exp

Can you imagine it starts to chirp and people will open your suitcase to see what it is?

DMSFCA

I don't know if anyone else caught it but one of the "features" is that if you decide to put it in your ex-wife's bag during your child custody hand off just to see what she is "up to", apparently FindMy can detect if there is a tag that seems to follow you everywhere you go but isn't one registered to you. Your ex-wife can then disable it even though it's not hers.

When I read it I thought that if someone steals your bag, and they are an iPhone user, will it tell the thief that "hey, someone is tracking you" and they can just disable it?

Pretty sure I'm understanding the way it's being described. Anyone else catch it? To be fair, they say this is to help with lost items, not stolen items.

Need

That's one of the major highlight of the "security" feature. I don't think anyone not catch it. Although it only protect against people who have iPhone or other Apple devices. For people who does not have iPhone, the tag is supposed to start making sound after it is in lost mode for a while and not near the owner's iPhone. I am sure someone eventually will find a way to disable the sound making the Airtag the best and cheapest tracking device. Apple put in the feature to protect themselves. It is the same as Apple's official statement saying that Airtag is not for tracking pets or children. They don't want the liability even though it is probably the cheapest way to track your pet if they got lost. If you think about the technology, Apple is using everyone's iPhone wireless data to set up their Find My network for free even if you never bought an Airtag.

josephstern

I think you have it right. They have to do this to prevent people using these to stalk victims. So if the side effect is that you can't track a stolen item with one, that's life.

Need

Okay I just saw another review said that it does not notify the iPhone owner that an identified AirTag is travelling with him/her until he/she got back to "home" location of iPhone. So the thief will only get an notification if he took the item back to his/her home. By then you will have the location of the thief's home even if the Airtag battery is taken out.

josephstern

I haven't seen that - do you have a link?

Need

draver

there seems to be a lot of speculation and assumptions for Airtag on Youtube. I am reserving my opinion until I can actually review the included literature and test the functions as that instructs. Apple never once mentioned people or pets as trackable objects, probably with good reason. The "Airtag Moving With You" so far only appears after an undisclosed amount of time. There may be variable circumstances for how soon this occurs. I see the reviewers playing What If... without any supporting information.

Need

The tests will come out soon when more of the general public received the AirTags. Right now most of the online reviews are from Apple sponsors who got the AirTags and other Apple products for free. Those people are not going to risk their sponsorship telling people how the AirTag works if it is going against Apple's official stands.

Here is another article said that they "confirm" about the home location thing, but didn't say whether they confirm it by testing or got words directly from Apple.
https://petapixel.com/2021/04/26/app...track-thieves/

draver

They never seem to mention that the Traveling With You seems to require the latest iOS 14.5 be installed and you also need to have your Home address labeled as such in your contacts or you will be waiting about 3 days for notification. I do not recall any Stalking properties of Tile devices being discussed or compared, but hey, “Apple”.

josephstern

Thanks for the link. Interesting if he's right. I can't find anything on Apple's site supporting this yet, but as above posters have said, lots more info about these will come out very, very soon.

Need

Apple will never disclose how it all exactly works. Otherwise it would be like publishing How to be a Thief 101:
1) Get an iPhone with iOS 14.5
2) Set your Home to a public location (or just outside of the house of someone you don't like)
3) Steal things
4) Go to that "Home" location and check your loots to see if you are tracked
5) Remove trackers

It doesn't really matter how it works, but one thing that is true is that Anti-Stalking and Anti-Theft will always work against each other. You really can't have a perfect solution for both.

draver

I think the big fear is stalking, not theft & recovery. Still waiting to hear how Tile deals with this, and if it has been a problem or solution for those users. They seem to has so much more limited potential for tracking I suspect it has not been an issue. They may not be around much longer anyway unless they get on board the Apple train. Why does anyone think they can employ or purchase a stalker proof tracking system? Can't you buy trackers on AliEXpress or Amazon? Is stalking by device really a thing these days? Apple seems to have taken sound, reasonable measures to preclude liability for a claim of responsibility for aiding a stalker.

GUWonder

Will Airtags work with Android devices?

Between theft and stalking, which has been the more common crime? I would assume it's been theft and still is; but nowadays we live in a modern surveillance age where being stalked by governments, internet sites, and various people is way more of a problem than it used to be. Smartphones are being used to stalk people more than anything else probably at this point.

Unless the Tile is noted as "lost" in the Tile app, how would a Tile be used to stalk anyone unless the stalker is running around herself/himself to stay in or get within Bluetooth proximity to the device? That's almost akin to a physical tail in-person.

Tile doesn't do much of anything -- if anything -- with concern about the devices being used for stalking purposes. So if you think you're being followed by a Bluetooth tracker, scan for Bluetooth traffic and see what Bluetooth available devices are around that seem to be "out of place" or "odd".

There are jurisdictions where installing a tracking device on some one else's property without owner's authorization is illegal.

josephstern

Given the importance that Apple places on privacy, I'm willing to bet that anti-stalking is paramount here. And, as has been noted above, they tout these as more about help with finding lost items, not about tracking for stolen items.