Apple has made significant progress in its efforts to improve the stalking and privacy features of its AirTag item trackers. This is despite AirTag being launched with a more sophisticated set of anti-tracking features than comparable products on the market.
A new Wall Street Journal report takes a closer look at a phenomenon it calls “phantom AirTag alerts” that “send iPhone users on a wild goose chase.”
AirTag “phantom” privacy alerts
By default, iOS sends an alert when an unknown AirTag is found near you. This alerts you to the possibility that someone is tracking your location and allows you to (attempt) find the AirTag and involve law enforcement if necessary.
However, today’s report explains that “in recent weeks, some iPhone users have begun receiving alerts, often in the middle of the night, about AirTags that may not be in their path at all.” In this situation, the affected user receives an alert from the Find My app with the words “AirTag detected near you” with a map of the estimated location and path of the item tracker.
According to the report:
AirTag phantom alert cards have a similar pattern: straight red lines radiating from the user’s location. If the AirTag were to move (perhaps fly?) along these paths, it would cross city streets, pass through construction zones, and even pierce walls.
It’s not clear how widespread this problem is, and if it’s a recent occurrence or has been since AirTag’s debut.
An Apple spokesperson confirmed that the company is aware of the issue:
An Apple spokesperson said the warnings could have been caused by Wi-Fi signals in the iPhone’s range temporarily confusing its location services. A potential solution would be to go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and toggle the switch on and off when Wi-Fi is enabled on the iPhone. He also said that in more densely populated areas, AirTags owned by other people nearby could inadvertently trigger unwanted alerts.
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Again, Apple has done quite a bit to address stalking and security issues with AirTag. However, with that said, the Find Me network seems to be one of the most buggy and unreliable aspects of working with AirTag. We’ve heard numerous reports of erroneous tracking and history alerts like today’s Wall Street Journal report, and all of these issues seem to be caused by the Find My network.
Apple has promised additional improvements to AirTag and Find My before the end of the year. At the moment, there is no exact timetable for when these changes will actually take effect. However, one of the promised changes is “improved alert tracking logic” for these types of Find My alerts.
The full Wall Street Journal report is worth reading and can be found here.
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