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I don’t see they can differentiate between someone that steals your bag with AirTag in it from someone that had an AirTag unknowingly placed in his or her bag. The anti-stalking features are nice, but wouldn’t that render anti-theft useless?
Well, yes, which is why Apple has never mentioned theft as one of the usage scenarios, all they talk about is losing items.
 
The only benefit I can see of these things is if they alert you when your item has moved more than a certain distance away from you so you can be alerted if someone takes your bag and starts walking off with it. I don’t know if they do that.
 
The only benefit I can see of these things is if they alert you when your item has moved more than a certain distance away from you so you can be alerted if someone takes your bag and starts walking off with it. I don’t know if they do that.
Yep. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be possible to set alerts like that. :(
 
I am curious about a hypothetical case where I check in my luggage which has an air tag in it. First, does it make sense or is attenuation going to be too severe? Second, what if while on the coach / plane / train someone is sitting in relative vicinity of my tag? Are they going to receive notifications of a rogue airtag accompanying them?
Should be interesting to see how they perform inside luggage but of course it will depend on the type of luggage. As for the plane/train - no, they won't get notification if you and your iPhone are near each other. The FindMy network knows when the owner and their AirTag are close to each other and won't alert others. Pretty cool.
 
I am curious about a hypothetical case where I check in my luggage which has an air tag in it. First, does it make sense or is attenuation going to be too severe? Second, what if while on the coach / plane / train someone is sitting in relative vicinity of my tag? Are they going to receive notifications of a rogue airtag accompanying them?
Not sure about the first, but the second definitely should not happen given the way Apple has described this function.
 
I guess that means iPhones never get stolen.
A phone is a different device....a device with direct access and a value well into the high hundreds. An AirTag it a $30 deice that requires acmes to YOUR iCloud account to access it.....can it possibly be hacked after being stolen? maybe? but all of the that for a $30 item?
 

Nope. What Apple says (via a possibly uninformed PR employee) in an interview when confronted and what they officially say in US documentation (written by engineers who are not politically vetted) are two different things. They wouldn’t advise you to use Airplane mode to turn off UWB in countries which “don’t allow it” unless that was the only way to disable it. The fact remains, this is a very low power transmission, and not detectable beyond several meters from the phone. The countries that don’t officially “allow” it are not because they think it’s a problem, it’s because they want money to play ball.
 
Some of the “what if” fearmongering scenarios people are coming up with are hilarious, but this happens each time Apple releases a new product.

Remember when TouchID was announced, people were saying “what if someone grabs my hand to unlock my phone while I’m sleeping??” or the even better “what if a thief cuts off my finger to unlock my phone!?”

Or when FaceID was announced, people were saying, “what if a thief grabs my phone, shoves it in my face to unlock it, then runs off with it!?”

Or when AirPods came out: “What if a thief passing by swipes the AirPod out of my ear?” or “what if the thief sees my distinct AirPods and realized I have an expensive iPhone on me?”

The point is you can come up with endless “what if” scenarios about any product- but they’re usually super specific and in the vast majority of real-world situations, complete non-issues.

At the end of the day, Apple can’t protect you or your product from every “technically possible” scenario. So if you’re worried about one of these scenarios happening to you, simply don’t buy the product.
 
Nope. What Apple says (via a possibly uninformed PR employee) in an interview when confronted and what they officially say in US documentation (written by engineers who are not politically vetted) are two different things.
Dude, this was not an "interview" with a "confronted uninformed PR employee". Apple modifies the behavior of Wifi and Bluetooth as well depending on device location. That's why there is a system service "Network & Wireless" in your location settings.

 
i'm on board the day they have the companion drone that automatically goes and retrieves said lost item.
 
A phone is a different device....a device with direct access and a value well into the high hundreds. An AirTag it a $30 deice that requires acmes to YOUR iCloud account to access it.....can it possibly be hacked after being stolen? maybe? but all of the that for a $30 item?
Thieves are stupid. They'll see the shiny $30 Apple logo, and take it so it becomes their $30 Apple logo.
 
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Am I the only one who hasn't lost anything in over 30 years?
Yes. Well probably not. But I've forgotten my credit card at restaurants. I think because I'm usually interacting with the other people, figuring out tip, remembering which copy to keep or sign. But then AirTags won't work on a credit card.
 
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Apple's new AirTag item trackers are ideal for attaching to things like bags and luggage cases, which makes it likely they'll become popular with travelers and backpackers who want to keep tabs on their personal possessions abroad.

For this reason, it's worth remembering which AirTag features work wherever you are, which ones depend on you being nearby the AirTag, and which functions aren't supported in certain countries and regions.

Apple_airtag-accessories-bag-042021_big_carousel.jpg.large_.jpg


Article Link: What to Know if You Plan to Travel Abroad With AirTags
Why would you display the AirTag on anything likely to be stolen? A thief will toss it in a metal garbage can or at least just toss it.

I would think attaching it inside somewhere that it's not easily seen would be better.

Displaying a keychain probably won't have the same effect since they aren't as likely to be stolen.
 
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