Live data from Hacker News

Apple Introduces AirTag

apple.com

851–860 of 966 posts

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#851

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry, you have a child and didn’t know button batteries (or batteries in general) were dangerous? Is there not a clear choking hazard and the knowledge it’s filled with toxic/hazardous chemicals? This should be common sense.

Nice way to shame someone brave enough to admit they were lacking in knowledge and announcing action to improve their live.

Yea it’s called being concerned for their kid.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#852
post #825

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry, you have a child and didn’t know button batteries (or batteries in general) were dangerous? Is there not a clear choking hazard and the knowledge it’s filled with toxic/hazardous chemicals? This should be common sense.

People might not even realise a toy or electronic device has a button battery in them. There are no warnings on packaging. Kids can swallow them without an immediate reaction like choking. An hour or 2 later the child becomes sick and the parent doesn't understand why. They don't know they swallowed a battery, they didn't even know it existed. Medical professionals just assume its a fever. You cant see the button unl…

It’s not about realizing if a toy has a battery or not, the choking hazard alone is enough. There’s also no electronic devices a child should swallow. Kids are swallowing these because parents like this aren’t thinking.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#853

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I presume the location info is only collected if its marked as "lost" - at which point if the tag connects to apples network via someones phone, it'll prompt them. If its marked "lost" and sending location with no iphone nearby and is moved it beeps. The stalking potential is greatly reduced if the victim has an android as the location will only be sent when its detected by an iphone.

The location information is updated whenever it is seen by an iDevice. The iDevice participates in this without its user's explicit permission or knowledge. If the stalkee has an android they will never know. Their position will be snitched by every iDevice they come near.

From the Heinrich et al.paper:

"Lost devices. Devices that determine to be in a lost state start sending out BLE advertisements with a public key to be discovered by finder devices. Devices are considered to be lost when they lose Internet connectivity.

Third-party accessories [6] are small battery-powered devices that can be attached to a personal item and are set up through an owner device.

Accessories are determined to be lost when they lose their BLE connection to the owner device. Finder devices.

Finder devices form the core of the OF network. As of 2020, only iPhones and iPads with a GPS module are offering finder capabilities. Finder devices can discover lost devices and accessories by scanning for BLE advertisements. Upon receiving an OF advertisement, a finder creates an end-to-end encrypted location report that includes its current location and sends it to Apple’s servers."

Elsewhere, it is clear that this operates even when flight mode is enabled.

If you can't stand criticism of Apple, please fuck off back to reddit and fanboi there.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#854
post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still can tell if someone is tracking you. I'm not aware that Apple allows in any way for an apple watch or iphone to monitor the location without making the holder aware.

I don’t disagree, but this is not any comfort to the children of tech savvy parents. They’ll be tracked and they’ll know they’re being tracked and they won’t have recourse. AirTags are kind of irrelevant here.

I plan on giving my child something they know is a tracker and something else that they don't.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#855
post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree, but this is not any comfort to the children of tech savvy parents. They’ll be tracked and they’ll know they’re being tracked and they won’t have recourse. AirTags are kind of irrelevant here.

And the problem is? At what point did it become wrong for parents to know where their children are? It's called responsible parenting.

I haven’t stated anything to be a problem; only given the lay of the land.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#856

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…

Seems like the anti-stalking thing could take at least a couple days? In that case, I'd still love to hide one of these things on my bike. If my bike gets stolen, I'll know about it very quickly.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#857

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stick an old phone into their pocket/bagpack, sim ideal but not required. Connect that phone to your phone hotspot, so you can turn on your hotspot and, if the phone connects, it's nearby plus you can use Find My to track it from there, play sound... etc. Bonus if you have access to e.g. XFinity or whichever is the most prevalent free wifi around, so your phone can come online occasionally.

I appreciate this as a hack but it: 1) does not sound reliable or easy 2) fails open (if something doesn’t happen, that means something bad happened)

Oh it's absolutely a hack for the better-than-having nothing scenario :)

My main issue was remembering to charge the old phone every few days as I'm not in need of this regularly, so more of an occasional thing like to an unfamiliar place/country, or on a trip to Disney.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#858

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was definitely a time when they had no product that had replaceable batteries in their line. I swore Tile off when I found out the hard way that the battery gives out a year from time of sale, not from when you activate it.

You swore Tile off because because you don't like how batteries generally function?

I’m still going strong off a pack of non rechargeable AAs that have been in the cupboard for years.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#859
post #839

While I appreciate the anti stalking feature I'm not sure it would be compatible with a common use case: suppose I attach one to my backpack because I want to be able to track it in case I loose it. Fine. But... at this point I either always bring the backpack with me whenever I leaver my home or it will start buzzing as soon as I'm far away.

I'm pretty sure they allow you to define safe areas where you can leave things without the lost indicator firing.

This could be a good workaround

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#860
post #825

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People might not even realise a toy or electronic device has a button battery in them. There are no warnings on packaging. Kids can swallow them without an immediate reaction like choking. An hour or 2 later the child becomes sick and the parent doesn't understand why. They don't know they swallowed a battery, they didn't even know it existed. Medical professionals just assume its a fever. You cant see the button unl…

It’s not about realizing if a toy has a battery or not, the choking hazard alone is enough. There’s also no electronic devices a child should swallow. Kids are swallowing these because parents like this aren’t thinking.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN