Apple Launches AirTags and Find My Detector App For Android, In Effort To Boost Privacy (cnet.com) 57
Apple has released a new Android app called Tracker Detect, designed to help people who don't own iPhones or iPads to identify unexpected AirTags and other Find My network-equipped sensors that may be nearby. CNET reports: The new app, which Apple released on the Google Play store Monday, is intended to help people look for item trackers compatible with Apple's Find My network. "If you think someone is using AirTag or another device to track your location," the app says, "you can scan to try to find it." If the Tracker Detector app finds an unexpected AirTag that's away from its owner, for example, it will be marked in the app as "Unknown AirTag." The Android app can then play a sound within 10 minutes of identifying the tracker. It may take up to 15 minutes after a tracker is separated from its owner before it shows up in the app, Apple said.
If the tracker identified is an AirTag, Apple will offer instructions within the app to remove its battery. Apple also warns within the app that if the person feels their safety is at risk because of the item tracker, they should contact law enforcement. [...] The Tracker Detect app, which Apple first discussed in June, requires users to actively scan for a device before it'll be identified. Apple doesn't require users have an Apple account in order to use the detecting app. If the AirTag is in "lost mode," anyone with an NFC-capable device can tap it and receive instructions for how to return it to its owner. Apple said all communication is encrypted so that no one, including Apple, knows the location or identity of people or their devices.
If the tracker identified is an AirTag, Apple will offer instructions within the app to remove its battery. Apple also warns within the app that if the person feels their safety is at risk because of the item tracker, they should contact law enforcement. [...] The Tracker Detect app, which Apple first discussed in June, requires users to actively scan for a device before it'll be identified. Apple doesn't require users have an Apple account in order to use the detecting app. If the AirTag is in "lost mode," anyone with an NFC-capable device can tap it and receive instructions for how to return it to its owner. Apple said all communication is encrypted so that no one, including Apple, knows the location or identity of people or their devices.
Almost but terrible (Score:2)
Sure, Apple. 90% of interoperability with Android and 90% of the work. Except for being able to buy and use the Airtags yourself without an iPhone. Pretty lousy, really. I know there are competing products, but it's just not a nice thing
Re: Almost but terrible (Score:2)
It simply doesn't want that business and is happy to leave it to their competitors...something for which those competitors should be thankful for.
I don't get it (Score:3)
People can know when there's an airtag around?
What use are they in recovering stolen goods? Thieves will be able to check for them.
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The only benefit is to Apple if they can trick Android users into installing it, opening it once and then forgetting about it. Expanding their range of detection by deception.
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Informative)
That's not their primary - or even secondary - purpose. Their purpose is to help find lost goods.
A bug for tracking stolen goods and a bug for stalking people are one in the same. So Apple doesn't want AirTags to be useful for those use cases.
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Exactly. If it could be used for that, Apple would be in DC right now answering questions about its use as a stalking device.
Plus, I'm sure people would sue Apple that their AirTag tagged item was stolen and couldn't be recovered.
And the human cost of stalking is far worse than a stolen item. This is something Apple really does not want to be a part of. So being s
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People can know when there's an airtag around?
What use are they in recovering stolen goods? Thieves will be able to check for them.
As soon as this starts to happen, competing trackers will trumpet not being able to use Apple tags to find stolen items. Whereupon Apple will change its software back.
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Probably Tile. They were first and have both Apple Android users. But Apple seems to be trying to trick Android users into expanding their network with no (real) gain to the user.
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If I was cynical I'd say the Android airtag app is to increase their tracking abilities. As for imessage, I don't understand the attraction since there are so many messaging apps, what's so special about imessage that anybody should care.
iMessage is built in. (Score:1)
You don't have to have it running, it is automatic. No need to add contacts, it is seamless. Otherwise we'd all be running IRC if choosing an app was the case.
Re: iMessage is built in. (Score:1)
Oh...so you mean Apple actually does something right for a change? Imagine that.
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I've been using iPhones since the 5c, and I've never used iMessage except to read SMSs. Usually appointment reminders and verification codes.
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You don't run iMessage intentionally, it is an automatic routing done by Apple inside your regular included messaging app. There is no specific iMessage app.
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It's not cynicism. Apple will absolutely require your location data before it'll scan. And they'll keep it, conveniently tagged with whatever unique info they can get from your phone.
I've long since given up trying to figure out what they'll do with this information - the people collecting this information are generally better at being evil than I am at being paranoid.
Re: iMessages (Score:2)
iMessages is seamless between laptop/workstation and mobile device ... unlike WhatsApp for example which requires a mobile phone.
Re: iMessages (Score:1)
You clearly aren't in group messages with a bunch of iPhone users.
An effort to boost piracy! (Score:3)
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It's not clear if this will find tags from other manufacturers. There are some apps that will show all Bluetooth devices within range, and identify known ones like AirTags.
Problem is, you have to know that you need one of these apps to be protected. The Apple one doesn't scan in the background either. These days most phones can passively detect Bluetooth devices with minimal impact on battery.
On the whole I'd say this does little to protect people.
Not that great (Score:2)
Only the paranoid will bother to download... unlike I suppose iphone owners who will automatically get this feature. I kinda feel like the phone manufacturers should get together and build this feature into the OS for 3rd party support... partly because of the privacy issue, and partly so that all tag manufacturers can get the same tracking abilities, as well as all people getting the same protection from tracking abilities.
Is that great (Score:1)
Only the paranoid will bother to download...
The rightfully paranoid are the ones who really need this, so win-win.
Now they just need to release a Blackberry version...
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On Android, we always had that uncensored bluetooth scanning ability. It's only on iOS that the iPhone hides the presence of those bluetooth low power beacons when it's scanning to make "Find My Phone" seem more like magic to its end users.
This is how thieves know what kind of electronics may be hidden in your car. They use an Android phone. The first couple of hexadecimal numbers indicate which manufacturer the device is from. And by the way, your iphone can still broadcast this identifier when the phone i
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Re: How bout no? (Score:2)
What fucking fascist planet are you from?
Fantastic for thieves! (Score:5, Insightful)
Now you can check whether that sweet sweet loot has a tracker on it!
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Exactly. This is the nail in the coffin for AirTags as far as my use of them. I currently love/hate tile for this purpose. I have embedded tags in things like my bike so that if they are stolen, i can track them. This makes AirTags effectively useless for my use case as much as i would LOVE to ditch Tile.
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Yeah, exactly. My first thought to this: that's blown the tracker taped to my bicycle.
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This app isn't new, it's been out for a while and there are many other similar apps. Since your tags are broadcasting messages there's no way to hide them. That's how they work, they rely on everyone nearby being able to pick up the signal.
iPhones have had this functionality built in since AirTags launched too. Any thief with an iPhone would have been notified about your tag after about a day.
As ever you can only rely on thieves being dumb. Presumably scanning for tags will become SOP, just like turning off
Re: Fantastic for thieves! (Score:2)
AirTags alert other iPhone owners between 8-24 hours. That's a bit different to scanning for unknown tags per TFA. Does the iPhone's "Find My" app allow scanning for tags that havenâ(TM)t been marked as lost?
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Itâ(TM)s also blown the tracker I attached to my cheating ex-girlfriendâ(TM)s bicycle before I headed over to the range to buy a box of 9mm.
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No problem since she lives in Canada, honest!
Re:Fantastic for thieves! (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple has stated it's to track lost items, not stolen items. An AirTag by default is a very poor theft detection system because they make themselves known once they are separated from a parent device beyond 48 hours.
It's one of those cases where one has to consider the uses of it, and Apple decided that the ability to misuse an AirTag for stalking purposes far outweighs the ability to use it to find stuff people have stolen from you.
Not that thieves couldn't use it before - after all, it was available on iPhones long before on Android. The main reason Apple released it on Android was for those Android users who might be stalked by an AirTag they don't know about, since an iPhone will automatically warn you if you're being followed by an unknown AirTag.
Chances are, AirTags are far more likely to be misused to stalk people far more often than for tracking stolen goods. After all, you could toss one into someone's car or bag or other thing.
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I have had a set of four Airtags since release, and have found them to work really well, even internationally. I know where my luggage is, wherever it is in the world it may be, and when I come back from a trip I can find my car in the ocean of airport parking. But if Apple doesn't back off on this thiefware change that makes them useless for stolen items, I will be switching to another tracker.
These things are dangerous (Score:1)
Are we really that far off from giving a damn about privacy that we allow these devices to exist for the convenience of finding lost stuff?
You can't live normally now, you have to be way under the radar so nobody can find anything interesting about you to warrant sticking a tracki
"In effort to boost privacy"? Oh, fuck off... (Score:3)
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The way I understand that "Find My" works is that Apple devices report their location when they detect an Airtag which is marked as lost (or maybe the app does it always to query whether the encountered Airtag is lost).
Anyway, the more people there are who walk around with devices capable of reporting lost Airtags, the more useful the "Find My" network and (buying) Airtags become - even in locations where Android has a much bigger marketshare than Apple.
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Not available in Australia (Score:2)
This app is not available for me in the Australian Google Play Store. Is it US only?
If I understand correctly... (Score:2)
If I understand correctly you are now forced to buy an Apple device to protect yourself from Apple's tracking devices. Brilliant marketing!
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If that's what you understood, you need to climb under a rock and stay there. Until you starve.
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If you think I'm trading houses with you, you can forgget that.
Re:If I understand correctly... (Score:4, Informative)
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I did. Thanks for the clarification.
Too much stalking? (Score:2)
Boost Privacy? (Score:2)
Does the app require Play Store services to function?
Huh? (Score:1)
This is a ploy to enlarge their FindMy network (Score:1)
Tracking is on (Score:1)