Although it ’s been more than a year and a one-half since Apple put its small trailing gimmick telephone AirTags on the market , the merchandise has been repeatedly abused by stalkers as a way of keeping tabs on targets . This week , Apple silently released details on earlier firmware updates to its AirTags that lets users tell if an nameless AirTag is on your person .
On Wednesday , Apple ’s Support pageadded detailsabout its tardy two microcode update , namely 2.0.24 and 2.0.36 . While the latter update say it fixed the AirTags accelerometer not figure out in “ certain scenario , ” the former update is very interesting . The update “ enable Precision Finding to help locate an unidentified AirTag detected strike with you . ” In add-on , a substance abuser ’s iPhone will notify user when an AirTag that ’s no longer with its owner is on your individual . The iPhone will also emit a sound to make it clear it ’s been moved .
Any paired AirTag should automatically download the update when it ’s within 33 - feet of Bluetooth range with the iPhone , though the feature only make on iPhone 11 , 12 , 13 , and 14 models . The iPhone also take to be run iOs 16.2 or later . These updates add up to an early firmware update that included “ tune the undesirable tracking sound to more easy situate an unknown AirTag . ”
Stalking with AirTags has been a continuous problem since the product’s release. The company has produced multiple updates it claims increase user safety, but so far nothing has truly mitigated the risks.Photo: Steve Heap (Shutterstock)
The microcode update were released both last month and this calendar month , according toMacRumors , but it took the society until now to describe what the updates actually did . The feature works usingultra wideband , which means AirTags in countries like Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , Indonesia , and more are still more than capable of keep tabs on unsuspecting persons . And of course , the feature does nothing for any Android drug user who might have an AirTag on them . For that , Apple has had to release aseparate app .
Thefirst updatefrom last summertime made AirTags beep if they were not near the original users ’ telephone set after eight to 24 hours , but plain this had assorted results . Back in February , Apple made astatementabout how they were working to prevent AirTags for “ undesirable tracking ” The ship’s company already touted its “ first - ever proactive system to alert you of undesirable trailing , ” but users had been complaining about invite alert when they borrowed friend ’ keys . The tech giant promised more updates to set aside exploiter to determine where an unwanted AirTag is on their person .
Ever since they were released as a challenger to the Tile tracking twist , critics have questioned just how ripe AirTags were for abuse . A Washington Post article from May 2021 first wreak up the head of AirTag stalk , but it ’s gotten much bad since then . Motherboardreported in April that they uncovered 50 cases from the eight calendar month prior where women reported being tracked with AirTags . Indianapolis police say back in June that a fair sex allegedly used AirTags tostalk her fellow and later murder him .
Apple hasreleased updatesover metre to skim for AirTags , but none of those new features have truly consume the risk of technologically - enabled stalking . A newclass action lawsuitfiled by two charwoman and haunt victims earlier this month lay claim the company has been “ heedless ” in proliferating its AirTags . One of the woman in that suit claim her iPhone alerted her to the AirTag in her vicinity .
What all this shows is how such a comparatively unobjectionable small-arm of technology can have monolithic unintended consequences , but Apple ’s response to the privacy incubus it ’s created has been dull and piecemeal . While the companionship touts that it will give up any information to law enforcement regarding tracking , Apple ’s strategy puts the onus on veritable people to be cognisant of the technology and actively skim for it on their someone .
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