AirGuard: Protect yourself from being tracked by AirTags and Find My accessories

[TeMPOraL]

> With the app you can play a sound on AirTags and find it easily.

I wonder how it does that. Unauthenticated BLE characteristic? This would imply anyone could force an arbitrary AirTag to make a sound. Obvious application: force all AirTags nearby to keep making sounds.

[jdavis703]

Why annoy people like this? My e-bike has Find My tracking built in to the firmware. As long as you don’t steal my bike you have no privacy concerns from me securing my bike. Even better I can track my bike down without involving the police, so the potential thief doesn’t even have to worry about being shot by some trigger happy cop.

[shreddit]

Seems so, there’s a constant named AIR_TAG_SOUND_CHARACTERISTIC with this value: 7DFC9001-7D1C-4951-86AA-8D9728F8D66C

[xyzzy21]

Apple devices create an encrypted mesh network. So every Apple device nearby potentially can pass encrypted messages from either a "Find my iPhone" or "Find my AirTag" BT beacon. Eventually it finds a device that is connected to the internet and the packets are forwarded to the Apple Account bound to the Air Tag.

I think the encryption and tie to an Apple account prevent arbitrary people from doing that.

[KingMachiavelli]

Pretty cool but why does it have to be limited to AirTag or any specific devices? It would be easy to expand it to keep track of any nearby Bluetooth device and a corresponding whitelist. (Or do AirTag devices rotate Bluetooth MACs?)

Airtags are just one implementation of a Bluetooth transmitter and a long life battery but anyone could probably build a similar device dedicated to tracking with off the shelf parts.

[jeroenhd]

Airtags are the only devices (that I know of) that can leverage a worldwide network of iPhones to transmit their location rather than a power intensive LTE or GSM link. They also don't require any external antennae for location determination like those GPS trackers stalkers use.

Those features make make AirTags more practical for any use, good or bad. They do rotate Bluetooth MAC addresses so only you and Apple can follow where the tag has been, supposedly.

Furthermore, if your target has an iPhone, you can partially leverage their phone against them. Of course Apple saw this coming and added a warning. If you're on Android you'll have to rely on apps like these (or the theoretical app Apple promised at some point) to prevent AirStalking

Tile has offered a similar mechanism for years but the lack of a worldwide network of automatic data collection points makes their network a lot less useful for good or bad people.

[spookthesunset]

> Airtags are just one implementation of a Bluetooth transmitter and a long life battery but anyone could probably build a similar device dedicated to tracking with off the shelf parts.

There is nothing Dropbox does that can’t be done with rsync.

[tinus_hn]

AirTags, like all Apple devices, use randomized Bluetooth addresses, otherwise they allow scanners to follow their users location over time.

[azinman2]

> Our goal is to protect privacy and to find out how many people are opposed to tracking.

Asking how many ppl are opposed to tracking is a silly question that won’t get you anywhere — it’s answer in a vacuum doesn’t make sense as it needs to be contextualized. “Are you ok with google seeing your IP so they can sell you ads to give you free YouTube” is an example of context where people see trade offs. Most people won’t understand the full spectrum of what’s going on, and if it all in the end results in just ads, many are fine with that as long as they’re getting free stuff with it.

The bigger questions on societal level trade offs shouldn’t be answered by lay people but rather regulation in the name of public interest.

[bogwog]

Google doesn't just "see your IP" to sell you ads. They collect a lot more information about you than that, so I don't know why you consider your question to be more useful than the one you quoted.

Neither one provides enough information for the average person to give an informed answer. They're both equally biased/leading, but in opposite directions.

[bogwog]

This is something Apple should be providing themselves (edit: for Android). They already have "Apple TV", "Apple Music", and a "Move to iOS" app. Is it really so much to ask for a stalking prevention app?

[ajdude]

Apple should provide a “find my” app on android that not only detects rouge airtags but lets you participate in tracking your, and other’s, airtags like an iPhone can.

[foxpurple]

This has to be at the OS level or it will either be killed by the OS or ruin your battery life.

[hypothesis]

I can see those cheery iStalking ads already, telling you to get anti-stalking subscription.

And, of course, for adventurous devs they’re going to introduce a StalkingKit!

[judge2020]

This already is the case. iOS alerts you of any airtag it detects for a long enough time.

[Causality1]

Don't AirTags already start beeping if they spend too much time around a single phone other than their owner's?

[joeguilmette]

Yup. When other people get into my truck the AirTag in the glove box beeps.

[mrpoopy]

So if someone steals my air tagged device they can just turn it off. Nice

[kelnos]

If someone steals your AirTagged device, after it's away from whatever you paired it with for a while, it'll start beeping, which will quickly alert the thief that they need to find the AirTag and throw it out. So I don't think AirTags were meant to deter theft; I think they're just there to help people find stuff they've misplaced.

[Thorrez]

I think the marketed goal of AirTag isn't to prevent theft, it's to help find lost (but not stolen) objects, like if you left your keys somewhere.

[jounker]

Great. So you just made an app that helps bike thieves find the airtag hidden in my bicycle.

[kelnos]

Won't the AirTag start beeping if your bike is stolen (that is, if the tag is away from your iPhone for too long)? I think that will alert them much better than this app will.

[bogwog]

Why would you assume the bike thief doesn't have an iPhone?

[paxys]

I understand using it for keys and stuff, but attaching airtags to valuables and carrying them out in public has to be the stupidest idea ever. Apps like these are soon going to turn them into "steal me!" beacons.

[Jcowell]

I’m confused about the difference between keys and valuables (as if keys aren’t valuables). Both suck to misplace and it’s helpful being able to find their pinpoint location or event of separation.

[psychometry]

Please explain to me how a thief is going to use the existence of this tech to enable theft.

[eh9]

Does Apple have any incentives to release a first party tool to handle this? There’s precedent for Apple releasing Android tools and if anything should get sherlocked it’s this.

[eatbitseveryday]

This seems to notify you of nearby tags but does not disable them in some way.

[bloodyplonker22]

Think about what you just suggested. If I could arbitrarily disable airtags around me, I could go around in public and disable everyones' airtags.

[daniel-thompson]

How would an app on device A disable device B?

[smoldesu]

You need a separate app for that, I think I've heard it called "Ball-peen Hammer"

[justblender]

>If a devices follows you, you will get a notification in less than an hour!

Not sure if this is right for me, my wife could cheat on me faster.

[akomtu]

Legislation is the proper protection here.

[KingMachiavelli]

The tracking using Airtags has very little to do with Apple or any entity that could be controlled via legislation. Airtags themselves don't allow a non-owner to access location data anyway.

The tracking via Airtags is just putting a device on someone's person without their knowledge. That is already illegal but unless you know a crime has been committed you are SOL.

[orangepanda]

Kidnapping is already illegal. Curious, it still happens

[hughes]

Is there a specific policy you think should be legislated that would prevent unwanted tracking?

[bloodyplonker22]

Government intervention is not the answer to everything. It is slow and inefficient.