Apple Air Tags

[James1979]

Can any phone see that one is present? ie if I wasn't the owner of the device, would my phone show one being near?

I believe so. On the newer IOS it’ll tell you there’s one in range as part of the anti stalking regs.

I don’t ‘know’ I only have seen that’s the case as I’ve been looking into them as well.

For what it’s worth I had Tile on an android phone. Absolutely crap. Which is why I haven’t jumped into AirTags yet.

 

[Shox Dr]

I believe so. On the newer IOS it’ll tell you there’s one in range as part of the anti stalking regs.

I don’t ‘know’ I only have seen that’s the case as I’ve been looking into them as well.

For what it’s worth I had Tile on an android phone. Absolutely crap. Which is why I haven’t jumped into AirTags yet.

my sister has one on her dogs collar, whenever its around here, my wifes Iphone doesnt ping you. Yet its supposed to

 

[skotl]

I believe so. On the newer IOS it’ll tell you there’s one in range as part of the anti stalking regs.

I don’t ‘know’ I only have seen that’s the case as I’ve been looking into them as well.

For what it’s worth I had Tile on an android phone. Absolutely crap. Which is why I haven’t jumped into AirTags yet.

Kinda

Under normal use you have no idea what tracker is being picked up by your phone and reported back. Think about the alternative - you’re standing in a busy airport and there’s 100 bags near by all with trackers inserted.

That’s by design and should worry the tinfoil hat wearers - as said before an iPhone silently notices a tracker nearby and reports it’s location back. It’s like a swarm of tracker… trackers.

Here’s the exception - if the iPhone spots that the same tracker appears to be following you then it *will* alert you in case someone has dropped it in your bag or car to stalk you. This also works as intended in the same Apple family account (given stalkers tend to track spouses).
The owner of the phone is warned that a tracker is following them and has the option to disable location reporting as well as to accept the tracker (because, for example it’s in the family luggage).

 

[Shox Dr]

Kinda

Under normal use you have no idea what tracker is being picked up by your phone and reported back. Think about the alternative - you’re standing in a busy airport and there’s 100 bags near by all with trackers inserted.

That’s by design and should worry the tinfoil hat wearers - as said before an iPhone silently notices a tracker nearby and reports it’s location back. It’s like a swarm of tracker… trackers.

Here’s the exception - if the iPhone spots that the same tracker appears to be following you then it *will* alert you in case someone has dropped it in your bag or car to stalk you. This also works as intended in the same Apple family account (given stalkers tend to track spouses).
The owner of the phone is warned that a tracker is following them and has the option to disable location reporting as well as to accept the tracker (because, for example it’s in the family luggage).

what do you mean by 'same Apple family Account'

 

[Screwdriver]

Fell across an American cop video of them doing exactly that with a stolen back pack.
The amusing bit was how more than the thief involved managed to get themselves arrested simply be being idiots and not shutting up.


Can any phone see that one is present? ie if I wasn't the owner of the device, would my phone show one being near?

I've seen that vid...

The Air Tag has a feature that if the owner of the tag is not in the same location it will eventually warn another iPhone user of potential stalking by reporting its position to on their iPhone. Then after a time apparently it will start beeping! Sounds sensible for preventing covert surveillance use (!) but wonder how that affects its effectiveness as a thief tracker.

Not sure what the timescales are and I assume it's days/weeks before "anti stalk" kicks in. Certainly if I lost an item and I was tracking it, it wouldn't be days or weeks before I start hunting it down but it does appear to be a flaw albeit a sensible one.

 

[skotl]

what do you mean by 'same Apple family Account'

If your family has multiple iPhones you can link them together, both to share (some) purchases, backup accounts and “Find My…” service

Family Sharing

Family Sharing is easy to set up and lets up to six people share access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud+ and more. All at no extra cost.

www.apple.com

 

[James1979]

I've seen that vid...

The Air Tag has a feature that if the owner of the tag is not in the same location it will eventually warn another iPhone user of potential stalking by reporting its position to on their iPhone. Then after a time apparently it will start beeping! Sounds sensible for preventing covert surveillance use (!) but wonder how that affects its effectiveness as a thief tracker.

Not sure what the timescales are and I assume it's days/weeks before "anti stalk" kicks in. Certainly if I lost an item and I was tracking it, it wouldn't be days or weeks before I start hunting it down but it does appear to be a flaw albeit a sensible one.

Probably overcome it with a gsm blocker I’d think?

£20 off Amazon. You can get Bluetooth ones as well I believe but I have no experience of them.

 

[Screwdriver]

Probably overcome it with a gsm blocker I’d think?

£20 off Amazon. You can get Bluetooth ones as well I believe but I have no experience of them.

I am looking at this from the other direction. I don't care if my location is tracked, I am wherever I am. But if my bike gets nicked for example, I don't want the tracker to tell the thief I know where he is until I can get my hands on him.

 

[Dev]

Probably overcome it with a gsm blocker I’d think?

£20 off Amazon. You can get Bluetooth ones as well I believe but I have no experience of them.

A gsm blocker won’t have any effect on an AirTag. Not sure if you can get Bluetooth jammers. Any sort of jammer without a licence is illegal btw.

 

[James1979]

I am looking at this from the other direction. I don't care if my location is tracked, I am wherever I am. But if my bike gets nicked for example, I don't want the tracker to tell the thief I know where he is until I can get my hands on him.

I was thinking about it from that way too. If I was a bike thief I’d have a jammer in my pocket.

Edit - turns out they do exist https://www.thesignaljammer.com/product-category/wifi-jammers/

Any sort of jammer without a licence is illegal btw.

I’ll pass it on to the plant thieves

 

[Dev]

What you need is a jammer jammer, or something that alerts you when someone is using a jammer so you know they’re up to badness


Of course then you’d start seeing jammer jammer jammers on eBay etc etc etc

 

[James1979]

What you need is a jammer jammer, or something that alerts you when someone is using a jammer so you know they’re up to badness


Of course then you’d start seeing jammer jammer jammers on eBay etc etc etc

Maybe with a suitable audible warning…

 

[Dev]

Wonder if there’s a market for plant equipment owners/site managers for something that alerts you if it picks up a jammer being used.

Judging by the amount of farmers with 200k tractors that wouldn’t fit a £20 tracker, probably not.

 

[James1979]

Wonder if there’s a market for plant equipment owners/site managers for something that alerts you if it picks up a jammer being used.

Judging by the amount of farmers with 200k tractors that wouldn’t fit a £20 tracker, probably not.

I suppose the issue is how it alerts if it’s jammed?

I fitted some in lorries for a chap last year and that’ll alert on his phone if the tracker in the lorry falls off the system so that sort of works I suppose.

I tested it with my jammer and it will alert him.

 

[Welderpaul]

my sister has one on her dogs collar, whenever its around here, my wifes Iphone doesnt ping you. Yet its supposed to

If your Sister is with the dog when it's round yours, and has her phone, it won't ping your wife.

 

[Shox Dr]

If your Sister is with the dog when it's round yours, and has her phone, it won't ping your wife.

We've looked after her (the dog) for a few hrs, no ping.

 

[addjunkie]

Wonder if there’s a market for plant equipment owners/site managers for something that alerts you if it picks up a jammer being used.

Judging by the amount of farmers with 200k tractors that wouldn’t fit a £20 tracker, probably not.

Thats just farmers so tight they sound like violin if they pick their nose!

 

[skotl]

We've looked after her (the dog) for a few hrs, no ping.

It's the other way round. The dog tag is registered to your sister's phone so when she left the dog on the first time she would have got a message saying "you left #tag-name behind at #address" then she has the option to whitelist that address so it doesn't ping her again. I'm sure she did that.

Meanwhile, if you're thinking of the anti-stalking function then that only works when an iPhone is on the move with an unknown airtag moving with it. I can confirm this works as I forgot to tell my daughter about it when we left the dog with them and their phones alerted while they were walking him.

 

[Migmac]

These are cheap and work on gps. An option? Would suit me better as not many iPhones where I work

Pets Smart Mini Waterproof GPS Tracker With Battery

Dogs can always find an escape route whenever they want. From this fact, Tracker was born, which is simply attached to your pet's collar and has a free application on all phones. Receive notifications: Receive a notification as soon as your pet exceeds the roaming range you have planned. Smart...

www.googleadservices.com

 

[addjunkie]

These are cheap and work on gps. An option? Would suit me better as not many iPhones where I work

Pets Smart Mini Waterproof GPS Tracker With Battery

Dogs can always find an escape route whenever they want. From this fact, Tracker was born, which is simply attached to your pet's collar and has a free application on all phones. Receive notifications: Receive a notification as soon as your pet exceeds the roaming range you have planned. Smart...

www.googleadservices.com

Says blue tooth in the blurb