Dd notified of new Apple tag with her since early hours - advice?

[iknowimcoming]

Dd is 22, at uni, lives alone in flat with 24 hour reception (manned 24 hours) we visited her yesterday and went for brunch this morning, this evening she's had a notification that a new AirTag has been with her since 5.01am and shows the walk we took to and from the cafe this morning. She's checked everything and can't find anything, has anyone had this and it's been a mistake or should we be very concerned?

Thanks for the update. What an awful glitch to have happened.

I'd worry. My boyfriend has one and I get notified when I spend the whole day with him

Glad it was nothing sinister OP. Having had a few I can say they are definitely glitchy, so it doesn't surprise me.

Thank you so much iknowimcoming for your update, and I'm so glad all seems to have ended well.

I personally don't forgive Apple, but that's me and I don't expect everyone/anyone to agree.

I hope your daughter enjoys the rest of the uni year without interruption.

Glad to read your update.

Great news. A worrying time, but thank you for educating us all a little. The world is a scary place sometimes.

Glad to hear it's all been sorted.

Phew!

Glad you got the bottom of it @iknowimcoming

My mum is about to do a 6 hour plane ride OP. Better safe than sorry. Scary world we live in. Would also tell her to announce on socials mummy with me for Easter hols and post photos.

Glad to hear your update OP

I'd heard of tiles but not Airtags till this post. I'm tempted to get one to put on my mother next time we go shopping. I reckon she disappears on purpose for revenge when I used to disappear with her

This is worth reading from Apple re AirTags and security. www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2022/02/an-update-on-airtag-and-unwanted-tracking/

Id say someone else was being tracked and the dd phone picked up the signal, or it was and intelligence services operation, by.

*nearby

@iknowimcoming

Apologies for the late update - busy day! So the Apple AirTag equivalent of turning it off and back on again seems to indicate it was a glitch (yay and phew!) as the tag disappeared and has not returned (so far) so assuming it does not reappear, which seems unlikely since there is no trace of one physically anywhere in dd's belongings, we can assume it was some sort of weird computer/phone/Bluetooth confusion.

I wish it could have been a better explanation of how and why this happened (I might get Dd to contact Apple again to see if they can explain more) but ultimately as long as my baby is safe I'm not complaining!

If there is anything further to report I will update, but if not thanks to those of you who were supportive and helpful over the last few days, and if nothing else we've learnt some new stuff!

I think the glitch came about because Apple is getting flag for a lack of security with the AirTag, since it's a favorite stalker-tool and is part of the harassment arsenal of abusive ex-boyfriends.

I think the glitch came about because Apple is getting flag for a lack of security with the AirTag, since it's a favorite stalker-tool and is part of the harassment arsenal of abusive ex-boyfriends

The airtag is actually the most secure of the trackers- i can’t think of any other similar tech (and they’ve been around for years) that alerts someone of it’s presence.

If they didn’t, this thread wouldn’t exist because the dd wouldn’t have got an alert, and she’d be carrying on her business not knowing someone might have planted a tracker.

Airtags aren’t used generally for nefarious tracking purposes because of this feature. It’s easier to get a bog standard one that won’t alert the trackee, like a tile.

So no, apple aren’t getting “flag”, or even flack. .

All this “glitch” is is a user getting an alert a device is travelling with them when it’s with it’s user. The alert should only be when the airtag isn’t connecting with it’s owner’s device.

The only reason they did this is because stalkers were using them. AirTags didn't have that feature before.

Glad it was just a glitch and not something sinister

Just a thought - if she and her friend both use Airpods has she picked up her friends by mistake?

That's what I was just thinking!!! As I have android... this is terrifying. Even if you have apple and can disable it the "tracker" would already know where you live etc by the time you realised. Another case of big corps introducing completely unnecessary things into our lives to make money. sigh

Another case of big corps introducing completely unnecessary things into our lives to make money. sigh

Trackers have existed for years. Someone could have been tracking you and you would never have known, because they don’t notify the trackee.

This only seems a thing now because apple airtags have the security feature to notify, making it much harder for them to be used for dodgy reasons.

If someone wants to track you they’ll order a cheap version off amazon, and you would never know unless you actually found it.