Mouchard: an Android application to detect the presence of AirTags

As Futura has it evoked lately, Apple’s AirTags are a double-edged sword. Designed to find a lost or stolen object, they can just as easily be used to follow a person, a vehicle to steal it or carry out a burglary. It must be said that with their affordable price and the billion iPhones in circulation, AirTags have become very effective beacons and thieves have understood it well. It is certainly possible to be warned if an unknown AirTag is used as a cookie, but until now it only worked with iPhones. No doubt sensitive to this kind of bad publicity, and since not everyone has an iPhone, Apple has just published a application dedicated to Android smartphones which have the same functions and which gate the name of Tracker Detect.

An application to calm the paranoid?

The application is compatible with all beacons that work with the network Find My from the mark to the apple. Tracker Detect is therefore available since yesterday on the Play Store from Google – Futura has not found it on the French app store for the moment. The app scans the surrounding environment in search of any chips that may “stick to the basques”. The advantage is that no Apple account is necessary to be able to use it.

If the Tracker Detect app finds a AirTag suspect or not nearby, it will be labeled “unknown” in the application. Every 15 minutes, the application will continue to note the position of the beacon. If it systematically stays close to the user, then an alert warns the user and gives him instructions. Apple also displays a message from prevention explaining that if the person believes that their safety is threatened due to an identified tracker, they must contact the police.