'Apple Thinks My Own AirPods are Stalking Me' (zdnet.com) 48
MacRumors reports that Apple has begun a staggered rollout of a new firmware update (which will go fully live to everyone on May 13.) Here's how Apple's describes how it will change the lost-device-tracking AirTags:
"Currently, iOS users receiving an unwanted tracking alert can play a sound to help them find the unknown AirTag. We will be adjusting the tone sequence to use more of the loudest tones to make an unknown AirTag more easily findable."
That'll make them easier to find — but some people have a different problem. This ZDNet reporter keeps getting notifications on their iPad trying to warn them about their own AirPod earbuds. The warning is totally erroneous. These are my AirPods Pro, which I have had for years now. I was able to verify they are mine by using the iPad to play a sound on the AirPods.
Apple's technology doesn't know these are my own AirPods.
The strange behavior began to appear in February. I am not alone in experiencing this annoying mistaken alert. Apple's AirPods support user forum shows several individuals in recent months with the same frustration... "It still happens several times a day. I'm getting annoyed. I get it on my phone and my iPad everytime I open the case and use my AirPods. I play the sound to be sure its really mine and it is indeed mine."
There are numerous examples of this....
Users have also reported the problem with their AirTags not being recognized. "I get constant notifications that an air tag is near me, but it turns out it's my tags. Shouldn't my phone know the difference?" writes Joe Thomas 3 on February 8th....
It's worth noting that Apple has posted a note that promises "a series of updates that we plan to introduce later this year," which include something such as "precision finding" for AirTags, and "Refining unwanted tracking alert logic."
That'll make them easier to find — but some people have a different problem. This ZDNet reporter keeps getting notifications on their iPad trying to warn them about their own AirPod earbuds. The warning is totally erroneous. These are my AirPods Pro, which I have had for years now. I was able to verify they are mine by using the iPad to play a sound on the AirPods.
Apple's technology doesn't know these are my own AirPods.
The strange behavior began to appear in February. I am not alone in experiencing this annoying mistaken alert. Apple's AirPods support user forum shows several individuals in recent months with the same frustration... "It still happens several times a day. I'm getting annoyed. I get it on my phone and my iPad everytime I open the case and use my AirPods. I play the sound to be sure its really mine and it is indeed mine."
There are numerous examples of this....
Users have also reported the problem with their AirTags not being recognized. "I get constant notifications that an air tag is near me, but it turns out it's my tags. Shouldn't my phone know the difference?" writes Joe Thomas 3 on February 8th....
It's worth noting that Apple has posted a note that promises "a series of updates that we plan to introduce later this year," which include something such as "precision finding" for AirTags, and "Refining unwanted tracking alert logic."
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Posting to fix mistake
Article is almost informationless (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't doubt that it's true, but the entire article amounts to "I keep getting warnings about my own Airpods, and other people report the same or a similar problem".
It's obviously a failure of some sort at Apple's end; but there are a few questions I'd want to ask - obvious first things I'd look at when trying to narrow down the exact source of a problem that most people aren't experiencing:
- Did you buy them yourself, or were they a gift from someone else?
- If they were a gift, did the giver have them originally registered to his/her account?
- Have you changed your Apple ID, or do you have multiple Apple IDs? (this is more common than you might expect - people like my daughter have Apple IDs on the American store and on the Japanese store)
- If you have multiple Apple IDs, did you initially associate the device with the "other" ID (either on accident or intentionally)?
Me - my wired headphones still work fine, and I never get any stalking warnings regarding them.
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I think the main reason it isn't hitting many is that the update is on a staggered rollout. Regardless, this is Apple's problem to solve and they probably have plenty of telemetry to figure it out. If the device is paired with Bluetooth, it should be identifiable as related to your ID even if not connected to it.
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That's why you do a staggered rollout - in case here are oddball problems like this that happen. It gives Apple a chance to see any bugs they may have missed and fix them before rolling out the upda
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There is another issue with AirPods - they can be used for a Denial of Service attack on nearby Apple products.
They have a feature where opening the case pairs them. The idea is that you open your case and your iPhone or iPad recognizes them and pairs ready for use. Problem is that if those AirPods are not registered to your account, you get a message on screen about it. In other words, anyone nearby with AirPods can force a message to appear repeatedly on your screen, covering part of it and making using y
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Me - my wired headphones still work fine, and I never get any stalking warnings regarding them.
Same here, although whenever I forget that I am wearing corded ones when leaving my seat, the mixer they are connected to tries to stalk me. Not very secretly though.
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Oddly, if I leave my satchel in the car and walk away with my iPhone, it says that I might have left them behind, just in case I wanted to know. He doesn't get those warnings since he almost NEVER is separated from those things.
Standar
False alarm (Score:2)
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I get alerts that I left my bag at home. Apple has fixed this by allowing me to assign trusted location.
This might be paradoxical for people living in mobile homes, that get stolen ... :-)
So how long does it have to follow you before... (Score:3)
I'm asking because I was going to be going on a trip later this year (first post-covid vacation, yay!), and I figured I would drop one of these into my check-in luggage to keep an eye on it just in case (see what I did there?)
Anyways I'm not super keen on advertising it to everyone around with an iPhone when it's at most only going to be following them for several hours.
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bogus reports frightening (Score:3)
During a recent multi-day music event, my friend received a bogus alert. Since she's been stalked IRL, this idiot alert was very frightening to her. No amount of tech sleuthing was going to convince her that it wasn't real.
When you have hundreds, if not thousands, of people moving in the same traffic patterns from camping to stage venue to vending areas and many of the attendees have these Apple stalker-assists (even if some of them are being used "correctly") in play, there are going to be false alerts. There need to be clear-cut, straightforward means to alert real stalking victims to these things, and to make it very clear when an alert is bogus (no, Apple's on line "help" did not, in fact, help), or these should be outlawed.
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PaaS (Score:2)
AirPod Pro Reported as left behind (Score:1)
Recently my iPhone is reporting that my AirPod Pro's have been left behind.
Then there is a momentary panic when I look for them. They are always in my pocket.
Apple does seem to know that my leaving the AirPod's at home is ok, though perhaps that would be worth warning some people about that.
AirPod Pro firmware is 4C165
iOS is 15.4.1
Could this be another example? (Score:1)
Total number of people tracked (Score:2)
How many people have actually been stalked with one of these trackers? I recall reading someplace it was 50. My guess is under 100. Let us assume the uncaught amount is triple that. That is still not a lot when you consider that millions of these have been sold, and all the items â" some of which affect oneâ(TM)s livelihood were recovered. The chance of dying because someone drove their car recklessly is higher than being stalked by an AirTag, yet we still allow cars to be sold. Also, without the
Re: Total number of people tracked (Score:2)
Right so people making the ban decisions have better data?
There is a problem, but not the one you think. (Score:2)
That is obviously a serious error. After a couple of years of use, these devices should have failed, requiring replacement.
About 2 weeks after the warranty expires is the target performance.
Customers are cash cows, to be milked as frequently as possible.