[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by binand

The "anyone with iphone" is not going to pick up your specific cars location I'm sure; just a blob of encrypted data that it would simply pass onwards to Apple's cloud where it'd be decrypted and the rightful owner notified.

Its anyone with an iphone 11 and above. The device needs the U1 chip built in. More about the tech here. Looks like it can be used to lock-unlock your car though I am still wondering how it will talk to the cars computer ecm/bcm to get that handshake going. Pretty nifty tech.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Oh, it is only a little bit of stealing, that’s alright than? And my mobile phone is receiving and transmitting data about somebody else’s car, without me knowing it or having approved that?

Jeroen

Well thats a bit of a hyperbole. Thats bytes of encrypted data. Yes it is stealing (if they do not take your permission) but does it really matter in the larger scheme of things which is enabling people you dont know to be able to find the belongings they lost. This is akin to crowd sourcing location information for your lost things. I would happily give away few kb's of data if it helped someone.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I'm still not clear on the tech or how this device even works. Bluetooth has a limited range so if you leave it in your car and its driven off, how is this transmitter going to communicate back to your device? Is it going to frequency hop or pair automatically with other iphones in the vicinity, that further transmits the device location which finally reaches your phone via the cellular network.

Think of it as a bluetooth mesh network that could connect to any iPhone, Mac or other apple products yours or otherwise in vicinity over a secure encrypted channel over bluetooth LE. The device it connects to then relays its location data to Apple which then sends it to the user who is using findmy for that air tag. Its like crowd sourcing location information but with privacy and encryption built in.

It might not be too successful in India because the density of iPhone or other Apple products isnt as high as some other markets. I for one, am looking at buying a set of 4 and then use it in my car as well.

[sandeepmohan]

Marques Brownlee has done a nice video explaining how it works. Can be viewed

here

Equally impressive is how fast third party providers have come up with accessories for the device. It can tag on to Android devices as well in the event of lost property, though it needs a nfc action. Goes up to 40 ft in terms of being in range.

[viscosity]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

One such use which came to my mind is car tracking. Since the device size itself is so small it can easily be hidden in a car. So in case of car theft, there are good chances of tracking the same.

Another application : This seems like a godsend device for those who want to track someone. Imagine someone leaving/dropping this in their girlfriend/boyfriend car, bag etc. All hell will break loose before this thing beeps to show its presence and imagine the reaction when someone finds out that this was with them all the time . Tech is a double edged sword.

[neeravnaik]

Apple is big into privacy and mentioned that this is intended to be used to track things only. Putting it into cars could get into people tracking territory. I think they did mention that it will emit beeps etc. so you cannot slyly put it into people’s bags etc. So don’t think it would be very useful against car theft.

[kadanaJ]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

All it needs is to come across a user with an iPhone 11 or 12 in its Bluetooth range, and voila! you have your vehicle location.

I feel that this is a MAJOR drawback, at least in India. iPhones are relatively rare in our country. I'd say maybe 3-4% of smartphone users use iPhone. And that too probably concentrated in urban areas. Once you get to tier-2 or rural areas, that number could drop even further.

The odds of your missing vehicle being near an iPhone 11-12 or later are pretty low in our country.

I'd say this product is mostly useless if you need a car tracker. Better to get a dedicated GPS tracker if you need some way to track your vehicle.

[sushantr5]

It cannot be used as car tracker. Other users iphone will not be used to send back location.

It is just when the tag is found by other iphone or android user then he can see your contact details by using app or NFC.

To see your contact number you have to mark the tag as lost tag first.

[mail2vm]

Even I thought of the same - To place it in the car and it becomes easy to track, but again, as mentioned by vaascit, the alarm when not with the owner was a concern. I hope there would be an option to disable it.

Also, if the airtag is very closer to someone who uses an iPhone, then it would notify them that an airtag is nearby/tagging along - That could be a concern if you would need to track someone :-)

[vb-saan]

Apple (being big on Privacy) would have sufficiently considered the possibility of tags being used a privacy invasion tool. For a product like this the testing of possible misuse scenarios would have been pretty heavy, probably on a higher budget than its actual usability testing. AirTags as a car tracking or people tracking tool sounds like a distant possibility; the latter especially can bring in lot of ethical debates.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by mail2vm

Even I thought of the same - To place it in the car and it becomes easy to track, but again, as mentioned by vaascit, the alarm when not with the owner was a concern. I hope there would be an option to disable it.

Why would they disable it? Then it becomes a full fledged tracking device with the user being tracked not knowing he is being tracked.

Originally Posted by mail2vm

Also, if the airtag is very closer to someone who uses an iPhone, then it would notify them that an airtag is nearby/tagging along - That could be a concern if you would need to track someone :-)

No it wont. It will use the bluetooth to report its location. Unless by close you mean touching another iphone in which case it will display the message set by the user of that airtag.

[slango97]

What about Samsung's SmartTags? They have the same functionality, are already on the market (since a few months back) and there are a lot more Samsung Galaxy devices in India, I believe.

[Raghuwire]

Suppose, I am a competitor to apple and make a tracker like airtag. Would Apple give me the right to enable tracking the device just like airtag? If it does not, will I not be able to complain against apple that it is using its dominant position in a platform to stifle innovation and competition. Then if everyone starts making these stuff, and I am forced to provide such info through my phone. Where does it end. I detest such products which is an assault on my privacy.

[iamitp]

A MAJOR miss is the ability to alert users when the Airtag has left the device range/perimeter. Like if you left something behind. Tile offers you this as a paid subscription service.

[Mountainman21]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I'm still not clear on the tech or how this device even works. Bluetooth has a limited range so if you leave it in your car and its driven off, how is this transmitter going to communicate back to your device? Is it going to frequency hop or pair automatically with other iphones in the vicinity, that further transmits the device location which finally reaches your phone via the cellular network.

Originally Posted by sunilg33

When the AirTag comes in contact with any iPhone 11, 12 in the vicinity it just sends its device id to that phone. Then the phone relays this information along with the current location to Apple cloud. Then the cloud then pushes the location information of the AirTag to the owner via the find my phone app. Overall the technology is simple and hence can be very successful.
It could still be patchy in countries like India where there arent enough iPhones sold. But in countries like the USA where every alternate person owns an Iphone, tracking could be very quick and accurate.

It has bluetooth, however, it's functionality is based on GPS tracking (which is free for everyone) and not on bluetooth (unless you put it in lost mode, then it will try to search for nearby iPhones).
it is a fairly simple tech and is being used already by many other brands including some schools which give out these tags for students which can be tracked by parents as well.

Advantage this on holds over others is Apple ecosystem if you are using iPhone (no need of separate app just find my phone will work for everything). Else, it will not make as much sense to other users.

[slayer23]

On the topic of AirTag using any iPhone in the vicinity for sharing data, didn't Amazon launch Alexa's Sidewalk feature which is something similar? Enabling your Alexa to tap into other Wifi networks so that it is always online/available.

Isn't the idea similar? To crowd source the data/connecitivty.