Earlier quoted context omitted.
A Tile will, so will SmartThings
A tile doesn’t use mobile data and have gps and is inferior to an AirTag anyway
I've been using Tile for years. It's inferior, yes, but it's definitely good enough for spying.
Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
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Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tile still isn't getting harped for stalking. I used a Tile to track down a backpack thief 5 years ago, could have easily been a person I was stalking. Apple's getting a lot of flack because they're enormous, consumers are more aware, and they have a better network... but the fact that they did any stalker alerting is beyond anything the existing products in the market have done. I'd guess the product designers at Ap…
Tile also isn't nearly as sensitive because it needs people to install their app to opt-in to their tracking network. Apple coopted every single phone into a tracker essentially creating a biggest people following and tracking network in the world - plus they use UWB which massively more accurate than what Tile uses. What Apple created would be Facebooks, NSAs and pretty much every spying entities wet dream to get fi…
Yeah I get it, but Tile's network is still good enough to find someone's house in a somewhat densely populated area. I've done it.
>What Apple created would be Facebooks, NSAs and pretty much every spying entities wet dream to get fingers on.
The government already has this with cell phones, no?
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
What tracker is comparable in price? An AirTag is $30 with no other monthly costs. Genuinely asking, I would love to find a better solution.
You also need an Apple device.so it is not just $30
Your comment is akin to "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
I highly doubt there's (much of) a market looking to buy AirTags without already owning the pre-requisite Apple hardware.
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#34I guess I don't get it. For the price of an AirTag, you can buy a more capable tracker with GPS and mobile data. And it won't be notifying the trackee that it's there. The AirTag seems like a downgrade.
You absolutely can not. There are no GPS trackers for <$30 with an ~unlimited battery life and no subscription fees.
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#35> To make it harder for stalkers to abuse them, Apple included (and has since upgraded) several safety features that will alert someone to the presence of a nearby AirTag that’s not their own, including an audible beep. Is this saying that Apple is relying on the unknown tag to announce itself by emitting a beep, and is that true? I think you want your management device (e.g. phone) to alert you to the presence of su…
Not everyone has an iOS device, or bluetooth/wifi enabled even if they do.
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#36I guess I don't get it. For the price of an AirTag, you can buy a more capable tracker with GPS and mobile data. And it won't be notifying the trackee that it's there. The AirTag seems like a downgrade.
GPS trackers anywhere near the size and cost of the AirTag are going to have a battery life of a few days at best. You can get into multi-year battery lives on cellular GPS trackers but you're going to need large batteries and aggressive use of deep-sleep mode, e.g. check-in only once per day.
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#37> To make it harder for stalkers to abuse them, Apple included (and has since upgraded) several safety features that will alert someone to the presence of a nearby AirTag that’s not their own, including an audible beep. Is this saying that Apple is relying on the unknown tag to announce itself by emitting a beep, and is that true? I think you want your management device (e.g. phone) to alert you to the presence of su…
> Is this saying that Apple is relying on the unknown tag to announce itself by emitting a beep, and is that true?
Not by itself, no. If you have an iPhone, you get notifications on your phone whether the AirTag ever beeps or not.
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
A tile doesn’t use mobile data and have gps and is inferior to an AirTag anyway
I've been using Tile for years. It's inferior, yes, but it's definitely good enough for spying.
The parent comment is talking about using mobile data and gps - not sure why you even brought up the tile.
Tile is inferior to an AirTag if you seriously want to stalk someone. The network is orders of magnitude smaller. Don’t know why anyone who owns an Apple device would bother with it at this point
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#39Taping them together tightly silences it. Airtags have to be the most nerfed product I've bought. Day one, they were fantastic. Then they lowered the beeping and rogue alerts to a threshold my wife gets them from my keys or wallet all the time. Then they just beep randomly. I regret buying them to be honest. Tile never really got harped on for stalking. The samsung trackers work just as well as Apple and don't have a…
Samsung trackers do not work nearly as well imo. Or tile for that matter. I’ve tried most of them and AirTags are clearly on another level for better or worse I do think AirTags should have a button like the Samsung ones, tho.
They work great, it’s just the network effects are smaller for Samsung.
For people at risk, it is meaningless. Your crazy stalker will just drive around locations and confirm where you are remotely.
The whole controversy is both real and bullshit. It is very trivial for people to get tracking devices for modest amounts of money in high threat scenarios.
I think the issue with AirTags is the less malevolent, but creepy scenarios. And to be honest, the issue has existed for years with “Find My Friends”, which I’m sure is widely abused by family members and others to follow people around.
Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online
#40Not hard for a non-technical person to remove the speaker. Housing pops right open with a small flathead screwdriver. Then you just remove the speaker's magnet, no desoldering or anything like that required. Took 5 minutes. I did it to one of mine to use it to track my bicycle if it ever gets stolen.
If the thief has an iPhone, they'll still be alerted that the tracker is following them. If they move their phone around on your bike, they'll be able to find it, within several inches, with the NFC identification feature that gives the last four digits of the owners phone number.
Maybe Apple's campaign is working: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/26/apple-doe...