Apple’s AirTag devices are used to find lost objects. But reports are increasing that it is also used for malicious tracking.
Amber Norsworthy lives in Mississippi with her four children.
It was 3 pm when he returned home on December 27. A notification came to your phone.
“My phone made a noise I’ve never heard before,” he says.
The notification stated that an unknown device was tracking his movements.
Amber, 32, looked at the ‘Find’ app on her iPhone.
He had seen the entire route he followed, and was greeted with the phrase “The owner of the device last saw your location at 15:02”.
He called the police; They had no idea what to do. He thought the tracking device was somewhere in his car, but couldn’t find anything. Apple’s support line said it was an AirTag. “I watch my surroundings very closely now,” Amber says.
The BBC spoke to six women in the US who said they were being tracked via the Apple AirTag.
The button-sized devices are designed to work with Apple’s ‘Find’ network to find lost objects. However, in the US there are numerous reports of these being used to track people.
Apple told the BBC: “We take customer safety very seriously and are committed to the privacy and security of AirTag.”
The company also says that AirTags have better security features than competing products. However, there is increasing evidence of its use for criminal activities across the United States.
Released in April
Apple launched AirTag in April. These small round devices were inspired by other monitoring products on the market such as Tile.
These devices can be attached to anything that can be lost, such as suitcases and keys. An object can be tracked with an accuracy of up to 3 cm. However, they can also be used for different purposes in the wrong hands.
“When you create an object to find stolen objects, you also create an excellent tool for tracking,” says Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Long before Apple introduced AirTags, it was aware that they could be used for criminal purposes. But when releasing them, he said that “AirTags are designed to track objects, not people.”
He explained that they have created a series of security measures that will protect people from tracking.
iPhone owners are alerted if an unregistered AirTag is moving near them. Also, AirTags will beep for a while when they leave their owner.
In December, Apple also released an app that Android users can download. Tracker Detect allows non-iOS users to be notified of an unregistered AirTag.
But for several reasons, many people believe that these protections are not enough.
“I was so scared”
Anna Mahaney, a Georgia resident, was alerted to an unknown device after she went to a mall.
“I was terrified and tried to disable it. Every time I did that it kept saying it couldn’t connect to the server.” When she went to an Apple Store and asked for help, they suggested turning off the location settings.
When he went to the police, they told him there was another similar report in his area. He believes the device is somewhere in his car.
He found an AirTag taped to the inside of the bag.
The BBC spoke to six women who said they were being watched with AirTag. Someone said they found an AirTag taped to the inside of a bag. Others could not find the devices.
They all have questions about whether Apple is doing enough to prevent its products from tracking people.
Apple says that AirTag will beep between 8-24 hours after detecting a device that is moving with an unregistered phone. However, registering and then deactivating an AirTag is not difficult.
According to Anna Mahaney, Apple Support said this might be why it couldn’t find the AirTag: “In my case, the owner of the AirTag seems to have followed me until I got home and then turned off AirTag.”
Trouble with Android phones
This isn’t the only possible loophole in Apple’s AirTag protections. The Apple app designed for Android users to find an unwanted AirTag has been downloaded on a small number of Android phones.
The BBC asked Apple for figures on how many times the app was downloaded on Google Play, Android’s app store. Apple did not provide this information; but the Google Play figure shows about 100,000. Worldwide, there are approximately 3 billion active Android devices.
Apple says those who don’t have an iPhone will be notified of another security measure: the beeping sound after an unwanted AirTag is detected. But there are problems with that too.
“AirTags beep at 60 decibels and are really easy to mute,” says Eva Galperin. “It can be done by holding it in the palm of your hand and putting it between two pillows. You can’t hear it when it’s placed under the car bumper.”
The loud sound only starts playing after eight hours. Critics of the device argue that then it is too late.
Police warned
In Bloomingdale, Illinois, police officials warned residents about AirTags. “We thought it was important to let people in our community know that this is a problem,” says Frank Giammarese, director of public safety at Bloomingdale Police.
“The technology is great, but unfortunately… some people misuse it.”
There is also an argument that it is easy to buy tracking devices online and that Apple has been unfairly targeted.
The BBC asked its biggest rival, Tile, what it does to protect people from being tracked on their devices. Tile said it was “developing a solution” that would identify an unknown device near people. However, this solution has not yet been released.
There is also a counter argument that AirTags are very good at being found by a registered iPhone. The ‘Find’ app uses nearly a billion Apple devices worldwide and their Bluetooth connectivity to create an accurate and long-range tracking space.
“Needs Approval”
“I request Apple to ask permission from these devices so you can be tracked,” says Anna Mahaney. “If my husband wants confirmation with ‘Find My Friends’, I have to approve it myself. I don’t understand the reasoning why a stranger could follow me and I don’t have to give consent.”
Amber Norsworthy believes AirTags shouldn’t be sold until Apple figures out how to better warn people: “They should stop selling them for a while until they fix some security issues.”
Eva Galperin believes Apple should create better security measures: “I want them to work with Google to automatically provide Androids with the same level of detection in the background as they do with iPhones.”
When the BBC addressed these criticisms to Apple, it received the following response:
“We take customer security very seriously and we care about the privacy and security of AirTag. If users feel their safety is at risk, they are requested to contact Apple and contact local security forces who will provide all available information about the unknown AirTag.”