This could have been an immensely powerful covert communications channel for field operators of military and intelligence services
I think it still can...
Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
21–30 of 132 posts
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#22That's interesting, so it's really an encrypted APRS replacement over bluetooth then?
Yes! and without the need to be FCC technical licensed.
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#23I was wondering if something like could be done to upload sensor data without a data connection and it looks like that's exactly what the authors here had in mind!:
> Potential use cases
> While I was mostly just curious about whether it would be possible, I wouldimagine the most common use case to be uploading sensor readings or any data from IoT devices without a broadband modem, SIM card, data plan or Wifi connectivity.
The use case I had in mind is gathering sensor data from boat out in a harbor (away from wifi) that other boats with iPhone-bearing crew pass by frequently. This ESP32 AirTag emulator could send out battery level and bilge pump data any time someone sailed by, without the need for a dedicated modem. Might have to try this out!
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#24does apple provide a way to opt out of the FindMy network?
Settings > iCloud > Find My > Find My iPhone > Find My network
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#25This is starting to remind me of when Intelligent Tracker Prevention(tm) was released and instead was a super cookie leaking history. http://blog.lukaszolejnik.com/curious-case-of-privacy-vulner... I'd be much more comfortable with Apple being Privacy, Inc. if they kept their commitment to it, too often it looks like engineers got overrode by marketing. It's v unlikely a privacy engineer signed off on something, with…
You only read the title, didn't you?
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#26Would be cool if Apple released a iPod touch with pager functionality that works thru find my network. Where you can send / receive short messages (even with 15 min delays).
Every message uploaded to the "Find My" network very slightly degrades the user experience for all Apple users - since it is using up CPU cycles, battery and bandwidth of random strangers iPhones.
I wonder what the capacity of the network is before the impact on battery life becomes significant...
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#27I am fascinated by the amount of attention the AirTag has gotten from the HN community and elsewhere.
Of course Apple is a massive company, but there is something extremely compelling about precise location tracking. Even if this product isn't successful, I think Apple have propelled a new category of products to the forefront.
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#28Hilarious. This is exactly what Amazon Sidewalk intends to be. Apple has fallen ass backwards into an IoT killer app, but just don’t know it yet...
do they not know it or are they just not talking about how they plan to capitalize on it yet?
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#29Next, hookup a speaker to the ESP32 so it can beep loudly when it detects one of these SpyTags.
Re: Emulating AirTags to upload arbitrary data via Apple's FindMy network
#30Does this fall within Apple's policy of fair use? Would be great if there were an officially supported (paid) API for this, the technology and potential use cases are great. I'm afraid hooking something like this up to my Apple ID will get me banned somehow.