Explained: Why Apple is releasing a ‘Personal Safety User Guide’ to address growing AirTag stalking cases

What is an Apple AirTag?

Last year, Apple debuted its AirTag item tracker as a new accessory for iPhone users. The idea behind an AirTag is simple: a tracking device that helps you find personal items such as keys, wallets or bags when they are lost at home or while travelling. If you lose a wallet with an AirTag attached to it, you will get a notification with the location when someone with an iPhone, iPad or Mac comes within Bluetooth range of it. Any iOS or Mac device that comes close to the tag sends the location of an AirTag to Apple’s cloud computing network and onto the owner. An app called “Find My” on the iPhone tracks how far the tracker is and displays a map with the exact location. Apple says only the owner can see where exactly the tag currently is, and the tracking device doesn’t store location or history.

AirTags have built-in abuse mitigation features as promised by Apple during the launch of the tracking device last year.

But the AirTag is increasingly becoming a tool for stalking, especially in the US and Canada. The police in New York, Texas, Maryland and other states in the US have reported cases of AirTags being used to stalk individuals. Late last year, the York Regional Police in Canada issued a warning to residents that their investigation revealed that thieves attach these tracking devices to high-end luxury vehicles in public places like malls or parking lots. They then track the vehicle and owner to the home to steal the car. Earlier this year, the New Jersey Regional Operations & Intelligence Center issued a warning to the police that AirTags posed an “inherent threat to law enforcement, as criminals could use them to identify officers’ sensitive locations” and personal routines.

Despite Apple saying that the AirTags offer better security and safety compared to similar offerings available on the market, the reality is something different. BBC ran an investigative piece last week where it found that at least six women in the US have come out and revealed to the publication that they have been tracked with AirTags. Easy to set up and accessible with any iPhone, the AirTags have essentially become trackers for many unsuspecting victims.

Apple is taking steps to promise better safety, but is it too late?

Apple is aware of the problem and the company in recent months has taken steps to address the growing problem of its AirTag being used to stalk people. Thursday’s Personal Safety User Guide is aimed at providing users with resources, including personal safety features available across the Apple ecosystem. Although a data privacy guide was first published a year ago, it has now been updated to include a section on AirTags. In the guide, Apple talks about privacy features and the security mechanism in place to prevent stalking and provides instructions on what to do if you hear an AirTag making a sound that doesn’t belong to them. To be clear, Apple is not introducing any new security features to beef up the privacy features. This guide is a useful safety resource for anyone “who is concerned about or experiencing technology-enabled abuse, stalking, or harassment.”

AirTags have built-in abuse mitigation features as promised by Apple during the launch of the tracking device last year. However, privacy advocates have criticised the features calling them insufficient.

In an effort to address some of those concerns, Apple rolled out an update last summer that would make AirTags beep at 60 decibels (a conversational volume) after the tracking device is away from the owner between 8 and 24 hours. Towards the end of 2021, Apple also introduced a new Android app called Tracker Detect, which was designed to help Android smartphone users detect suspicious AirTags in a nearby area.

The growing cases of stalking and harassment via AirTags is not good news for Apple and how it develops products where privacy and security play a critical role. Apple has built a narrative around privacy and better security protection that comes with its products and it has helped Cupertino to differentiate itself from other big tech companies like Facebook and Google which are increasingly targeted for breaching user privacy and tracking them for their business interest. The AirTag in a way goes against all lot of what Apple has stood for.

Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox