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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#491

Post by JohnBooty »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #318
paxys wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of these third party devices can use every iPhone, iPad and more in the world as a beacon?

Tile uses everyone with the tile app installed. It's not the same by sheer numbers, but it's more than enough that if someone slips a tile tracker on you they will know where you're at. Or, if someone wants to spend a bit more money, not even much more, they can buy a full GPS tracker that doesn't need anything to report on it. Apple isn't coming out with some groundbreaking spy tech here, this is very routine stuff…

    Tile uses everyone with the tile app installed. 
    It's not the same by sheer numbers
It's not Apple's "fault" they're more popular but the end result is that these AirTags are orders of magnitude more potentially dangerous thanks the fact that there are orders of magnitude more iDevice users than Tile app users.

Imagine I'm some kind of creep looking for victims in a club or whatever. I'm planning to accomplish this by dropping Tiles into their bags.

Statistically, how many Tiles would I need to buy and sneak onto persons in order to have a reasonable chance of snaring a victim who just happens to have the Tile app installed? 50? 100? 1000? Not impossible, but not particularly feasible.

How many AirTags would I need to sneak onto victims? Perhaps only one, if they happen to use their phone in public and I see it's from Apple -- that's something I can tell at a glance, unlike wondering if they have the Tile app installed.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#492

Post by babesh »

I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t fix the lost AirPods issue. If your AirPods communicate with your phone, shouldn’t your phone be able to have a record of the last time it was in communication with your AirPods and the phone’s location at that time?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#493

Post by dazbradbury »

Anyone know of an Android compatible alternative that isn't Tile?

Every Tile device we've had has broken within 3 months. Normally literally falling to pieces. Have been through 10 of them. Would be fine if they were cheap, but they're really not...

Let's hope Apple raises standards / increases competition with this release!

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#494

Post by intricatedetail »

inasio wrote: post #126

A week ago my wife dropped her Iphone from a ski lift, and couldn't find it afterwards. I went to try and find it, from home she used Find my phone to get a picture of the location, and had it play sounds when I was nearby. I found it under a foot of snow, first try. This has been around for a while now but it was the first time I saw it first hand, I was blown away.

I got mugged on my way home and month later I found that my phone was in Nigeria...

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#495

Post by dheera »

habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

Why can't they just have it recharge with a tiny solar cell or kinetic charging?

Any object moved around by normal use would generate more than enough energy to charge a CR2032's worth in an entire year.

That would make it truly practical by never needing a battery change.

Apple didn't make anything significantly better than the Tile IMO, which also needs batteries to be replaced every year.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#496

Post by Spivak »

eli wrote: post #172
r-zip wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to what the other commenter said, Tile products are very flaky. The price difference doesn't matter to me, since Tile's products just don't work.

Tile has been complaining for some time that their products are flaky because new iOS privacy measures prevent them from accessing location data while running in the background, even if the user sets the app permission to "always allow." https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/02/apple-breaking-promises/

I mean this doesn't seem that bad? I share my location with my SO with Google Maps and every so often my phone pops up a thing that's like "hey you wanna keep doing that?", I tap yes, and move on. I do the same with Tile.

I've never had flakiness with Google's implementaion on iOS. What does Tile need in the background that keeps it from working?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#497

Post by willio58 »

babesh wrote: post #492

I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t fix the lost AirPods issue. If your AirPods communicate with your phone, shouldn’t your phone be able to have a record of the last time it was in communication with your AirPods and the phone’s location at that time?

They do this. Find My shows the last known location of my AirPods, useful when I lose them. Then, if I’m close enough and can’t see them, I can play a sound on them so I can find them.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#498

Post by JohnBooty »

gruez wrote: post #178
drdaeman wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, this prevents some legitimate use cases, for example putting a tag in a suitcase for the flight, because it'll start beeping at some point? A shame. It would've been cool standing at that conveyor belt at the airport and rather than staring at the luggage as it comes, being able to sense one's own stuff. Also, seems that it's not suitable for putting on a cat or dog's collar for the same reason.

Presumably "extended period of time" is several days, not several hours.

Probably needs to be more like minutes.

Think about a stalker dropping a tracker into the pocket/bag/etc of their victim.

They slip a tracker in their co-worker's bag at the end of the day. Coworker goes home. Attacker knows where they live now.

Or, maybe it's a stranger on the bus. Or in a club.

The victim is likely going to be home in less than a few hours. Perhaps less than an hour.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#499

Post by pmastela »

SilverRed wrote: post #453
crazygringo wrote: post #71

I thought one of the big use cases for this was to track stolen items, like a backpack or maybe even a bicycle. But the "anti-stalking" feature will notify someone if an AirTag they don't own appears to be traveling with them. Does this render it useless for anti-theft, then? Since it will just notify a thief that the bike they just stole is being tracked, and they can look for the AirTag and throw it in the nearest…

The future is having most items with built in tags. So yeah, your iphone tells you the bike you stole is tracking you but its not realistic to remove the tracker from it so you have to dump the bike.

The future is here [1]:

> Available from today (April 7, 2021), the latest VanMoof S3 & X3 bikes will work with Apple’s Find My app, which means you can track your ride securely using the vast and global Find My network, made up of hundreds of millions of Apple devices. With the new Items tab in the Find My app, you can locate your bike on a map from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

1: https://www.vanmoof.com/blog/en/find-my-bike

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#500

Post by speg »

JanSolo wrote: post #426
cmeacham98 wrote: post #418

> Apple-designed AirTag accessories include the Leather Key Ring in Saddle Brown, (PRODUCT)RED, and Baltic Blue for $35 (US); the Leather Loop in Saddle Brown and (PRODUCT)RED for $39 (US); and the Polyurethane Loop in White, Deep Navy, Sunflower, and Electric Orange for $29 (US). Interesting to see what looks like a typo "(PRODUCT)RED" in an Apple press release.

(Product)Red is not a typo. It's a weird marketing trick that Apple uses to make red coloured things seem more special.

Product Red, stylized as (PRODUCT)RED or (PRODUCT)RED, is a licensed brand by the company Red, stylized as (RED), that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in eight African countries…
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