When rumors started a couple of years ago that Apple had in mind to launch a tracker, my first thought was that it could be used to secretly spy on people. That the AirTags they could be misused.
And it is possible that Apple realized this once it had them ready to be launched, and delayed said launch until it could introduce certain modifications in iOS, and thus make it impossible to locate a person secretly through an AirTag. But with Android, the issue not solved…
We recently commented that a gang of high-end car thieves using AirTags to track the location of selected vehicles had been detected in the US and Canada. to be stolen.
Two cases in a few days
Last week, a Detroit man found an AirTag hidden in the body of his car, a Dodge Charger. The owner of the vehicle, returned to his car after doing some shopping, and received a message on his iPhone warning him that he was being tracked by an unknown AirTag. The spy had unscrewed a drain cover under the Dodge’s hood and placed the tracker inside.
Just yesterday, the news website Heise.de reported another similar case. A woman driving home suddenly received a warning on her iPhone that an unknown AirTag had been detected. The device finally was located hidden on the front wheel.
Apple is well aware of the dangers that an AirTags can bring if you hide it to try to control the location of a specific person or vehicle without their consent, and it has implemented a series of features in iOS so that this can not happen.
But there are still certain “gaps” to fill. If the “spied on” person uses a iPhone, like the cases mentioned above, you will be warned from any unknown AirTags near you. But the corresponding Android app, Tracker Detect, does not offer such automatic background detection, so the victim can be tracked and located without knowing that they are being spied on.
