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Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

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Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#221

Post by samatman »

throwawayffffas wrote: post #200
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…

> 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. They didn't opt in to it. That's the issue.

It's myopic to focus on which way the toggle on the phone is actually set.

People who live in the Apple ecosystem don't do so in a vacuum. Apple announced AirTags to enormous fanfare, and clearly explains how they work.

They immediately sold out and are no doubt continuing to sell quite vigorously.

Does the median customer want AirTags and Find My Device to work well? We could do some polling to be absolutely sure, but I'm going to just skip that and say yes, they do.

Meanwhile, if it bothers you, you can turn it off.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#222

Post by scrollaway »

bgro wrote: post #189
scrollaway wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're a cargo delivery guy and someone decides to ship 500 airtags for fun that you walk by, are you now just screwed in over charges No because AirTags have to be enabled and registered before they become part of the network. At shipping time their battery is not plugged in.

I meant shipping activated AirTags as a “prank” or to otherwise cause chaos. People are already shipping individual activated ones to see where they end up. Or if 500 separate people saw those news stories and each did it individually for legitimate package tracking, perhaps that would be a more believable situation.

That's a $50k prank to … use up some data and battery?

For 50k you can do a lot more damage "as a prank".

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#223

Post by duxup »

Krasnol wrote: post #160
duxup wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any old phone can be used too, any number of it devices available online.

None of those are so cheap, small, with such a good battery life and does not require GPS. Please don't be so ignorant. It's been a topic several times over.

Is the problem just cost in your mind?

Do you think there should be a price limit?

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#224

Post by approxim8ion »

oofbey wrote: post #215
fsflover wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are pro open-source, but you are supporting a company which actively fights it.

How does building closed source products fight open source? They’re not at odds with each other.

Because as long as you can do one, you have no reason to do the other if you are not philosophically inclined to. They are absolutely at odds with each other.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#225

Post by jounker »

southerntofu wrote: post #217
teekert wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pro open-source, decentralization, etc, all the things. Still, the value of a network of iDevices with "default on airtag tracking" is just so huge, and if they convince me (and they did) that they handle my data properly (or rather they don't handle it at all), I'm fine with it. Issues like this battery drain are of course unacceptable but I trust that that will be fixed by Apple.

> Still, the value of a network of iDevices with "default on airtag tracking" is just so huge What kind of value is that? We've been living very well without it for decades and it sounds like that tech is a very powerful enabler of stalkers while providing little value to the average person. > Issues like this battery drain are of course unacceptable but I trust that that will be fixed by Apple. How could you fix it?…

> > Still, the value of a network of iDevices with "default on airtag tracking" is just so huge > What kind of value is that? We've been living very well without it for decades and it sounds like that tech is a very powerful enabler of stalkers while providing little value to the average person.

I got my shoulder bag, kindle, passport, notepad, medicine, and cdc vax card back after they were stolen from me thanks to airtags.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#226

Post by NikolaNovak »

stavros wrote: post #62
NikolaNovak wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. I empathize with all your pain points 2. "forcing me to buy a USB headset." --> If it has a boom, everybody on the meeting, unknowingly, thanks you :)

I haven't found anything that compares to even a middling wired boom mic. Wireless has too much latency and non-boom has too much noise. The only thing better is an actual VoIP phone (eg Polycom).

It is polarizing though. There are a lot of people who will get positively offended at the notion that their wireless earbuds are not perfect.

One of the things that biases is that they hear the others OK, so assume the earbuds are fine. What needs digging is to understand that when somebody has open mike like that, most meeting software engages heavy noise reduction or even half-duplex conversation; so there's a lot of interruptions and "what did you say" and garbled voices for other people, that is hard to trace to root cause of that open busy mike.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#227

Post by rootusrootus »

FireBeyond wrote: post #135
rootusrootus wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that they announce their presence, perhaps it is a net positive. Real stalkers will be using old phones, GPS trackers, or some other solution that doesn't tell the victim what's happening.

You can pretty easily buy AirTags on eBay etc., with the speaker drilled out. Apple only very recently added a notification that an "AirTag may be traveling with you that is not yours", which definitely helps... IF you have an Apple device yourself.

> Apple only very recently

From the beginning, actually.

So you, as a stalker, have to decide whether to roll the dice and send an AirTag along with someone you want to stalk, hoping they don't have an iPhone, hoping they don't have someone with them who has an iPhone, and also banking on them not handing it over to the police who will just send the serial number to Apple to get your address.

Or, you know, you could just get any one of a number of inexpensive GPS trackers that don't have these risks. Why again would you choose an AirTag?

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#228

Post by breakfastduck »

samhw wrote: post #207
hellotomyrars wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this particular usage of monopoly is suspect/leading. Tile has a monopoly on Tile devices. Ford has a monopoly on F-150s. Yes a company has a monopoly on its products in many/most cases. That doesn’t mean they have a monopoly on the market though.

To be charitable, it's possible they meant "AirTags" in the way that you or I would say "Hoover" or "Marmite" or "Polaroid" - not to refer to Apple's specific product, but to internet-connected tags in general.

Because people can't comprehend the difference between 'doing it better than everyone else' and 'being a monopoly'

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#229

Post by Aerroon »

humanistbot wrote: post #42
Aerroon wrote: post #40

I was under the impression that having Bluetooth enabled at all was a security risk. Do people actually use Bluetooth?

This seems like a very out of touch question. Bluetooth is ubiquitous. Flagship smartphones can't even listen to headphones without bluetooth. Smartwatches use bluetooth. Hell, my herbal vaporizer has a BLE connection for setting the temperature and checking battery.

The reason I ask is because I find Bluetooth to be a detractor from every product you mentioned. I would consider not using them because they use Bluetooth.

Re: Apple AirTags draining battery of devices close by

#230

Post by fsflover »

oofbey wrote: post #215
fsflover wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are pro open-source, but you are supporting a company which actively fights it.

How does building closed source products fight open source? They’re not at odds with each other.

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/18922
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