Apple Airtag is on its way to becoming a “criminal tool”

A year ago, Apple built a speaker, Bluetooth antenna, and battery; It introduced the coin-sized AirTag device that allows users to track their lost items. The AirTag was designed to be placed in a bag, key, wallet or even in the car, to track your belongings or vehicle in case of any loss or theft, but it seems to be used outside of its intended purpose.

Revealed police records show that this technology was used as a tool to stalk and harass women, as security experts immediately predicted when the product was released. In 50 cases out of a total of 150 police reports mentioning AirTags, women called the police because they began receiving notifications that their location was being tracked by an AirTag that did not belong to them. 25 of the women reported that they strongly suspected that a man in their life (ex-partners, husbands, bosses) had placed an AirTag in their car to track them.

Most cases involve exes

Most cases involve angry exes. For example, a woman called to report that her ex-girlfriend had slashed her car’s tires and placed an AirTag in the car to track her down. The woman in another police report said that her car had an AirTag placed multiple times, and that she knew it was her ex-girlfriend who had a criminal record.

The woman in the other police report said that she started hearing a beeping sound inside her car every time she left her home. The woman, who later found an AirTag in her car, stated that her ex confessed to her to see if he was cheating on her.

Not all cases involve ex-lovers or husbands. In some, the women were still in relationships or marriages with the men who followed them and said they had been physically abused when they found the AirTag. A large number of reports were from women, but only one of 150 cases studied had a man who suspected that an ex-girlfriend was stalking him with AirTag.

Apple is aware of the issue, Google is developing

Although iPhones already automatically detect unwanted AirTags nearby, Apple He said in February that the company would do more to mitigate this important issue. Later this year, Apple will roll out an AirTag precision tracking feature for iPhone 11, 12 and 13 to help people find unknown trackers more easily. Also, when someone uses an AirTag to track them, iPhone will notify those users more clearly.

In December, Apple released the Tracker Detect application that they can use to protect Android users from AirTag trackers. It is stated that Google is also focusing on this annoying issue and is working on various solutions.