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Parents of adult children

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Original poster

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

346 replies

iknowimcoming · 02/04/2022 21:05

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?

OP posts:
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6
luckylavender · 03/04/2022 10:17

@pastypirate

Make up compact? Cd case?
She's 22, she won't have CD case or a make up compact...
Atomiccat · 03/04/2022 10:28

@pastypirate

Make up compact? Cd case?
A blast from the past 😀😬
bewilderedhedgehog · 03/04/2022 10:29

I also think the bra one is highly unlikely - surely the tag would find itself half the time in the washing machine or hanging on a washing line!!

OP just thinking about this does your DD have a current or recent boyfriend?

lljkk · 03/04/2022 10:37

Since 5am? dumb question, why did it only start sending notifications at 5am? Presumably it didn't parachute onto her stuff at 5am, when did the tag actually arrive?

I was wondering if tag was on pavement and then she stepped on it, so now on her shoes. Could that happen? No malicious intent required.

Mellowyellow222 · 03/04/2022 10:38

The cd case and the company wouldn’t close - even I. The highly unlikely event they could be found in the average twenty something’s possession.

I do think a lot of people are think James Bond micro chip and not a clunky air tag

lljkk · 03/04/2022 10:38

ditto for the person who had one on her car for a spell - could a tag that fell on the ground start sticking to one's tyres/wheels while driving?

PomegranateRose · 03/04/2022 10:39

I have an iPhone, Airpods etc. and they do indeed ping you and can be remotely prompted to make a noise through an iPhone or Apple Watch. As others have said, she should be able to go into the 'Find My' app and ping any Apple devices that her phone has picked up on, including AirTags in her house/on her person.

The scare mongering here is impressive. A shady minority will always use whatever technology available for their purposes. At least with Apple and tracker detection apps you can view/ping/be alerted to what's nearby with no/minimal effort. The idea of missing an AirTag in a shoe/bra/hair etc. is a bit of a stretch if she hasn't been cuddled right up to a person and conveniently ignoring them rustling around in her clothes/on her person - they really are bigger than people seem to be thinking.

Absolutely remain alert and help her narrow down her items in the ways people have suggested if the above methods don't work, but I think the thread's overall sentiment of fear is a bit of a stretch, though an understandable reaction when you're worried for your child. I wouldn't exactly report this as a stalking case yet though.

Mellowyellow222 · 03/04/2022 10:40

@lljkk

ditto for the person who had one on her car for a spell - could a tag that fell on the ground start sticking to one's tyres/wheels while driving?
I really don’t thing you would drive over one and it would stick.

It is too big to fit in tyre treads. When they have been attached to cars they are taped to the underside of the car etc.

lljkk · 03/04/2022 10:42

right, I googled now!! (3.2cm) 1.26" diameter, so not truly "tiny" . that's why they have built in speakers. Metalic (plus battery inside is metalic) so could a metal detection device help find one?

could get caught un-noticed on a car wheel, but probably not on a shoe.

lljkk · 03/04/2022 10:46

There are such things as hand held 'wand' style metal detectors starting price from £28, I bet an expensive one would find it. the air tag speaker is supposed to work, though, if triggered. 8mm thick, btw, 2.4 x thicker than a pound coin.

I'll try to be good girl and read thread better now, see if someone can explain why it only started alerting at 5am

TalbotAMan · 03/04/2022 10:47

@Askingforfriend

There are other tracking devices and there have been before airtags came out, so I don't get the demonizing of Apple specifically. Tile is one example, we also have a device in our camper called a Spot that tracks by GPS.

We have them, I bought some because I lost my keys one day and it has some really expensive to replace keys on there. Luckily I was able to backtrack and find them but I was scared of how much money and pain in the neck it would have been to replace them and put a tag on them.

The 'demonising of Apple' is because the previous devices, notably Tile, were/are primarily short-range bluetooth devices. If they went beyone the range of the owner's phone then another Tile user's phone might pick them up and report back, but that person would have to be a Tile user and have set up their phone to do this. I have Tile on my car keys and in my wallet, but only activate the app if I can't find them.

What Apple did was to opt in all recent iPhones as a tracking network automatically, without any action on the part of the owner. This was a good idea for items that were lost and stolen. But Apple either didn't identify or chose to ignore the fact that by concealing an AirTag in a person's clothes, bag, car, laptop etc they were allowing someone to track that person, and if that person didn't have an iPhone they would be none the wiser.

They sought to solve this by putting out AirTag detector software for Android, but this has to be positively installed by the phone owner and has to be positively used.

So, whether they didn't think or didn't care, Apple have messed up massively on this.

TalbotAMan · 03/04/2022 10:51

@PomegranateRose

I have an iPhone, Airpods etc. and they do indeed ping you and can be remotely prompted to make a noise through an iPhone or Apple Watch. As others have said, she should be able to go into the 'Find My' app and ping any Apple devices that her phone has picked up on, including AirTags in her house/on her person.

The scare mongering here is impressive. A shady minority will always use whatever technology available for their purposes. At least with Apple and tracker detection apps you can view/ping/be alerted to what's nearby with no/minimal effort. The idea of missing an AirTag in a shoe/bra/hair etc. is a bit of a stretch if she hasn't been cuddled right up to a person and conveniently ignoring them rustling around in her clothes/on her person - they really are bigger than people seem to be thinking.

Absolutely remain alert and help her narrow down her items in the ways people have suggested if the above methods don't work, but I think the thread's overall sentiment of fear is a bit of a stretch, though an understandable reaction when you're worried for your child. I wouldn't exactly report this as a stalking case yet though.

I read an article recently in either the Atlantic or the New York Times where, with his agreement, a journalist loaded her husband with AirTags, Tiles etc. He never found them all and she was able to track him pretty much whereever he went. Apparently the depths of his rucksack were the most successful, and the lining of his coat almost as good.
Nelliephant1 · 03/04/2022 10:53

@FloralsForSpring

This is terrifying
It's honestly not. OP aside there's a lot of total nonsense on this thread and as I said earlier, I have one on our dog and it's pretty useless so please don't worry. 💐
Original poster
iknowimcoming · 03/04/2022 10:56

Morning all, Dd is safe and well (and only just woken up - student life eh?) currently her phone says the AirTag is not reachable, I'm hoping it is the AirPods glitch mentioned upthread so she has those on charge in case it helps, but she didn't have the AirPods in her bag when we walked to brunch yesterday so that seems unlikely sadly.

To answer a few points why the 5.01 time stamp- no idea, she and her friend were long back at the flat and asleep at that time, I checked for recent iOS updates and one was released on 31/3 so I was hoping her phone had auto-updated and reconnected to her AirPods at that time which caused the glitch but her phone hasn't updated yet so doesn't look like it was that either.

The friend is definitely not a suspect, known her for 5 years and she travelled home with us yesterday and doesn't have AirPods. Dd doesn't have a boyfriend currently and no malicious exes in the vicinity (that she knows of)

Fortunately her building is very secure and although the location on the map is scarcely accurate to the position of her flat in the building you couldn't possibly know which floor she's on (it's 6 storeys) or which particular flat she's in. I will update further when I know more, thanks for the support though!

OP posts:
PomegranateRose · 03/04/2022 10:57

Talbot - of course that's a very alarming thought, and has horrid implications for DV situations etc. - but I cannot imagine how someone can have had the time or proximity to do that sort of thing to OP's daughter without her noticing if they don't live with her or she didn't leave belongings unattended and out of her company's sight for a very extended period, is what I'm getting at.

Apple does need to do something to regulate the way that all Apple products are used as a sort of tracking 'mainframe' for AirTags by default, but certainly in this situation as a uni student living away from my family myself I wouldn't be immediately thinking I needed to call the police and report being stalked - rather that I needed to go through all the above suggestions to work out where it actually was and then go from there.

Nelliephant1 · 03/04/2022 10:58

@lljkk

Since 5am? dumb question, why did it only start sending notifications at 5am? Presumably it didn't parachute onto her stuff at 5am, when did the tag actually arrive?

I was wondering if tag was on pavement and then she stepped on it, so now on her shoes. Could that happen? No malicious intent required.

AirTags are chunky and really can't be missed. They're probably the size of an old 10p maybe 5cm in circumference and they're several mm thick.

If you stood on one you'd know about it, it's bigger than the average stone on the road. They're also very smooth so no jaggy bits to dog in. As I say though, if you stood on one you'd know :)

Polkadotties · 03/04/2022 11:06

Blimey the hysteria on this thread. If you don’t know what an air tag is don’t comment stupid suggestion like the bottom of a shoe.

KittensTeaAndCake · 03/04/2022 11:07

Someone mentioned a cat had one on their collar. Does this mean it makes noises everytime the cat goes any distance away from the owner's phone - poor cat!
No it's really not that good! I'm pretty sure it only beeps when you have lost it and go looking for it. The 'find my' app locates it and when you are within range you can make it beep to find it.

As Nelliephant1 says they're are pretty useless, my one sometimes doesn't even update till the next day even when it's with me!!

And yes they are the size of a 50p but as thick as my little finger.

I'm sure it'll end up being something really simple OP, hope you can get to the bottom of it. I wouldn't rule out the iPods just yet either.

KittensTeaAndCake · 03/04/2022 11:09

@Polkadotties

Blimey the hysteria on this thread. If you don’t know what an air tag is don’t comment stupid suggestion like the bottom of a shoe.

Ooh look smart, the thread police have turned up 😆

Ariela · 03/04/2022 11:09

Are you sure the 'air tag' isn't one of your own phones/gadgets that's tagged itself to your daughter's phone and 'followed her' to the cafe?

The problem with all this bluetooth connected stuff is that whoever decided to programme all these fancy features didn't have much imagination as to what real life is like, and that some folk do not like their life taken over by software deciding to do stuff such as synch with the universe .

Blueeyedgirl21 · 03/04/2022 11:18

People on this thread acting like an air tag is like some sort of microchip 🤣 they’re about the size of a pound coin you’d know if it was in your knickers lol

Mummyoflittledragon · 03/04/2022 11:21

I’m glad your dd is safe. 😊

AgentJohnson · 03/04/2022 11:36

They're designed to connect with WiFi that they have come across, if it's not accessing WiFi etc then it's just a waste of time.

AirTags are Bluetooth trackers. When in the vicinity of other iPhones they update the owner of the last location.

Your DD needs to follow the advice on the Apple website. At home she should turn off her Bluetooth on her iPhone because that is what’s updating the owner of its location.

LoveSpringDaffs · 03/04/2022 11:43

I was thinking about getting one for my car, after another thread (someone found their stolen car using it, supposedly anyway)

Not sure it's a good idea now?

PriamFarrl · 03/04/2022 11:51

@Askingforfriend

There are other tracking devices and there have been before airtags came out, so I don't get the demonizing of Apple specifically. Tile is one example, we also have a device in our camper called a Spot that tracks by GPS.

We have them, I bought some because I lost my keys one day and it has some really expensive to replace keys on there. Luckily I was able to backtrack and find them but I was scared of how much money and pain in the neck it would have been to replace them and put a tag on them.

I agree. Tile was about before this. Just as small and a similar price. I don’t understand why so many people are blaming Apple for this.