Adam Kos At the beginning of the week, Apple released new updates to its operating systems, among which, of course, the one for its iPhones was not missing. The main news that iOS 15.4 brings are connected to Face ID or emoticons, but AirTag has also received news, with regard to tracking people.
Questions related to the safety and privacy of users of location tools were more or less not addressed by the world until last April Apple and its AirTag integrated into the Find network came along. It is able to find the location not only of the AirTag, but also of other devices of the company. And because the AirTag is cheap and small enough to easily hide and track other people with it, Apple has been constantly tweaking its functionality since its release.
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To track personal things, not people
AirTag is primarily intended to allow its owners to track personal items such as keys, wallet, purse, backpack, luggage and more. But the product itself, along with the update to the Find network, was designed to help find personal items (and maybe even pets) and not to track people or other people's property. Unwanted tracking has been a social problem for a long time, which is why the company also released a separate application for Android that can locate the "planted" AirTag.
Apple Air Tag
Only with the gradual testing and spread of AirTags among people, however, did Apple begin to discover various gaps in its network. As he himself states in his press release, so all you have to do is borrow someone's keys with AirTag, and you already receive "unsolicited" notifications. This is of course the better option. But because the company works with various security groups and law enforcement agencies, it can better evaluate the use of AirTags.
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While it says that cases of AirTag misuse are rare, there are still enough of them to worry Apple. However, if you want to use the AirTag for nefarious activity, keep in mind that it has a serial number that pairs with your Apple ID, making it easy to trace who the accessory actually belongs to. The information that AirTag is not used to track people is one new feature of iOS 15.4.
Gallery
So any user setting up their AirTag for the first time will now see a message clearly stating that this accessory is only for tracking their own belongings and that using the AirTag to track people without their consent is a crime in many parts of the world. It is also mentioned that the AirTag is designed in such a way that the victim can detect it, and that law enforcement authorities can request from Apple the identification data of the owner of the AirTag. Although it is rather just an alibi move on the part of the company to be able to say that it warned the user after all. However, the other news, which will only come with the following updates, perhaps before the end of the year, are more interesting.
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Benjamin Levicek Planned AirTag news
Exact search – iPhone 11, 12 and 13 users will be able to use the feature to find out the distance and direction to an unknown AirTag if it is within range. So this is the same feature you can use with your AirTag.
Notification synchronized with sound – When the AirTag automatically emits a sound to alert its presence, a notification will also appear on your device. Based on it, you can then play the sound or use an exact search to locate the unknown AirTag. This will help you in places with increased noise, but also if the speaker has been tampered with in some way.
Sound editing – Currently, iOS users who receive a notification of possible tracking can play a sound to help them locate an unknown AirTag. The sequence of played tones should be modified to use more of the louder ones, making it easier to locate the AirTag.
