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NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

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Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#371

Post by shaklee3 »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #310
Aeolun wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, android is fine. But as I’ve gotten older I have less patience with the mucking about I must always do with android devices.

This; I used to build my own custom ROMs for my Android devices to get a close-to-AOSP experience + Google services + rooted app store, but it was a lot of overhead and maintenance, plus still slow and unstable compared to iOS. Now that iPhones have had great battery life + excellent performance for a while, combined with great cameras and apps that are iOS-specific, it'd be very painful to go back to Android.

Good point. When you buy an Android phone you're forced to put custom roms and new bootloaders on it. The phones do not work without doing all that.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#372

Post by flowersjeff »

Reality check. Car gets stolen. You tell the cops the exact location of car. They tell you to fill out paperwork. You pick up said paper work two weeks later. Insurance does ( or doesn't ) do it's thing.

I would have a totally different feeling - if I believed that the cops would 'do' anything. They have impressed me, and my five decades on this planet, at the lengths they will go to not do their job ( or flat out do the opposite if it fits their wants. )

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#373

Post by sgtnoodle »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #368
sgtnoodle wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't most car thieves have iPhones?

Because most people who aren't car thieves don't.

Globally, sure. In the US, it looks like iOS is about 57% market share. I suspect it's even higher in New York City.

It's pure speculation, but I wonder if the average car thief is more likely to own an iPhone as a form of status symbol? Or, is the average car thief more likely to be using burner phones from Walmart?

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#374

Post by notatoad »

Tyr42 wrote: post #286
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On Amazon I see them as low as 5 for $13 {GPS tracking tags. No need to buy Apple}

Yeah I investigated a few. The ones I checked were Bluetooth and used your phones GPS to mark their location. So like, if you left your keys somewhere, you'd know where they were when you walked away, but not where they are afterwards.

I've been using atuvos tags, which work on the find my network (no third-party app required) and appear to work exactly the same as airtags with the exception of the LF radio for precise location finding - you just don't get the radar mode in the find my app.

They cost half as much as legit airtags

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#375

Post by JumpCrisscross »

zzzeek wrote: post #247
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> did you see them do it? otherwise it's not our problem If we're trading anecdotes, I had two laptops lifted from my apartment. The NYPD's detectives followed up with the building for footage, identified a suspect, followed up with the resident they were seen with, got the suspect's Instagram and got an arrest warrant. That resulted in them nabbing the guy when he was ticketed for jumping a subway turnstile.

if your building had "footage"...and the NYPD actually cared about a non-violent theft, with "detectives" no less....wow....well we would assume you were living in a pretty "uptown" neighborhood. where we lived, there were of course lots of "detectives", but they had a single purpose which was to arrest black people for drug possession. Other than murders, that was pretty much it.

> well we would assume you were living in a pretty "uptown" neighborhood

No. And off plumb. Adjust your priors. (Obviously no doormen.)

> where we lived

Where?

We have so many generic hypotheticals with loose calls for policy. Let the folks who feel the brawn and brunt of crime and law enforcement speak solutions. This topic has lost relevance because it was diluted.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#376

Post by com2kid »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #324
seanp2k2 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

aside from the batteries, my Tile devices just straight up do not activate most of the time when I actually need them. I'll be a few feet away and they won't make any sound // won't connect when I try to ping them. AirTags have been FAR more reliable, and the direction finding is next-level.

I'm a tile user, and indeed they seem a bit unreliable. I got one for my wife to keep in a known location because she misplaces her phone, and it works to signal the phone maybe 4 out of 5 times. I have one on my dog's collar, in a 3D printed enclosure. He got out a few weekends ago and ran all around town, and there weren't any breadcrumbs on the app. It's one of the mid-range models rather than the high-end ones, t…

> I'm a tile user, and indeed they seem a bit unreliable. I got one for my wife to keep in a known location because she misplaces her phone, and it works to signal the phone maybe 4 out of 5 times.

Mobile is hard.

Google's Find My Phone fails to wake up my pixel 7 about half the time I used it, even if I am staring at the phone. Sometimes the alert goes off half an hour later.

My fitbit's "find your phone" feature also works less than half the time.

I am genuinely surprised that my wife's apple watch can locate her phone every time she asks it to.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#377

Post by gnopgnip »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #158

I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" joke…

Apple has an airtag locating app for android, called tracker detect.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#378

Post by zzzeek »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #375
zzzeek wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if your building had "footage"...and the NYPD actually cared about a non-violent theft, with "detectives" no less....wow....well we would assume you were living in a pretty "uptown" neighborhood. where we lived, there were of course lots of "detectives", but they had a single purpose which was to arrest black people for drug possession. Other than murders, that was pretty much it.

> well we would assume you were living in a pretty "uptown" neighborhood No. And off plumb. Adjust your priors. (Obviously no doormen.) > where we lived Where? We have so many generic hypotheticals with loose calls for policy. Let the folks who feel the brawn and brunt of crime and law enforcement speak solutions. This topic has lost relevance because it was diluted.

there's a solution to the NYPD being awful? I wasn't aware ? dont say "give them more money" because that's certainly not it

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#379

Post by onion2k »

crhulls wrote: post #236

I'm the CEO of Life360, Tile's parent company. I chimed in on another comment but adding to the conversation directly here. I'm biased, but I am surprised how little pushback this is getting as AirTags explicitly are NOT meant to deter theft - to combat stalking (which is exceedingly rare) Apple notifies you if a tag you do not own is near you. That goes for thieves - they will be told an AirTag is nearby. At Tile we…

At Tile we just launched an Anti-Theft feature where you can turn off stalking notifications if you share your government issued ID and agree to extremely stringent penalties for misuse, including a large fine.

Does that mean Tile will be the preferred choice for wealthy stalkers?

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#380

Post by sgtnoodle »

imp0cat wrote: post #367
sgtnoodle wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The off-brand ones lack a sufficiently large network to be used for tracking. They're only good for finding stuff in range of your own phone.

What do you mean? They can use the same network of Apple devices.

How? Airtags only work because Apple uses any iPhone with BLE support as a detector, whether or not an app is installed. An off-brand BLE beacon would require an app to work at all, and I highly doubt Apple would make it easy for a third party app to run all the time in the background.
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