David Manning is a tech YouTuber who does a little bit of everything: he tests cameras, creates tutorials, vlogs, etc. In one of his recent videos he explained what one of the main problems with AirTags is and he shared it with us a very efficient solutionalbeit controversial.
Airtags are these little tracking devices that Apple introduced a few years ago. They are used to stick them on anything we want to find easily: keys, a backpack, a suitcase… whatever. However, there are those who intend to use them not so much in case they lose something, but in case something is stolen, and The AirTags cannot convince here.
A very dangerous double-edged sword
To be fair to Apple, at no point in the AirTag commercials, presentation or anywhere does it state that they are effectively in the process of tracking down whoever stole something from you. In fact, they are not. However, it makes sense.
A while ago, there was a controversy that some users (fortunately few) used AirTags to locate other people without them noticing. They put them in their pockets, in their car, whatever, and they had them permanently located on the map. to Apple, staunch advocate of privacyhe was appalled by this situation and so they added a feature to the AirTag to avoid such things as much as possible.
After a period of time, if your iPhone detects that you are being followed by an AirTag, you will be notified and With this you can make it ring in order to be able to locate it. In fact, Apple and Google recently announced a collaboration to make this work whether you own an iPhone or Android. It worked well there.
A very interesting dilemma arises between security and privacy, and Apple has resolved it in favor of the second
The point is, if the person with our AirTag is a thief, it’s enough for your iPhone to recognize our AirTag for it to ring, find it, throw it around, and We’re running out of stuff. However, there is a solution to this problem, although it is very dangerous and of course it will void your warranty.
This Youtuber opened up the AirTag and ripped off the built-in speaker. That way it won’t ring when the thief is looking for it, and We will have more opportunities to reclaim what is ours. Of course, the same could also be done by those who want to track us down without our consent.
The Youtuber explains that there have already been cases of harassment involving individuals They have effectively removed the speaker from their AirTags. In these cases, if our iPhone detects an AirTag that doesn’t belong to us but doesn’t emit a sound, you should call the police because it will be easier for them to find it.
Once this is the case, all they have to do is check with Apple which Apple ID is associated with that AirTag You can then find out who was trying to find you. On the other hand, it is clear that a thief is not going to call the authorities to tell them that they stole something, that they have an AirTag and that they can find it. So in that sense we are better protected.
Anyway, we from Applesfera, we do not recommend making this change. Your AirTag would void its warranty, you could have another legal issue, and we don’t think it’s that necessary. The final decision is of course yours, and if you do it with a good aim, it’s not too bad either.
In Applesphere | Chased with an AirTag: Here’s how the DEA used it to intercept drug trafficking suspects
Source : www.applesfera.com