You attach an AirTag to your AirTag to prevent the AirTag from losing.
But in the hands of people with ulterior motives, it is becoming a new type of tracking tool.
Swimsuit model Brooks Nader is walking home alone at a slightly drunken pace when an iPhone pops up with a message that an "unknown accessory" is moving with her.
"I was terrified. In a panic, I threw the contents of my bag to the ground, and finally found a button-shaped object with the apple logo printed on it in the pocket of my coat. “
"It doesn't belong to me, and I don't know when it was hacked, but the device has been following me to three bars for the past five hours."
"Who's following me? What is the intent? I was terrified to think of this. ”
Brooks isn't the first woman to be tracked with the help of Apple technology.
Amber Northworthy, who lives in Mississippi, is a single mother. On Dec. 27, when she returned home in the afternoon, "my phone made a beeping sound I had never heard before."
"It showed strangers the entire route home and it also showed 'the last record to be viewed was 16:02 today'.
"I glanced at the time shown on my phone and all the hairs on my body exploded in an instant."
After finding the AirTag attached to the bottom of the car, Amber became angry and complained about it at INS @Apple.
"Have you considered the dangers of this device and its potentially fatal consequences?"
Perhaps inspired by Dr. Kasa's tracker, Apple launched the AirTag last April.
While it can't help you find your lost love, it fulfills people's careful wish to call the vanished keys and AirPods.
However, bringing a mini-, cheaper tracking device to market than traditional GPS has led to some nefarious uses.
The BBC reported it as the "perfect tracking tool".
A small body that can hide in unexpected places. Low energy consumption, a button battery can last for a year.
The point is that the ultra-wideband technology (UMB) originally used in military radar and Apple's own "Find Me" network are double-blessed - the surrounding Apple phones will constantly help the AirTag refresh its position, allowing it to ignore obstacles such as walls and make the positioning accurate to almost centimeters.
That is to say, if you are quietly placed on the AirTag, as long as the other party turns on the "exact search" mode, whether it is hiding under the bed, in the closet or outside the window, the peek-a-boo game can end in an instant.
Crowley police said his department had received more than five calls to the AirTag in the past month.
"That number may not seem like much, but our department isn't alone — police in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan and Texas have received similar cases."
"Whether it's interrupting someone else's life for some sort of psychological pleasure, or keeping an eye on the daily routine of a target until the 'good time' comes ... These acts are crimes. ”
"We linked AirTag to multiple suspected stalking and luxury car thefts, but for the privacy of our users, we couldn't get evidence from Apple without exact evidence."
A large number of incident exposures have aroused widespread concern, and ordinary people also know the "wonderful use" of AirTag.
Someone with a heavier skeptical relationship can't help but spend $29 begging for a reassurance, even though she/he knows your favorite color is green and sleeps next to you every night.
Mary Ford, Cary, Carolina, received tracking information and called the police while driving. After searching for airtags in the gaps in the rear seat, the police basically ruled out external threats.
This shocked Mary. Out of love, her boyfriend eventually confessed the truth.
"Mary is very popular among friends, I just want to know where she is at any time."
Long before the release of the AirTag, perhaps Apple realized that it could be misused. At the time of its release, Apple said "AirTag is designed to track items, not people," and put in place a range of security measures.
If a strange AirTag moves with someone, the person who owns an iPhone receives an alert. And the AirTag will make a beeping sound after being separated from the owner for a period of time.
It's a well-intentioned reminder to let people know they're being followed.
But it can cause this situation, just imagine, your LV bag with AirTag is stolen, you could have known the thief's location and called the police, but AirTag has been reminding the thief that someone is checking his location.
It's clear that Apple knows how to weigh the pros and cons.
In order to further improve the AirTag's alarm system, in June last year, Apple shortened the alarm time for the binding AirTag to be separated from the mobile phone from three days to 8 to 24 hours.
In December, an android user downloadable app, Truck Detect, was also released to allow non-iOS users to receive malicious AirTag notifications.
However, such an approach does not completely solve the security risks of AirTag.
"Older phones that haven't upgraded their systems to iOS 14 and above, Android phones that don't have apps, and can't receive alerts."
"In addition, the alarm sound emitted by the AirTag is not continuous, even if it is sounded in the noisy downtown people will not notice."
"Even if someone does a little bit on the AirTag, everything will happen unconsciously."
Lafayette, an expert in technology and solutions, wants everyone to remain vigilant.
"After all, Apple can patch the system, but mod can do it."