gfunkdave

Yeah, fair point. Many many airports (most? all?) have DAS infrastructure to bring cellular connectivity inside. They also usually have wifi. But unless something is really wrong with how the airports handle baggage, your bag won't be stuck in the bowels for a long time and so I don't really care if there's wall to wall coverage. Apple saves the Airtag's last location so if it's not live data at least you'll know about where it is.

HDQDD

I saw today that Apple is issuing a FW update to shorten the time before they start beeping when away from owner to 8-24hrs. They claim this is in attempts to prevent stalking*. To me this diminishes the value for Airtags. I don't want my airtags to start beeping while on a TPAC flight or while left at home while I'm at work.

*IMO AAPL is letting the tail wag the dog here. There are easier and more robust ways to stalk someone than airtags. If you have access to their phone its easy peasy to install a tracking app, or there's plenty of other trackers out there that don't require Apple or the find my network at all. Oh well.

GUWonder

It can get interesting if those 8-24 hour “anti-stalking” beeping alerts wake up sleeping people for a questionable reason or those beeping alerts start annoying pets or other animals at odd hours. The odd hour lone firecracker or car horn can work some people, dogs and other animals into a frenzy. Some may hope that AirTag beeping won’t be added to those noisy things that are considered a nuisance.

Need

Shortening the beep starting time is not going to do anything to deter stalkers. Stalkers can remove the speaker thing in 2 min. Why would they kept it inside especially when it is reversible. They can just put it back if they need to use the AirTag for non-stalking reasons.

If the main purpose of the AirTag is for luggage tracking, I would also remove the speaker thing. You really don't need it to beep to find your luggage and you don't want the tag to ever make beeping sound on the flight.

StuckInYYZ

Based on the articles I read, I also found it laughable that they're developing software for Android systems to prevent stalking, but not get full use out of the airtags... if I'm firmly in the Android ecosystem why would I scan an airtag just to notify the owner that I found their airtag. And on the same note, why would I install Apple's software if I can't get full use out of the airtags.

LordHamster

The whole thing seems like a stupid over-reaction to some click-bait articles that circulated after launch.
Stalkers™ would be much better served by simply buying an apple watch SE cellular (40mm) for $279, then removing the watch band. Bingo a tracker in the apple ecosystem with full-blown tracking and cellular service for more granularity.

potfish

Thanks for highlighting this.

I bought five so far, for the family's bicycles. They are all linked to my phone so under some circumstances another family member just riding to work for the day could now be enough to set them beeping.

I just chatted with Apple support and apparently:

• the AirTags only beep if they are away from the owner, and they are moving, and the AirTag detects someone else's Apple device
• that Apple device will come up with a notification, and from there you can choose to make the AirTag beep again so you can find it, pause the safety alerts if you know what the device is, or disable the AirTag. The pause lasts for one day.

Additionally:

Need

Better tracking... 10x the cost not even counting the $10 a month for data. AirTag is also less trace back able. You can have a used iPad with WiFi and fake Apple ID to use it at a public WiFi place to track someone. Unless the stalker is really dumb, he/she will not use something that has a data plan that could easily be traced back. I can see a spouse using apple watch to track their cheating partner though.

LordHamster

So I guess we are mostly concerned with cheapskate stalkers?

Dubai Stu

We don’t want you “stalking” the punk who stole your bike, do we?

GUWonder

What’s the longest period of time that an Apple Watch SE cellular can remain on before its battery drains out of enough power to power to have a cell or even Bluetooth connection? A handful of days to AirTags and Tile’s 6 or more months of tracking on a single battery charge?

Apple recommends the use of cellular Apple Watches on Family (Sharing) plans to track kids instead of AirTags. But then that is short term tracking per battery charge, as it requires far greater recharging frequency than an Airtag or Tile tracker. The Apple watches are used as trackers by people concerned about their kids being kidnapped (including those concerned about kids being kidnapped for ransom). AirTags and Tiles? By now I assume some of those are getting tossed into backpacks and jackets at this point, but the watches are a more effective tracker when functioning.

LordHamster

Tracking people who are aware they are being tracked (like kids) is different than the "anti-stalker" BS Apple is trying to push more and more. Even with the old 3 day delay before an airtag would start alerting... you are close to the time that an apple watch could stay powered. So effectively, either could be used to cyber-follow someone home. The apple watch would just quietly die, whereas the airtag would alert the victim. But effectively, you'd only have a small window to "track" someone this way.

IMO the whole stalker angle is way overblown as there are tons of pre-existing devices much better suited to nefarious tracking.


As for kids, my wife and I are thinking of getting the kids apple watches. They are too young to have phones, but the watches would allow us to see where they are (if they ride their bikes in the neighborhood), detect any hard falls, and let them call us if they need something. Pretty good for the kid usecase.

GUWonder

I’m not sure why Apple is playing up its “anti-stalker” approach to AirTags. Maybe this is a way to try to get ahead of a bad situation and resulting civil litigation and PR hassles? They’ve set up a “look, we already did _____ to try to prevent/limit stalking using our devices”.

exp

Probably trying to avoid a slew of anti stalking articles and social media posts.

All it takes is a few cases of stalking with Air Tags to cause trouble.

GUWonder

And the risks for an Apple having trackers being used for stalking is not a duplicate of the risks for a company like Tile which is less in the limelight than Apple and has only one type of product and operates in a smaller (niche) industry than Apple.