualr unit inside a bumper with 2 way tape of a girls car and you can track the car from your phone for 2 weeks before the battery dies.

Or, you can just pay a PI spy service for the phones GPS records. PI's regularly sell that data for under $200. All they need is a name.

Does anybody really think their address can be kept secret forever?

No they cannot disable AirTags, that is plain wrong.
The only thing that person can do is avoiding that the AirTag can send back location trough that persons phone ... so other iPhone users in the parking lot will still report your AirTags location.
So go into a food court and disable all you want, there are 100 people around that AirTag that still reports the position.
But not even that if the owner is with his AirTag in the Food Court, You cannot even disable it for your Phone ...

It seems you are eager to spent additional money on a tracker that any car thieve disables within minutes, GPS / cellular trackers in cars are disabled by jamming the cellular signal ... In Europe insurance companies have even stopped to mandate this for expensive cars, as it is not helping at all.

 

[videosoul]

Is this phone dependent? That option doesn't show up on my iPhone XR with iOS 15.2 now installed.

 

[Pagemakers]

Is this phone dependent? That option doesn't show up on my iPhone XR with iOS 15.2 now installed.

View attachment 1928329

Same problem here with my 12 Max Pro. No option here either

 

[BigBlur]

This is awful.

An evil person can just camp out on a bench with crowds of people walking by and disable all their Air Tags.

Not only that but when I store my valuables in my trunk - the Air Tag can be disabled and when I want to check to make sure the stuff in my trunk is still there - nothing will show up.

Way to go Apple!

Just after I bought a whole bunch of these and all the accessories to hold them.

Looks like my only other option are those crappy cellular trackers that cost $60 a year and burn through batteries.

I'm going to go into the food court at the mall and turn them all off.

This will do nothing to prevent stalking.

$50 for a cellular unit and $60 a year service will allow you to stick a cellualr unit inside a bumper with 2 way tape of a girls car and you can track the car from your phone for 2 weeks before the battery dies.

Or, you can just pay a PI spy service for the phones GPS records. PI's regularly sell that data for under $200. All they need is a name.

Does anybody really think their address can be kept secret forever?

AirTags can't be disabled remotely.

The directions are to take the battery out.

Good luck trying to disable AirTags at the food court without getting awkward stares or getting caught.

If someone disables the AirTag that's in your trunk (takes the battery out), you've got bigger problems.

 

[BigBlur]

No they cannot disable AirTags, that is plain wrong.
The only thing that person can do is avoiding that the AirTag can send back location trough that persons phone ... so other iPhone users in the parking lot will still report your AirTags location.
So go into a food court and disable all you want, there are 100 people around that AirTag that still reports the position.
But not even that if the owner is with his AirTag in the Food Court, You cannot even disable it for your Phone ...

It seems you are eager to spent additional money on a tracker that any car thieve disables within minutes, GPS / cellular trackers in cars are disabled by jamming the cellular signal ... In Europe insurance companies have even stopped to mandate this for expensive cars, as it is not helping at all.

This is incorrect too. To disable an AirTag, one must take the battery out. There's no such thing as disabling or stopping your device from tracking/reporting a certain AirTag's location. (Other than opting out of the Find My Network, which isn't new).

This is about privacy and safety. It would be ineffective if that was how it worked. Imagine if someone planted an AirTag on you, and you could just tap some button to disable it from being tracked by your phone. Your neighbors, visitors, someone walking nearby would still report the AirTag's location, allowing your stalker to still see your location. No bueno. That's why the directions Apple give you to disable it is to literally take the battery out, so that your location will no longer be reported by anyone.

 

[Siri's Daddy]

No they cannot disable AirTags, that is plain wrong.
The only thing that person can do is avoiding that the AirTag can send back location trough that persons phone ... so other iPhone users in the parking lot will still report your AirTags location.
So go into a food court and disable all you want, there are 100 people around that AirTag that still reports the position.
But not even that if the owner is with his AirTag in the Food Court, You cannot even disable it for your Phone ...

It seems you are eager to spent additional money on a tracker that any car thieve disables within minutes, GPS / cellular trackers in cars are disabled by jamming the cellular signal ... In Europe insurance companies have even stopped to mandate this for expensive cars, as it is not helping at all.

AirTags can't be disabled remotely.

The directions are to take the battery out.

Good luck trying to disable AirTags at the food court without getting awkward stares or getting caught.

If someone disables the AirTag that's in your trunk (takes the battery out), you've got bigger problems.

This is incorrect too. To disable an AirTag, one must take the battery out. There's no such thing as disabling or stopping your device from tracking/reporting a certain AirTag's location. (Other than opting out of the Find My Network, which isn't new).

This is about privacy and safety. It would be ineffective if that was how it worked. Imagine if someone planted an AirTag on you, and you could just tap some button to disable it from being tracked by your phone. Your neighbors, visitors, someone walking nearby would still report the AirTag's location, allowing your stalker to still see your location. No bueno. That's why the directions Apple give you to disable it is to literally take the battery out, so that your location will no longer be reported by anyone.

Your comments indicate to me that the new Apple feature ID's an AirTag that is "following you". In that case you can find it and remove the battery. I can see that being beneficial to a stalking victim.

But can you answer this...

If a thief takes MY scooter (I have a scooter like that other poster) - can he use this new Apple feature to locate my AirTag hidden in my scooter and remove the battery?

Thanks!

 

[BigBlur]

Your comments indicate to me that the new Apple feature ID's an AirTag that is "following you". In that case you can find it and remove the battery. I can see that being beneficial to a stalking victim.

But can you answer this...

If a thief takes MY scooter (I have a scooter like that other poster) - can he use this new Apple feature to locate my AirTag hidden in my scooter and remove the battery?

Thanks!

Haven't been able to try it out since the button to find AirTags doesn't seem to be available yet, but that's what it sounds like. Who knows how it is actually implemented though...does it show up right away, or does it take awhile (like when it starts beeping)? Also have to keep in mind that AirTags are intended to find lost items. Being able to potentially find stolen items is just a nice bonus.

 

[DrTek]

Feature yet to be enabled in latest 15.3 beta.

 

[DrTek]

Your comments indicate to me that the new Apple feature ID's an AirTag that is "following you". In that case you can find it and remove the battery. I can see that being beneficial to a stalking victim.

But can you answer this...

If a thief takes MY scooter (I have a scooter like that other poster) - can he use this new Apple feature to locate my AirTag hidden in my scooter and remove the battery?

Thanks!

Yes.

 

[DrTek]

Hahahahaha remove the battery, you do realize that a thief will be able to detect all your trackers, all BT trackers can be detected … so rule number one, if you want to use a tracker for anti theft, make sure it is not easy accessible/removable. You really think a thief will take the time to remove the battery, that is just plain silly he will throw away the tracker.

Unless he wants to reuse it.