Apple and Google today jointly submitted a proposed industry specification to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth item trackers for unwanted tracking of individuals. As part of this initiative, the companies plan to expand AirTag-like unwanted tracking alerts to third-party item trackers in future versions of iOS and Android. Tile, Chipolo, Samsung, Eufy, and Pebblebee have expressed support for the draft specification, according to Apple's announcement.

The specification has been submitted via the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards organization and will be subject to a comment period over the next three months. Following the comment period, Apple and Google will partner to address feedback, and plan to release a "production implementation" of the specification by the end of 2023 that will then be supported in future versions of iOS and Android.

Since launching in April 2021, there have been several news stories about the AirTag being used for unwanted tracking. Currently, if iOS detects an unknown AirTag moving with someone over time, they are alerted with a push notification. Users can then take steps to find and disable the AirTag if necessary, as outlined in an Apple support document.

Article Link: Apple to Expand AirTag-Like Unwanted Tracking Alerts to Other Item Trackers in Future iOS Version

When are they going to let my wife and I see the same air tags on each of our phones?? It's crazy there isn't family sharing on Air Tags yet...

I'm pretty sure Eufy's already alert. Either way I pulled them apart and placed scotch tape where the contacts for the speaker meet the board before placing them in our and close family members vehicles. No sound = more difficult to find.

thirstydirt said:

When are they going to let my wife and I see the same air tags on each of our phones?? It's crazy there isn't family sharing on Air Tags yet...

AirTags have only been released 2 years ago. What do you expect a trillion dollar company to do? They are probably still busy trying to figure out how to place App Icons anywhere on a Home Screen

/s

Agreed! Another basic functionality Apple takes years / if ever, to integrate

How will it work with this thief catching police initiative, then? Surely, if a thief uses an iPhone or another supported device, it would alert them there is an AirTag in their stolen car? 🤔

I get the nefarious use issue very well but I don't exactly love companies who came up with the easy tracking working against easy tracking. What's the legit purpose of these things? For me, I want to use them for some added theft protection, so I put one in my car and one in an expensive bike. If either are stolen, I'd like these to help potentially locate and recover them vs. the insurance claim scenario, which likely ends up leading to only more out of pocket to replace since insurance generally pays less than replacement. See the NYC Police story posted yesterday encouraging this very use.

However, if "safeguards" are going to alert the thieves that these are tracking them so they can find and toss the tracker, I'm not exactly feeling I can get ANYTHING out of this product. It seems it is marching towards becoming only a lost stuff device and not a stolen things tracker. It's great that I can find misplaced car keys or wallet but the found keys do no good if the car itself is missing.

It seems as these are evolving to avoid the scant nefarious use case, many good uses are being undermined too. Or more simply, the bad guys are winning: due to THEIR actions, steps are being taken to NOT track them doing another bad thing.

I don't know a complete answer here. Clearly, the stalker issue is a real problem too. But it seems unfortunate that one nefarious use is going to work against many positive uses.

Now, if only Apple and Alphabet could work together on a new stardard to replace SMS. It doesn't have to be RCS. It'd be nice to have something that's encrypted and cross platform compatible

Has anyone tried to track a ghost? I wonder if the AirTags are able to pick up paranormal activity if you leave it at a haunted asylum. 🤔

Apple - How about focus on how I can opt out of getting the same unwanted alert?

A bit ironic of an alert name, as I get an unwanted tracking alert every day when I take the dog out for a walk. The tag is associated with my wife's phone, not mine. Years in, and still no family share option.

I think this is a great idea and I hope other competitors join this.

I also agree with @thirstydirt, it would be awesome to have family sharing of the airtags

Yes, let's alert the thief whole stole your item being tracked so they can find and disable/discard the airtag so the stolen item cannot be recovered. STUPID.

I don't care if others use it to stalk people. I am worried about my stolen items being gone as well as the cost of my airtag. I guarantee more items are stolen than people being stalked.

jicon said:

Apple - How about focus on how I can opt out of getting the same unwanted alert?

A bit ironic of an alert name, as I get an unwanted tracking alert every day when I take the dog out for a walk. The tag is associated with my wife's phone, not mine. Years in, and still no family share option.

Yes, and here's another thing: in crowds moving about, are we going to get bombarded with these alerts because people around us have an AirTag attached to their keychains, etc? When in short-term proximity, Apple won't know if the airtag has been "attached" to track me or still in the person next to me's possession. So am I deleting alert notices that I MIGHT be being tracked because people around me are using AirTags? If so, that would seem nuisance much more than beneficial... EXCEPT, in those much fewer cases where someone is actually being nefariously tracked with one.

thirstydirt said:

When are they going to let my wife and I see the same air tags on each of our phones?? It's crazy there isn't family sharing on Air Tags yet...

Why did you and your wife put AirTags on your phones when the phones already can be tracked and located without an AirTag? 🤔😂 /s

OH, this will be wonderful. I can't wait for my phone to daily remind me that even more devices I own are following me. It already does this with my AirPods Pro, It'll wonderful when it does it for my Apple Watch and my iPad too! And if they extend it to enough non-Apple devices it can remind me that my bluetooth-enabled cars are "following me" also. Oooooh! And my bluetooth-enabled home stereo device too! I can't wait until my phone wakes me up and night to remind me that my all my devices are "following me!" It'll be so great!

HobeSoundDarryl said:

However, if "safeguards" are going to alert the thieves that these are tracking them so they can find and toss the tracker, I'm not exactly feeling I can get ANYTHING out of this product. It seems it is marching towards becoming only a lost stuff device and not a stolen things tracker. It's great that I can find misplaced car keys or wallet but the found keys do no good if the car itself is missing.

It’s not marching towards that; it’s always been a device for finding lost items, and never marketed for tracking stolen ones. Any dedicated anti-theft features will have a lot of issues around stalking, etc, so it’s not a simple problem and that’s why Apple doesn’t intend for them to be used that way.

If they wanted to have anti theft features and avoid stalking, they’d probably have to require some sort of identity verification to set up and pair where you’d scan your real government ID or something. But that’s a lot for a $29 accessory.

HobeSoundDarryl said:

Yes, and here's another thing: in crowds moving about, are we going to get bombarded with these alerts because people around us have an AirTag attached to their keychains, etc? When in short-term proximity, Apple won't know if the airtag has been "attached" to track me or still in the person next to me's possession. So am I deleting alert notices that I MIGHT be being tracked because people around me are using AirTags? If so, that would seem nuisance much more than beneficial... EXCEPT, in those much fewer cases where someone is actually being nefariously tracked with one.

Airtags have to be "moving with you" for a least a few hours before you start seeing these messages. So they shouldn't appear just because you're in a crowd with xxx amount of people who also have Airtags...

HobeSoundDarryl said:

Yes, and here's another thing: in crowds moving about, are we going to get bombarded with these alerts because people around us have an AirTag attached to their keychains, etc? When in short-term proximity, Apple won't know if the airtag has been "attached" to track me or still in the person next to me's possession. So am I deleting alert notices that I MIGHT be being tracked because people around me are using AirTags? If so, that would seem nuisance much more than beneficial... EXCEPT, in those much fewer cases where someone is actually being nefariously tracked with one.

Something I haven't been able to google successfully but wonder is would this happen if an AirTag is around you but so is the owner with their phone? Presumably that would be a criteria for the AirTag not to alert people that the AirTag is following them because those scenarios would generally be someone physically with you traveling together, so those notifications would be undesired in most cases.

Looks like they are trying to decide which is worse...a person being tracked or an item/car/purse etc. being stolen. A stalker or a thief.

RodThePlod said:

Airtags have to be "moving with you" for a least a few hours before you start seeing these messages. So they shouldn't appear just because you're in a crowd with xxx amount of people who also have Airtags...

If many people are flying/riding a train/bussing/carpooling for "a few hours," are the Apple people among them getting these prompts? I've sat in simple traffic jams for upwards of a "few hours" at a few points in life.

At amusement parks, when we stand in slow-moving lines for a hour or two, are the Apple people in that line getting these prompts?

Cruise ships passengers all in relative proximity to each other for the duration of the cruise?

jent said:

Something I haven't been able to google successfully but wonder is would this happen if an AirTag is around you but so is the owner with their phone? Presumably that would be a criteria for the AirTag not to alert people that the AirTag is following them because those scenarios would generally be someone physically with you traveling together, so those notifications would be undesired in most cases.

Good point. I look back to the earlier post of the guy getting prompted out walking the dog because the AirTag is linked to his wife's ID.

Yes, it seems that IF the ID owner is moving with you, that would filter these prompts because the owner is in proximity. The question I would have for all is how often are your own AirTags not in bluetooth proximity with you. My own use (bike & car) are almost always away from bluetooth range from me. That guy walking their dog is away from proximity to wife. Etc.

jent said:

Something I haven't been able to google successfully but wonder is would this happen if an AirTag is around you but so is the owner with their phone? Presumably that would be a criteria for the AirTag not to alert people that the AirTag is following them because those scenarios would generally be someone physically with you traveling together, so those notifications would be undesired in most cases.

You are correct. If the airtag is with its owner, it is not considered to be tracking you. This has been the way it worked for quite a long time, perhaps forever.

It’s a great step in the right direction, though I’m a bit miffed that wrongdoers make it so difficult for those of us who want to use the product responsibly. I think we’re beginning to reach a happy medium. The only functionality I would hope appears sometime soon is family sharing. My fiancé and I share a car and I put an AirTag in it because the car itself is dumb. I want to be able to see if it’s stolen or lost in a parking lot. This makes it harder as she gets annoying alerts and is now desensitized to it. I changed the AirTag to register under her because it’s more important she not ignore tracking messages than for me to utilize it as I originally wanted. Sharing the AirTag between both accounts as were on a family plan would be better, but I get why those in abusive relationships might not want it. Still, I think people smarter than me at Apple can figure out a way to make this work.

For those of you afraid this new thing will alert thieves too quickly, it really doesn’t imo. If my wallet or backpack got stolen, I’d immediately be notified that the AirTag is no longer with me at which point I can start tracking it. The thieves won’t get the tracking message until they have it for a prolonged period of time. It’s at this point they can attempt to disable it but you should already technically know where it is by that point.

I usually hide my AirTags pretty well and I would think if the thieves had some brain cells they’d just drop it rather than risk being caught. Rummaging around to find a hidden AirTag might take too long and the risk of them being caught becomes higher.

I do hope they can work out a lot of these issues as I love the product and it’s useful for what I need it for. There are some barriers I hope get eliminated but I’m hopeful

HobeSoundDarryl said:

If many people are flying/riding a train/bussing/carpooling for "a few hours," are the Apple people among them getting these prompts? I've sat in simple traffic jams for upwards of a "few hours" at a few points in life.

At amusement parks, when we stand in slow-moving lines for a hour or two, are the Apple people in that line getting these prompts?

Cruise ships passengers all in relative proximity to each other for the duration of the cruise?

Just telling you how Airtags are designed to work! FWIW - since I've been using Airtags (two years now) and since flying restrictions have been eased, I've made a number of long haul flights and have not experienced an issue. I have seen maybe two alerts about an Airtag moving with me, and these were actually my son's and his girlfriends. So - they do certainly appear, but it wasn't like I was bombarded with messages. That's just my anecdotal evidence, though. YMMV.

Cruise ships - unless the same person was walking around within metres of you for a duration, you very likely won't get notifications. Maybe one or two, but I doubt you'll be bombarded with the things.

Having said that, I'm due to do a cruise later on this year hahaha - so I guess I'll find out about that, then!

HobeSoundDarryl said:

Yes, and here's another thing: in crowds moving about, are we going to get bombarded with these alerts because people around us have an AirTag attached to their keychains, etc? When in short-term proximity, Apple won't know if the airtag has been "attached" to track me or still in the person next to me's possession. So am I deleting alert notices that I MIGHT be being tracked because people around me are using AirTags? If so, that would seem nuisance much more than beneficial... EXCEPT, in those much fewer cases where someone is actually being nefariously tracked with one.

AirTags don't give the "warning" alert to others if their owner's phone is nearby.