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Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

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Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#631

Post by rahimnathwani »

pompidoo wrote: post #514
pnw wrote: post #318

Unfortunately the anti-stalking features have made Airtag mostly useless for theft prevention. You have less than an hour to retrieve your item before the tag alerts the thief they are being tracked. I've seen it trigger as quickly as 30 minutes.

I developed a device that turns an Airtag on and off at specific intervals (roughly 80% off 20% on). While the AirTag is off, it can’t be detected, and when it turns on again, you can locate it and with it your stolen item: https://undetectag.com I'm about to order the new version to check whether it works on it too

You may want to update the marketing copy until you've tested it: "The device is guaranteed to work with the current version of the AirTag."

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#632

Post by rahimnathwani »

sebstefan wrote: post #623

For anyone outside the U.S where most likely people around you will have Android devices and not iPhones, you are better off ordering trackers that are compatible with Google Find My Device They're cheaper and allows third parties, plus the network is stronger.

  They're cheaper and allows third parties, plus the network is stronger.
There are cheap ($5) devices for Apple's network, if you don't need the UWB support (required for precise location, e.g. when you're within metres of the device but don't know which direction you should go).

I wonder which network is stronger in the UK. There are many recent-ish Android phones with presumably the latest version of Google Play Services. But I don't know if anyone has tried to test, or even to estimate the number of devices.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#633

Post by sejje »

matwood wrote: post #522
ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not your fault for leaving your property in your car. Wild to say that.

I grew up in a small city in the US and was taught early on to never leave any property in view in your car. The US also has a worse issue than other parts of the world because people often leaves guns in their cars.

Why does people leaving guns in cars make the stealing worse?

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#634

Post by sejje »

Amezarak wrote: post #627
Spooky23 wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool, leave your MacBook on the front seat then.

I regularly leave my backpack with my laptops in it in the front seat of my car in the south US and nothing has ever happened in ten years of doing this. It's crazy to me other people just live with this. Dramatic action is needed and possible.

Same. I try to remember to lock the door if I'm in a bigger city.

I don't own the key to my house, it's not something we think about here (US, south).

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#635

Post by RankingMember »

subscribed wrote: post #340

Awesome. Time for me to buy my first iPhone then. Sincerely, f** Google. I've been android user since I had to abandon Symbian, and their impotence in this one thing is staggering.

I bought my first a years ago after some awful customer service experiences with Google re: Pixel phones. While iOS is not without its faults, most of the "just works" marketing has thus far turned out to be true in my experience. Their software feature set isn't on the cutting edge for a lot of things (my iPhone 13 couldn't even display the weather on the lock screen when I first got it), but they do generally get there eventually.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#637

Post by hbarka »

matwood wrote: post #525
ornornor wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm. Things just work in Switzerland. It’s a tough change to live/go back elsewhere.

I grew up in the US, live in Italy now, and just spent a few weeks in Switzerland. It felt constricting. I missed a bit of the chaos - particularly while driving.

Yes, I miss the chaos of securing myself riding on Roman subways.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#638

Post by RankingMember »

minton wrote: post #74

> Designed exclusively for tracking objects, and not people or pets, the new AirTag incorporates… Interesting to call out that it’s not designed for pets. I know several people with AirTags on their pet collars.

Not that you asked, but re: this conversation, I looked at AirTags for cat use and ultimately settled on the TabCat tracker instead. It's pricier, but built for the purpose- the device that goes on the collar is very lightweight and small, and the tracker will guide you via sound right to the cat without the need for relay from other devices like an AirTag. Months of battery life, too.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#639

Post by sejje »

framapotari wrote: post #563
pompidoo wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I developed a device that turns an Airtag on and off at specific intervals (roughly 80% off 20% on). While the AirTag is off, it can’t be detected, and when it turns on again, you can locate it and with it your stolen item: https://undetectag.com I'm about to order the new version to check whether it works on it too

Given how tracking stolen items is technically identical to tracking a person, wouldn't this also be a device for undetectable stalking?

You already know the answer to your question

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#640

Post by sejje »

jon-wood wrote: post #590
codeflo wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not fully onboard with the logic that we just have to live with a certain type of criminal behavior because the technology that could prevent it can be misused to enable another type of criminal behavior. We should aim to stop any kind of criminal behavior.

We should, but also we should prioritise more harmful behaviour being prevented over less harmful behaviour, and stalking/harassment is in my opinion more harmful than property theft.

Not on Earth, no.

It would be if stalking happened at the same frequency as property theft, but the rates are ridiculously lopsided.

So much property theft happens that we don't bother reporting almost any of it.

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