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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#251

Post by crazygringo »

drdaeman wrote: post #167
gruez wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it.

So, this prevents some legitimate use cases, for example putting a tag in a suitcase for the flight, because it'll start beeping at some point? A shame. It would've been cool standing at that conveyor belt at the airport and rather than staring at the luggage as it comes, being able to sense one's own stuff. Also, seems that it's not suitable for putting on a cat or dog's collar for the same reason.

It doesn't say, but I have to assume that it detects it's moving, but moving together with an unrecognized cell phone or something -- e.g. picking up a single unchanging WiFi signal while most other signals come and go.

Of course, if the person being stalked wasn't carrying a cell phone, then this raises the possibility the anti-stalking wouldn't be activated.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#252

Post by jonplackett »

freeflight wrote: post #57
WORMS_EAT_WORMS wrote: post #9

If I was evil and stuck these to ex-girlfriend/boyfriend car or something, illegal? Edit: Downvoters. I am not doing this obviously. Am asking as this is the clear abuse I see. Tracking people without permission. I see this as being a weird legal thing we hear about down the road.

I also originally wondered about that, but they use Bluetooth for tracking. Doesn't mention what version, but even with Bluetooth 5.0 the maximum range would be around 400 m/1.000 ft under ideal circumstances. So the tracking would only work if you actively pursued the target to stay in range. Probably much more practical to go for an actual GPS-tracker, magnetic versions of those can be bought on Amazon for like 50…

The whole point of everyone's objections is that it also can be spotted by the wider network of all the other iPhones in the world, including whoever steals it (or is being stalked using it).

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#253

Post by diebeforei485 »

andrewla wrote: post #207

What I need is the inverse of this -- my wife is forever losing her phone around the house, and I need a button on the wall that you can press to activate "find my phone" mode and play a beep on it. EDIT: Thank you for all the suggestions! I'm aware that this is possible from another iPhone or iWatch or iPad -- this is the current workflow. Use my phone or take the ipad away from the kids to play the beep. Is a butto…

Apple Watch has had this "make-my-phone-beep" feature from day one and it's been excellent.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#254

Post by gnicholas »

technofiend wrote: post #98
dbt00 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the link: "iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time."

That's cool and all, but how do they handle a trainload of people all going the same direction sitting near each other? I mean public transportation is still a thing.

It only triggers if it’s not with the owner but is with someone else. I wonder what happens if you put your luggage on a train and sit down elsewhere on the train. Would it recognize that it is still, generally speaking, with the owner?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#255

Post by joshe »

crazygringo wrote: post #71

I thought one of the big use cases for this was to track stolen items, like a backpack or maybe even a bicycle. But the "anti-stalking" feature will notify someone if an AirTag they don't own appears to be traveling with them. Does this render it useless for anti-theft, then? Since it will just notify a thief that the bike they just stole is being tracked, and they can look for the AirTag and throw it in the nearest…

It would make sense to do the anti stalking notification after say 4 days. This would make stalking labor intensive since the stalker has to swap tags frequently. So if you leave one in someone's car or drop it in a bag, you'd have to steal it back and replace it. Also if the stalker is unable to track it down, the victim gets notified automatically which makes stalking with these much more dangerous for the stalker.

For a stolen item you'd have that much time to track it down.

They could even track if different non-owned tags track the same person to stop stalkers diligent enough to swap these frequently.

It's an impressively good balancing of usefulness and avoiding bad spillover effects.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#256

Post by kemonocode »

habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

They probably caught enough flak with how incredibly unserviceable AirPods were and decided not to repeat the same mistake, especially here where it wouldn't give any benefit at all. Kind of a no-brainer, but you never know with Apple...

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#257

Post by randyrand »

duskwuff wrote: post #155
puttycat wrote: post #75

This is truly revolutionary for pet owners. All existing solutions I know of have at least one fault-intolerant property that makes them useless for the lost-pet use case (battery / size / unreliable connection coverage / etc.) If I understand correctly Apple tags solve all of these at once.

This isn't suitable for pets. The crowdsourced Bluetooth tracking will only really work for objects which will stay in one place when lost -- which pets are notorious for not doing. For finding a lost pet, you really want something with cell reception and a GPS for real-time location. There's a number of products which specifically provide this, like the Whistle dog tag. Unfortunately, they're bulkier and require rel…

in lost mode the tracking frequency goes to real time.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#258

Post by josho »

gwbas1c wrote: post #74

What I find hilarious is that most of the examples are about finding keys. I don't use keys anymore. I can get into my car and house with my phone.

I have keys, yet I don't consider it a large enough problem to spend $30 to solve.

However, once covid ends I would consider buying one of these for my laptop bag.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#259

Post by [deleted] »

capableweb wrote: post #194
dbt00 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the link: "iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time."

So what about the majority of people who do not own an iOS device? They can be tracked? Somehow I don't see this idea working out when law makers start seeing what kind of things this product enables.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#260

Post by sib »

andrewla wrote: post #207

What I need is the inverse of this -- my wife is forever losing her phone around the house, and I need a button on the wall that you can press to activate "find my phone" mode and play a beep on it. EDIT: Thank you for all the suggestions! I'm aware that this is possible from another iPhone or iWatch or iPad -- this is the current workflow. Use my phone or take the ipad away from the kids to play the beep. Is a butto…

If you're talking about an iPhone, it works exactly this way. You can use "Find My..." to play a lost sound on the missing device.
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