Bluetooth trackers are in Google’s sights. The Mountain View firm is reportedly working on a solution that would allow Android smartphones to natively detect Apple AirTag or Tile type trackers.
In any case, this is what certain elements found in the latest Google Services APK, dissected by 9to5Google, suggest. Lines of code present in the application and associated with the Bluetooth Low Energy module indeed refer to an “Unknown device alert” or an “Unknown tag notification”.
The Google Services installation file also mentions three types of trackers, including one model clearly mentioned, “Tile Tag” for that of Tile, another named “ATag”, potentially for the Apple AirTag, and a last named “Tag Finder”. We also learn that when a tracker would be identified by Android, the user could ring it.
This feature for detecting trackers, which could be integrated into Android, is still at a very early stage of development, which leaves some doubts as to the exact use that could be made of it, even if it seems undeniable that Google uses it to enhance the security and privacy of Android users.
Over the past few months, the use of trackers, in particular Apple AirTags, in a devious way by malicious people has exploded. Recently, Apple tags have been used to carry out car thefts. Bad guys have also tinkered with AirTags to track people without their knowledge. Faced with the growth of unwanted uses of its Bluetooth trackers, Apple launched Tracker Detect at the end of 2021, an Android application to detect spy AirTags. Recently, the Cupertino company published a roadmap of updates to its Bluetooth beacons to strengthen the privacy of people tracked without their knowledge.
Source: 9to5Google