I think AirTags are kind of dumb. They’re expensive enough that the only thing I’d use them for are key fobs, but, in Canada, we have War Amps who do a low tech version that makes more sense IMO.
They give you a “dumb” tag that has a unique number on it. Anyone can drop a found set of keys in any mailbox and they get sent to War Amps who sends them back to the owner. You don’t get real time tracking, but there’s no e-waste or batteries to worry about.
War Amps solve a very different, much simpler problem. They don't help me find the keys dropped between sofa cushions or left in my car. They require somebody else to do work on my behalf to get me my keys, like go to the post office. I can't see the realtime location of a thing with a War Amps tag. They're not useful if somebody intended to steal the item with a War Amps tag.
> What if you have an Android phone?
From the article:
> "Non iPhone users, Apple created an app for androids for this very reason called Tracker Detect"
Lets you know when you're being tracked by airtag or tile or earpods or whatever. Not sure just how extensive the list of detectable devices is but it was my first warning that my brother had bought a tile and airpods.
Apple's Tracker Detect app for Android was designed to be inferior to the AirTag detection in Find My for iOS because Tracker Detect does not scan for AirTags automatically. Instead, Android users must manually open the Tracker Detect app and tap "Scan" every time.
Tracker Detect's lack of automatic scanning is not due to anything about the Android platform, since AirGuard exists as a free and open source Android app that scans for AirTags, Tiles, and other potential Bluetooth tracking devices in the background without needing user interaction.
In addition to automatic scanning, AirGuard has maps showing where and when each tracking device was detected. AirGuard also allows Android users to (manually) make AirTags emit a sound through the app as soon as they are detected, while Tracker Detect forces the user to wait 10 minutes after AirTag detection.
Cynical question: does TrackerDetect also participate in AirTag tracking and location reporting? By installing their app in an effort to protect myself from bad actors on their system, am I extending their system into a previously inaccessible platform?
Or is that being saved for the v2 release when they respond to the demand that it be an always-on service and not require manual scans?
Does TrackerDetect for Android operate proactively or do you have to\can you manually scan? I've tried AirGuard available on F-Droid.
I'm a bit surprised at how this situation hasn't been made into the demonstration example of how difficult it is for individuals to escape or minimize their exposure to the surveillance capitalism society. I suppose if the proximal that these things pose to individuals wasn't so gruesome, there might be more being said about it. But I'm imagining a reverse situation, where someone is taking proactive steps to avoid exposure to Google tracking, so they get an iPhone, use apple email and web services, all the other little things for minimizing web tracking, and then Google comes along and says hey, we've leveraged our control of a massive distributed network of personal Android devices to unilaterally run a tracking service in the background of every device. Then when it's exposed as being obviously dangerous, Google releases an app for iOS users to aid in mitigating the risks the system presents to all individuals. And our Google-avoiding Apple user now is confronted with the alternative of either willfully allowing Google into their digital life or not addressing the adversarial risks of the system Google created. I can't help but think if Google had done this rather than Apple (which seems rather an academic distinction to me), there's be a lot more of an uproar.
** "But Apple protects it's users' privacy and Google's business model is to monetize it" - maybe Apple is better in this regard, or maybe they're just a black box with a plausible alternative revenue model that doesn't need to monetize the data it collects in the same obvious way - yet.
And I am loath to trust a company that in the face of backlash after the risks of a novel tracking system that they, as one of likely only two companies with the capacity to do so, created first, releases a statement suggesting we join in congratulating them for being the first to take steps to mitigate the risks (of the lone system that produces those risks that they and they alone have deployed). It's as of they are either completely out of it or they cynically know they can leverage an if we word it they will come Field of Dreams for fan-boys.
"But I won't be late for The Man because I lost my keys in the sofa now." The whole thing is depressingly pathetic. If only Orwell and friends had explained how f**ing convenient the surveillance state would be!
i have this exact issue. forgot my jacket in a bar one day.
Now i can see my jacket is inside a big apartment building for a year and have never moved. But i have no way to get it back because i dont know which appartement it’s part of and everybody ignore the lost message.
What about the UWB feature where your phone points into the direction of the AirTag? You'd have to walk down all the floors until your phone can pinpoint the location, but it's probably worth a try.
Hasn't Apple said that itags are not meant to track stolen items? That falls outside of the intended use case. So both options are similar in that sense.
They're not similar in that sense. Apple has stated that they're not intended as a theft deterrent (standard corporate CYA), but they're still useful for stolen items.
If somebody steals my backpack with an AirTag in it, I have at least a few hours before the thief alerted to the tracker. I'm also given a notification that my backpack is no longer with me immediately.
I think AirTags are kind of dumb. They’re expensive enough that the only thing I’d use them for are key fobs, but, in Canada, we have War Amps who do a low tech version that makes more sense IMO.
They give you a “dumb” tag that has a unique number on it. Anyone can drop a found set of keys in any mailbox and they get sent to War Amps who sends them back to the owner. You don’t get real time tracking, but there’s no e-waste or batteries to worry about.