A surgeon sees a bunch of car crash victims coming in with strange bruises across their chest and waist. They realize that, clearly, the seat belt is hurting people. So they tell people not to buckle up. They stop seeing people with chest bruising, but far more people show up in body bags.
It’s called survivorship bias, and it’s a form of selection bias. Basically, you only sample the survivors, and therefore have a skewed view of a problem. When planes returned from battle during WW2, you could study where they were most frequently shot. However, those were the places where planes could survive being shot, because where they weren’t shot lead to the planes going down.
This comes to mind recently as we hear stories about people finding Apple’s AirTag trackers on their cars or person. It’s happening to women who appear to be alone so stalkers can track them, as well as people with nice looking cars. But there have been trackers like Apple’s AirTags for some time. There are GPS trackers you can easily find online and Tile’s small trackers can easily be slipped in a bag or taped to a car. So why didn’t we hear about those trackers? Because they don’t alert people like Apple’s AirTags.
We’re hearing about people being stalked by AirTags because AirTags are a terrible stalking tool, at least if you’re an iPhone user. If you’re on Android, your options are more limited, and they’re not very good.
AirTag Tracking Warnings
People found the trackers thanks to Apple’s anti-tracking technologies. AirTags work by pinging nearby iOS devices. When they’re within Bluetooth range of iOS devices, they can send their location, encrypted, to Apple’s servers. There, the owner—and only the owner—can see where their AirTags are. However, as a Sports Illustrated model, Brooks Nader, found out, that system is also capable of tracking people. Someone slipped an AirTag into her coat at a bar in New York. After leaving the bar and walking home, she received a notification that someone was tracking her and had been for some time. There have been numerous other stories like hers recently.
Once an AirTag is separated from its owner for 15 minutes, but following someone else, it’ll be able to alert the other person. If they’re on an iPhone, this will be automatic. On Android, you’ll have to use the app. After that, you can play a sound on the tracker to find it and get information on the AirTag with NFC.
This is why we keep hearing about people being tracked with AirTags: because the anti-stalking feature is working.
Protecting Yourself
Apple’s Android app needs a lot of work.
For iOS users, protecting yourself is as simple as keeping Bluetooth on. This will alert you if an AirTag has been following you around instead of its owner. I haven’t been able to test this, but, since AirTags and Find My technology from Apple works by creating a network through iOS devices, this should work perfectly.
Android users are a bit out of luck. Apple launched “Tracker Detect” on the Google Play store, but it’s trash. First, the app doesn’t run a background service to scan, like an iPhone can. Instead, you have to scan on your own. Secondly, that scanning doesn’t even work well. I tested it myself, turning Bluetooth off on all of my devices to trick my AirTag into thinking I separated from it. After a few minutes, I did a scan. My Android device found the AirTag. I could use NFC to get information on the tracker. However, I couldn’t tell it to make a sound, even after waiting 10 minutes. When I tried re-scanning, the search turned up nothing. This is incredibly negligent. It basically allows stalkers and thieves to track Android users.
Regardless of Platform
Whether you’re on iOS or Android, you can use NFC in the AirTag to identify it by tapping it to the back of your device. From there, disable the tracker by twisting off the metal portion and removing the battery. Then head to the police. It’s scary, for sure, but if you file a police report, they can track down whoever was stalking you, if the police decide to investigate it. You could help prevent someone else from being a victim, or help build a robust case against someone if they’re ever caught.
People are catching stalkers and thieves using AirTags because they’re not an effective spying tool. Still, with the Android app in the sad state it’s in, Apple’s putting many people in danger. Download Apple’s app if you’re on Android, and pay attention to updates. On iOS, you’re set. If you receive an alert that you’re being tracked, don’t take it lightly and act quickly.