Apple Announces AirTag Update to Stop Unwanted Tracking

Apple AirTag allows users to track their personal items through the Find My app. However, this didn’t go well, and the gadget was misused. The company launched the AirTags to keep an eye on the valuables.

However, now the unwanted tracking through AirTags will be stopped as Apple has announced a few updates. In a blog post, Apple said users will now be alerted if any unknown AirTag is traveling with them.

In the upcoming software update, Apple will give new privacy warnings that show up during the AirTag setup to warn malicious use. With the help of this warning, the users will be clear that AirTag is linked to an Apple ID that is used to track people is a crime.

AirTags Update Makes Harder for Criminals to Track Users

While talking about the new update, Apple, in a blog post, said,

“AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products. Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag. It’s why the Find My network is built with privacy in mind, uses end-to-end encryption, and why we innovated with the first-ever proactive system to alert you of unwanted tracking. We hope this starts an industry trend for others to also provide these sorts of proactive warnings in their products.”

Apple will fix a bug that caused confusion around unwanted tracking. AirTags couldn’t display the “Unknow Accessory Detected” messaging, caused by AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, third-gen AirPods, and also Find My network accessory.

Apple will now notify users if an unwanted tracker is not paired with their iPhone while traveling. iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 users can use Precision Finding to find the exact location of AirTags.

As the user moves, the Precision Finding fuses input from the camera, accelerometer, gyroscope that guides them to AirTag via a combination of sound, haptics, and visual feedback.

Apple will adjust the tones to use the loudest tones to easily find the unknown AirTag. The unwanted tracking support article is also updated on apple.com. If there is any unwanted AirTag, Apple will send alerts to iPhones when unwanted AirTag plays a sound.