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Question for crime novel

J

janvdc

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 21, 2021
5
1
Hi, I'm a published author of crime stories. For my next thriller, I want to make sure my story is technically correct. Your advice is much appreciated.

a villain (named B) has tagged someone's (named A) backpack with an AirTag to follow him. B monitors the AirTag with his personal iPhone.
B is later intercepted by other gangsters (named C) who steal his iphone, so they can continue to track the whereabouts of A (They know B's iphone login, so they can use it at leisure.)
These are all criminals, so they will not call upon the authorities for help. (But they could use this forum 😇)

Here's my questions:

1. Let's assume A does not carry an apple-device of his/her own. Can A know in any way that he/she is being tagged?
2. The iphone of B is stolen by C. Can B do something so C can no longer track the AirTag that is carries by A?
3. Can B install a newly purchased iphone (via iCLoud?) so he/she can still continue to follow the AirTag from this new iPhone?
4. In the latter case, is it possible that both B and C can continue to follow the AirTag?

In the interest of the story, it would help me if the answers to these questions would be
1. no
2. no (not absolutely necessary)
3. yes !
4. yes !

Thank you for your advice. Jan
 
1. Yes - it will start beeping after 8 to 24 hours unless it comes back into range of the iPhone. Apple is also developing an Android application that will detect unknown Airbags in their proximity.

2. Possibly, they can sign into another device like an iPad and remove the device from their account.

3. Not sure if you need the Airbag in proximity in order to add it to a new device. It automatically shows up only iPad and I only added it to me iPhone.

4. As long as both are signed into the same iCloud account. Only one ID can track an Airtag.
 
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1. From what I found, they beep after three days if moved. This is an anti stalking feature .

2. The phone would have to be logged into iCloud and have internet access to track the Airbag. Which means person B can lock their iphone, remove access or track person C.

3. It's linked to your iCloud account in the Find My network. It should be trackable by any iPhone or iPad logged into the correct iCloud account

4. If B is too stupid to lock out C. Although B could turn their new phone off track C via the web without C knowing to lay a trap. They'd have some awareness of devices being activated to the account but only the last location of B where the phone was turned off. If last location was left on.
 
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Thank you for helping me out. All this makes good sense.
All this may be a bit complicated for the average reader. Maybe my scenario must not be so complicated. I'll need to think it over.
 
So for this crime thriller, you’re using actual iPhones and AirTags instead of some fictional devices that can be featured anyway you see fit for your novel?
Makes sense…

Yeah right lol
 
janvdc said:
Thank you for helping me out. All this makes good sense.
All this may be a bit complicated for the average reader. Maybe my scenario must not be so complicated. I'll need to think it over.
Click to expand...
You're probably better off making up a fictional tracker, then it can work any way you want it to.
 
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Itinj24 said:
So for this crime thriller, you’re using actual iPhones and AirTags instead of some fictional devices that can be featured anyway you see fit for your novel?
Makes sense…

Yeah right lol
Click to expand...
That is what I did in previous thrillers. If you invent your own technology, you can make it work any way you like.
But since a few months we have these airtags and they work fine, so it would be a shame to invent some expensive hi-tech hush hush device, if you can just order it from Apple for 30 bucks. I have six of them, assigned to different tasks, and they do a great job :)
 
janvdc said:
That is what I did in previous thrillers. If you invent your own technology, you can make it work any way you like.
But since a few months we have these airtags and they work fine, so it would be a shame to invent some expensive hi-tech hush hush device, if you can just order it from Apple for 30 bucks. I have six of them, assigned to different tasks, and they do a great job :)
Click to expand...
Do you need Apple’s permission to feature their products in your stories? I’m no author or publisher. Just curious how that works. You want to be technically correct and you’re asking directly about the products’ functionalities and specifically about iPhones, AirTags and iCloud.

I mean, if you’re an author of crime thriller stories, surely you can get the creative juices flowing to make up some fictional tracking device rather than be limited by Apple’s version of one.

So… It seems that A is a person of very high interest to both B and C. B and C must be known to each other if C has B’s log in information. Probably live together like a married couple. So A is probably the side piece. If C is a criminal villain, what’s to stop C from changing B’s password to completely block B out from the picture? Probably doesn’t want B to know that C is using their data because changing that info would open a whole new can of worms. A stay at home iPad attached to B’s AppleID may also be involved. Also, since it is assumed and not known that A doesn’t have an iPhone, being that everything else is in the story is specific, I believe Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the candlestick. How am I doing so far lol?

Seriously though, If you have six of them you’ve been using for months, why not just conduct your own experiments with them for the purposes of technical correctness in your story or would that be too weird to the parties involved in the experiment?

Something stinks lol.
 
janvdc said:
That is what I did in previous thrillers. If you invent your own technology, you can make it work any way you like.
But since a few months we have these airtags and they work fine, so it would be a shame to invent some expensive hi-tech hush hush device, if you can just order it from Apple for 30 bucks. I have six of them, assigned to different tasks, and they do a great job :)
Click to expand...
Where can we find your books? I'm always up for discovering a new crime novel author.
 
Itinj24 said:
Do you need Apple’s permission to feature their products in your stories? I’m no author or publisher. Just curious how that works. You want to be technically correct and you’re asking directly about the products’ functionalities and specifically about iPhones, AirTags and iCloud.

I mean, if you’re an author of crime thriller stories, surely you can get the creative juices flowing to make up some fictional tracking device rather than be limited by Apple’s version of one.

So… It seems that A is a person of very high interest to both B and C. B and C must be known to each other if C has B’s log in information. Probably live together like a married couple. So A is probably the side piece. If C is a criminal villain, what’s to stop C from changing B’s password to completely block B out from the picture? Probably doesn’t want B to know that C is using their data because changing that info would open a whole new can of worms. A stay at home iPad attached to B’s AppleID may also be involved. Also, since it is assumed and not known that A doesn’t have an iPhone, being that everything else is in the story is specific, I believe Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the candlestick. How am I doing so far lol?

Seriously though, If you have six of them you’ve been using for months, why not just conduct your own experiments with them for the purposes of technical correctness in your story or would that be too weird to the parties involved in the experiment?

Something stinks lol.
Click to expand...
Imagining something is easy. Making your story work with existing stuff is much harder, but very satisfying.
This part of the book is written now. I started with a stay at home iPad that was found by C, but in the end I made it less complicated. gangster B follows main character A with a hidden airtag in her backpack. Secret service agent C discovers where A is in another way. Problem solved.
In a previous book (6 years ago, long before the Airtags) I made up a tracking device that was produced by a shady Israeli hi-tech company to follow a diamond shipment from Antwerp to Delhi. Now the same could simply be achieved with an airtag. The world is changing fast! Did you see what this guy did :D
 
janvdc said:
Here's my collection. Sadly, I only started to write at the age of 55. Even more sadly, I write in Dutch: a very limited market compared to English. No way to make a living of it here. But doing good :) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15038048.Jan_Van_der_Cruysse.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with starting later. I think better to have the richness of one's history from which to draw. There's a movie title that comes to mind about a writer, "Starting Out in the Evening". It's been several years since I've watched it and not sure the plot is relevant to your life as a writer, but the title seems apt. Thanks for the link.
 
janvdc said:
Hi, I'm a published author of crime stories. For my next thriller, I want to make sure my story is technically correct. Your advice is much appreciated.

a villain (named B) has tagged someone's (named A) backpack with an AirTag to follow him. B monitors the AirTag with his personal iPhone.
B is later intercepted by other gangsters (named C) who steal his iphone, so they can continue to track the whereabouts of A (They know B's iphone login, so they can use it at leisure.)
These are all criminals, so they will not call upon the authorities for help. (But they could use this forum 😇)

Here's my questions:

1. Let's assume A does not carry an apple-device of his/her own. Can A know in any way that he/she is being tagged?
2. The iphone of B is stolen by C. Can B do something so C can no longer track the AirTag that is carries by A?
3. Can B install a newly purchased iphone (via iCLoud?) so he/she can still continue to follow the AirTag from this new iPhone?
4. In the latter case, is it possible that both B and C can continue to follow the AirTag?

In the interest of the story, it would help me if the answers to these questions would be
1. no
2. no (not absolutely necessary)
3. yes !
4. yes !

Thank you for your advice. Jan
Click to expand...
sounds like the movie Unhinged lol
 
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