manton
manton

I haven’t thought much about AirTags since they launched. I wanted one but didn’t need it. I think Nick Heer is right that maybe just shut the product down. Apple’s Find My network is a dangerously powerful tracker.

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In reply to
jack
jack

@manton My AirTags have prevented me from leaving my camera bag at a restaurant. Twice. I wish people didn't/couldn't use them for surreptitious tracking, of course. Perhaps the alerting mechanism can be improved (what other unwanted tracking device alerts the target of itself?). Perhaps this technique becomes less useful once everyone knows that the odds are very good the AirTag will be found in short order by the victim. Difficult problem, certainly.

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manton
manton

@jack It is tricky. I worry about Android. Even with the Android app from Apple, it seems like most Android users are just not going to know about this because it's not built-in. So stalkers could target Android users. Might be unsolvable.

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ronguest
ronguest

@manton Is Tile really different?

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manton
manton

@ronguest Yes. Tile just isn't very accurate because most people don't have it. Apple's network is everywhere because iPhones are everywhere.

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ronguest
ronguest

@manton OK. I heard they partnered with Amazon on tracking but I guess it hasn’t made it more effective.

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JohnBrady
JohnBrady

@manton If I lose my gizmo, they use strangers' phones to find it? That's creepy Dave Eggers stuff.

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manton
manton

@ronguest I had forgotten about the Amazon partnership. That should help but still hard to reach Apple's scale.

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robknight
robknight

@manton I wonder if making the service more transparent would help? What if the Find My app showed you nearby tags, regardless of who they belong to?

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manton
manton

@Troydp I guess I'm not familiar with the latest GPS trackers... Looks like they are small, but still not as small as an AirTag.

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manton
manton

@robknight As I kept thinking about it, Android is the problem. It's like this crazy huge iPhone-based location network that Android users aren't part of.

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