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Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

annoying.technology

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Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#161

Post by buck4roo »

least wrote: post #145
FireBeyond wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I actually quite like that this particular feature is opt out because the goal is to make the mesh network actually useful and not just a white paper theoretical application with zero adoption. Requiring labor of any kind will exclude much of the population from the start, which, for this particular utility, is not tenable. And people nearby you? Apple is draining your battery for their benefit, using your cellular…

Yes, everyone who has the feature turned on is pooling their resources together to create a common utility that everyone with the feature benefits from. I fail to see how this is an issue. This is not like Apple exfiltrating data from your phone back to them that can incriminate you like the CSAM debacle that's still unresolved, this is a tool that has a quite easy to understand benefit for those that are using it. I…

I hear what you're saying: Apple's Monopoly on airtags is good for you.

Are there other monopolies you think are good for you? For others? For the world?

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#162

Post by dalbin »

BudaDude wrote: post #117
blevin wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions is an example of a nested settings labyrinth that is somewhat hard to navigate for parents just trying to keep their kids from seeing bad stuff, esp. as it interacts with individual app behaviors. Ex: set TV restrictions to 9+ and the Netflix app entirely vanishes, instead of just filtering its content. Scalable trustworthy content filtering delegati…

I’m not sure if this an Apple or Netflix issue . Is there an api that Netflix could use to determine if content restriction is enabled ?

> Read the media rating on a device and determine what media to display on your app.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedsettings/re...

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#163

Post by knolan »

rootusrootus wrote: post #78
knolan wrote: post #50

My AirTags, via the Find My app are draining my iPad’s battery. It’s very annoying.

Maybe an update would help? I haven't had any problem with Find My on my iPad draining the battery, and we have a half dozen AirTags. But, I also have auto update turned on for iOS.

I’ve updated, reset, repaired…

The drain can be either slow or aggressive but it doesn’t go away.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#164

Post by hackernewds »

heavyset_go wrote: post #124

I dislike how companies are not only pushing proprietary mesh networks, but also making them automatically enabled for their users and opt-out. It feels like the companies are piggybacking on my internet connection, hardware and electricity for free to literally power their closed network. I don't get paid a penny for it, but their shareholders sure do. Open mesh networks could be really cool, but instead of open net…

An egregious way internet providers do this now is to not only use your electricity, but also your internet bandwidth and router (!!) to create their so-called hotspot network. Obviously this is opt-out, poorly notified and hidden behind a bunch of dark patterns to disable.

Looking at your Xfinity, coverage across all of SF..

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#165

Post by hackernewds »

walrus01 wrote: post #126
heavyset_go wrote: post #124

I dislike how companies are not only pushing proprietary mesh networks, but also making them automatically enabled for their users and opt-out. It feels like the companies are piggybacking on my internet connection, hardware and electricity for free to literally power their closed network. I don't get paid a penny for it, but their shareholders sure do. Open mesh networks could be really cool, but instead of open net…

The day that I install any amazon sidewalk enabled device in my home is the day I hang up my hat and resign in shame, as a network engineer who's been building internet infrastructure since 1999. It's so gross and wrong. amazon doesn't get a free ride on my residential internet service or arbitrary use of radio spectrum in my home. note: I also have no smart doorbells, cloud connected security cameras, internet enabl…

Eye opening that your vacuum cleaner or smart bulb wants you to directly embed your WiFi password for set up. Not to mention, usually the cheapest ones are subsidized by, at best sales of your data, and at worst espionage and security backdoors.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#166

Post by berkes »

sharken wrote: post #147

The title is rather inaccurate, a better and less attention seeking title would be: "Apple AirTags draining battery of your Apple devices close by". And then you can talk about Apple AirTags draining your Apple devices, e.g. in order to locate the Apple device of someone else your devices will use of a lot of battery in the process. My hunch is that users want to be able to locate their lost Apple device at all times…

If people were that reluctant to switch a feature on, it is not a feature people want.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#167

Post by zaphirplane »

dwighttk wrote: post #104
bgro wrote: post #95

This was a concern I had since day 0. I have been asking about things like this and been talked down to constantly as if I don't know how bluetooth works... My other concern was if these are hijacking your data plan. Maybe it's not that significant amount if you have a huge plan but like Ting for example gives you 100MB of data usage each month on their basic plan. That's MEGAbytes. I checked my system clock app for…

You can turn cellular data off in iOS. If you have 100MB a month it would probably be smart to turn it off until you are ready to check email or whatever and there is no Wi-Fi.

That’s a big hammer

There is low data mode and per app opt-in/out

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#168

Post by least »

buck4roo wrote: post #161
least wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, everyone who has the feature turned on is pooling their resources together to create a common utility that everyone with the feature benefits from. I fail to see how this is an issue. This is not like Apple exfiltrating data from your phone back to them that can incriminate you like the CSAM debacle that's still unresolved, this is a tool that has a quite easy to understand benefit for those that are using it. I…

I hear what you're saying: Apple's Monopoly on airtags is good for you. Are there other monopolies you think are good for you? For others? For the world?

It's more like... Apple doesn't really have much reason to open up their technology here to third parties and it doesn't make sense to, either. It's not whether or not other people can design applications for something like a gigantic mesh network other than Apple, just that in order for such a thing to be useful it has to be opt out, which means that the application would have to be developed in conjunction with Apple or by Apple.

If you allow third party applications utilize the tech but require an opt-in, it's effectively useless. If you allow third party applications to do so without an opt-in, it's dangerous.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#169

Post by tshaddox »

FireBeyond wrote: post #132
tshaddox wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you do enable Bluetooth on an iOS device, any Airtags detected will be reported to Apple over any available data connection, and this cannot be disabled in iOS as far as I know. That certainly seems to contradict Apple's own documentation on the Find My network. At least according to my interpretation, it seems very clear that disabling the "Find My network" toggle will disable your device's participation in the…

I don't think it's clear. It's clear that it will disable the ability for _your device_ to be a _findable target_ device in the network. It doesn't particularly imply that your device isn't still acting as a 'base' for other devices in the network.

It seems pretty clear to me that the setting is symmetrical, and disabling it prevents your device from being discovered by other devices and from sending messages about other devices it discovers:

> Find My can use the Find My network to help find devices even if they are not connected to the internet and, for supported devices, even if they are turned off or erased. Devices in the Find My network use Bluetooth wireless technology to detect missing devices or compatible items nearby, including AirTags and compatible third-party products registered to your Apple ID, and report their approximate location back to the owner. If a device is turned off or erased, that location is also visible to members of the owner’s Family Sharing group with whom they have chosen to share the location. The interaction is end-to-end encrypted, and Apple cannot see the location of any offline device or reporting device. When your device participates in the Find My network, it can both be located by the network and anonymously help locate other missing devices. You can choose to have your iOS or iPadOS device not participate in the Find My network by going to Settings > [your name] > Find My > Find My [device] and tapping to disable Find My network.

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