AirTags can no longer be used to stalk people, Apple announces updates to stop unwanted tracking
India Today
Apple in a blog said that users will now be alerted if an unknown AirTag is traveling with them.
Ever since Apple announced the AirTags, there have been countless instances of people being stalked using the device. AirTags was launched to keep a tab on the valuables, but it is being used for a completely different purpose. However, Apple has now announced a slew of updates that will stop unwanted tracking through AirTags. Apple in a blog said that users will now be alerted if an unknown AirTag is traveling with them. Users will also be able to find the AirTag using the tone sequence.
Talking about new updates, Apple said in a blog post, “AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products. Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag. It’s why the Find My network is built with privacy in mind, uses end-to-end encryption, and why we innovated with the first-ever proactive system to alert you of unwanted tracking. We hope this starts an industry trend for others to also provide these sorts of proactive warnings in their products.”
Apple will start notifying users when an unwanted tracker that is not paired with their iPhone is traveling with them. Apple said that the iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and the iPhone 13 users will be able to use Precision Finding to find the exact location of the AirTag. As an iPhone user moves, Precision Finding fuses input from the camera, ARKit, accelerometer, and gyroscope to guide them to the AirTag through a combination of sound, haptics, and visual feedback.
Apple has said that it will adjust the tone sequence to use more of the loudest tones to make an unknown AirTag easily findable. Apple has also updated its unwanted tracking support article on apple.com to communicate the safety features built into AirTag, AirPods, and Find My network accessories. Apple will start sending alerts to the iPhones when an unwanted AirTag plays a sound alert.
The Cupertino-giant has also partnered with law enforcement to curb unwanted tracking. Users who are found misusing the AirTags will be penalized. In fact, every time you set up an AirTag, Apple will display a new privacy warning stating that tracking people without their consent is a crime.
