Apple is in legal trouble because of alleged AirTag stalking, and many people believe Apple should be doing more to keep people safe. AirTags are great tools for tracking things like your keys, wallet, and luggage.
However, a lawsuit claims that airtags are dangerous devices that can be used for stalking. In 2022, Apple released several AirTags updates designed to make them more secure, but has the company done enough to protect people from unwanted tracking?
Why two women are suing Apple over AirTags
On December 5, 2022, Bloomberg reported that two women had filed a class action lawsuit against Apple because of alleged AirTag stalking.
In the lawsuit, a woman said she was stalked after a former boyfriend planted an airtag in the wheel well of her car. The second plaintiff stated that her ex-husband tracked the location of her child by placing an AirTag in her bag.
The lawsuit claims that Apple is at fault because the company didn’t do enough to make AirTags safe, especially for people who don’t have an iPhone.
The Ongoing Airtag Stalking Controversy
This isn’t the first time AirTags have earned Apple some bad press. Actually Airtag has been mired in controversies for months. In April, Motherboard reported that 150 police reports included AirTags, many of which were of women being tracked with the devices.
There are many reasons to buy an Apple AirTag, but some people think that AirTags make it too easy to covertly track someone. And the fact that AirTags are affordable, easy-to-use, and extremely powerful trackers doesn’t help.
One of the things that makes AirTags so good at tracking is that they work on Apple’s Find My network. Airtags can communicate with hundreds of millions of Apple devices around the world to pinpoint their location. This makes them more powerful than competitors like Tile, which operate on a much smaller network of devices.
Apple’s response to unwanted AirTag tracking
Apple released a statement in February 2022 detailing measures it will take to make AirTags more secure. The company said this would make it easier to find nearby AirTags, and pledged to work with law enforcement on matters involving AirTag tracking.
Throughout 2022, Apple rolled out a series of software updates designed to prevent unwanted tracking with AirTags. AirTags now send notifications to nearby iPhones to alert people that an unknown AirTag is nearby. If AirTags are separated from their owner for too long they play a louder, more noticeable sound than before.
How Apple could make AirTags more secure
Although Apple has introduced new features to alert iPhone users if an AirTag is tracking them, the company hasn’t done the same for non-iOS devices.
If you don’t have an iPhone, you won’t automatically get a notification that AirTag is tracking you. Instead, you have to rely on the sound emitted by the AirTag. But some criminals are using the AirTag to steal cars, so if it’s attached to the outside of a vehicle, it may be difficult or impossible to hear the sound.
This is a big problem, especially when you consider that over 70% of the smartphone market is made up of Android devices, not iPhones. Apple needs to make AirTags safe for everyone, whether they are Apple customers or not.
Are AirTags Causing More Problems Than They Solve?
Although many are blaming Apple for the AirTag related stocking up, the company has released a number of updates designed to keep people safe. And keep in mind that the AirTag isn’t the only smart tracker on the market.
If one wants to use technology to stalk someone, they can choose other smart trackers with less-robust security features.
Apple designed AirTags to be useful devices for the mainstream consumer. But like almost any form of technology, airtags can be dangerous when put in the wrong hands.