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Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

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Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#41

Post by ec109685 »

bluetidepro wrote: post #28
tomschlick wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The disable isn't a disable of notifications. It disables the airtag from reporting its status as an anti-stalking measure. So it wouldn't work for anyone.

> The disable isn't a disable of notifications. It disables the airtag from reporting its status as an anti-stalking measure. So it wouldn't work for anyone. OHHHH okay, that makes more sense. That was the part of the puzzle that was confusing me. Thanks!

If you’re in the same icloud family, this isn’t a problem: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34897040

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#42

Post by soco »

tomschlick wrote: post #25
bluetidepro wrote: post #13

> The problem is that the AirTag is registered to my partner’s device. That means that Apple doesn’t recognize my iPhone in connection with the AirTag, seeing the unknown tracker as a threat to my safety. > The notification provides an option to disable the AirTag, which would be helpful to stop an unwanted third-party from knowing your location. That feature renders the AirTag useless, though, so it would no longer…

The disable isn't a disable of notifications. It disables the airtag from reporting its status as an anti-stalking measure. So it wouldn't work for anyone.

So I can walk around and disable every airtag in sight? Some important information must be missing here...

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#43

Post by duxup »

bcherny wrote: post #6

I recently bought a bunch of AirTags for my family: for our keys, our bike, our luggage. Annoyingly, every AirTag needs to be linked to a single iPhone. Even when everyone belongs to the same Family. AirTags also make annoying sounds every time I grab my keys to go out. They’re still the best UX on the market, but I wish Apple would improve the UX just a bit more. Maybe their policy folks are worried about news stori…

I’ve heard similar reports, but I keep air tags in my kid’s backpacks and the tags never seem to make noises in them.

Maybe because they are in predictable contact with me / predictable routes.

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#44

Post by oakesm9 »

bena wrote: post #14

This is a meta problem with a lot of account-based services. You have someone you share resources with, but not accounts. So they have a dog, they have an AirTag on the dog, they'd both like to know about the tag, but they can't connect the tag to both accounts without making the accounts too intertwined. Like how I can't realistically share my Amazon Prime Video account with my wife because it is also my Amazon ever…

A bit off topic, but with your Amazon account you can create an "Amazon Household" and share any prime benefits you have with another adult[0]. You both still keep separate accounts wiht separate logins, but you'll both get the benefit of a single Prime account.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html%3FnodeI...

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#45

Post by rootusrootus »

drewg123 wrote: post #11

Speaking of odd "Find My" notifications... Does this happen to anybody else: When I take a flight, I'll put my backpack with my M1 MBP into the overhead. Like clockwork, when I land, I get a notification that I left the laptop behind at the origin airport. This happens when I don't even touch the laptop inflight, so I could not have disabled BT or wifi. What metric is making Apple think the laptop was left behind?

I have that happen just by leaving my MBP in the trailer I'm towing behind me. Periodically it tells me I left it somewhere along the road.

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#46

Post by duxup »

dangus wrote: post #35

I agree that there should be a family sharing system for AirTags, but I'll also note that Apple specifically tells you not to use AirTags for pets.

They also don’t want you to use it for people, but I found them very helpful in tracking a semi independent elderly in-law, who tends to wander, while on a family vacation.

People tracking is a sensitive topic but it is also useful and legitimate in some cases.

My kids school backpacks all have tags in them because they lose them from time to time.

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#47

Post by ed25519FUUU »

mattnewton wrote: post #30
bcherny wrote: post #6

I recently bought a bunch of AirTags for my family: for our keys, our bike, our luggage. Annoyingly, every AirTag needs to be linked to a single iPhone. Even when everyone belongs to the same Family. AirTags also make annoying sounds every time I grab my keys to go out. They’re still the best UX on the market, but I wish Apple would improve the UX just a bit more. Maybe their policy folks are worried about news stori…

I switched back to tile because of this and haven’t regretted it.

Tile simply doesn’t work for us in rural areas. There’s not even remotely the same device density as the iPhone.

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#48

Post by jclardy »

bcherny wrote: post #6

I recently bought a bunch of AirTags for my family: for our keys, our bike, our luggage. Annoyingly, every AirTag needs to be linked to a single iPhone. Even when everyone belongs to the same Family. AirTags also make annoying sounds every time I grab my keys to go out. They’re still the best UX on the market, but I wish Apple would improve the UX just a bit more. Maybe their policy folks are worried about news stori…

This is super annoying for me, as I bought a tag for our shared mailbox key thinking we both could find it when needed, but only my devices can. It seems crazy to me that this still hasn't been implemented in over a year now - iCloud family plans exist, CloudKit sharing zones exist since last year (In public API form, so likely they existed internally for even longer.)

Also the device ID's are already shared internally in some fashion across an iCloud family, as my key tracker doesn't make my wife's phone detect an unknown tag and vice versa.

Ideally you should be able to share beyond the family, IE I let my parents borrow the car, I should be able to "loan" the tag to their account (And I guess choose whether I can see tracking or not.) But if we don't have family plans we obviously won't get to this point any time soon.

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#49

Post by some_random »

the_snooze wrote: post #9

Given all the edge cases with AirTags (i.e., everything from "dog stalker" to actual stalkers), I get the sense Apple didn't bother to do much adversarial usability testing on these things. They made a thing because it's cool tech, damn everything else, if you don't like it then tough shit.

I can't imagine you've actually read into the anti-stalking measures they've implemented because it's pretty damn clear to me that they've thought about adversarial usage. You can absolutely disagree with where they drew the lines between safety and usability, but claiming they didn't think about it past "cool tech" is farcical.

Re: Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

#50

Post by the_snooze »

madeofpalk wrote: post #31
the_snooze wrote: post #9

Given all the edge cases with AirTags (i.e., everything from "dog stalker" to actual stalkers), I get the sense Apple didn't bother to do much adversarial usability testing on these things. They made a thing because it's cool tech, damn everything else, if you don't like it then tough shit.

I get the complete opposite impression - they did more of that than others, compromising the product (in one sense) to accomodate for bad actors, resulting in 'bugs' like this.

I disagree in that I see bugs like this help bad actors. If users are conditioned to accept false alarms from rather common use cases, then that weakens true alarms about actual stalkers. It's an inherent contradiction in the AirTag's anti-stalking requirements: it needs to be a useful alarm and not go off under "normal" proximity relationships, but most stalkers are people close to the victim to begin with.

If I were building a system with such self-defeating requirements, I would take a step back and either roll it out very slowly, or conclude that this is a bad idea completely.

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