iPhone user? The new AirTag could be an effective motorcycle theft recovery tool.

[PrivatePilot]

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Do you get the location of it? In coordinates? How accurate? You get en email or a text message?

Once you put it in lost mode you get a popup on your phone when the item is found and it shows in the Find My Friends app under the "Items" tab.

The location is shown from the device that pinged the tag, so in the case of my test it's about 50 feet off (showing on the sidewalk), but that's more than good enough to get you in the general vicinity and then get your phone to connect directly to the tag and use the home-in feature or tell it to chime so you can find it audibly.

 

[FullMotoJacket]

Apple opens up its Find My network to third-party devices—no AirTag needed

Apple has announced a massive expansion of the Find My app, with a crowd-sourced network that can now track third-party devices, too.

www.macworld.com

 

[iblastoff]

another real world test. someone gives their airtag to someone else to hide in the city (without their iphone so they dont automatically pinged back with it).

obviously this is not gps tracking. but well worth it for a user replaceable battery powered device that lasts a year and relies on a huge, free network.

 

[Pegassus]

Integrate these things with police departments like Lo-Jack did. Participating police departments carry a Lo-Jack on some patrol cars and they scan the area where they are driving at random and sniff out stolen cars (with hidden Lo-Jacks on them) and pull them over on the spot.

So there's no monthly fees to have these things working for you? (Air tags)

 

[PrivatePilot]

Integrate these things with police departments like Lo-Jack did

Well, not really much point....they are after all designed for lost items, not stolen vehicles. Most people will use these for car keys, wallets, purses, backpacks....bicycles, etc. Vehicles? Probably few despite the potential. Police have better things to do than chase someones lost car keys, and they couldn't' do it anyways as only the person who owns the tag can track the tag - privacy centric.

That said, a cop who owns an iPhone just driving around becomes part of the mesh, hence the attraction to the system.

So there's no monthly fees to have these things working for you? (Air tags)

Nope, just the upfront cost. They're not dirt cheap, but they're also not insanely expensive either like some prognosticated. One time purchase and you're done...just replace the batteries when needed.

 

[GreyGhost]

Here's the flipside. Thieves are putting airtags on vehicles and then going to pick them up later. IIRC, apple put something in the tags so if you are near a tag that apple thinks is not related to you for a long period of time, apple sends you a message but that probably won't help if you drive/ride home and get it stolen that night.

It will be interesting to see what happens from an investigative side. What can the police request from apple and what can apple provide them? Assuming police recover a tag, can they get location history? Can police send a list of locations to apple and ask if any tags have been at multiple locations? Presumably tags need to registered to an apple id, how easy is it to have an untraceable apple id?

Apple tracking devices being used in thefts of high-end cars in York Region: police

Police in York Region say they have discovered a new way in which thieves are using Apple technology to track and eventually steal high-end cars in the area.

toronto.ctvnews.ca

 

[PrivatePilot]

Indeed a potential problem, but to be fair, any tracking tag like a Tile will do the same thing, or heck, a full on cellular GPS unit.

The AirTag is just the cheapest and arguably most reliable option in the end hence why it’s gained traction. And of course, some people will look for anything they can make an anti-Apple story out of.

 

[GreyGhost]

Indeed a potential problem, but to be fair, any tracking tag like a Tile will do the same thing, or heck, a full on cellular GPS unit.

The AirTag is just the cheapest and arguably most reliable option in the end hence why it’s gained traction. And of course, some people will look for anything they can make an anti-Apple story out of.

I agree, there are other solution. It was just interesting that all of the positives as a theft recovery device are also positives for the thieves. I don't care that it is Apple, but using airtag instead of a tile likely improves the thieves odds of a quick fix.

EDIT:
On the upside, there is a quick fix that apple could implement on the software side. If you have an iphone and are travelling in a vehicle with a tag registered to someone else, apple could drop the time threshold before alerting to from the current many hours to only a few minutes. You would know you have been tagged before you get home and could go straight to the police (who would then do very little as you are upset about a crime that hasn't happened yet).

 

[GreyGhost]

If true, this could be the death blow for tile. Apparently they are selling location data that can be tied to individual users. Another plus for apple. They're probably tracking you but wont sell to others.

Tile's future owner is currently selling the location data of millions of its users

Family tracking service Life360 has been selling the location data of millions of its users, according to a new report from The Markup.

mobilesyrup.com

 

[Baggsy]

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