Apple (AAPL) says it is introducing several changes that will make it harder to misuse AirTags to track people.
The button-sized devices are designed to work with Apple’s ‘Find My’ network app to locate lost items. The company said its changes to the device will make suspicious tags easier to find, and alert users earlier that an unwanted AirTag may be travelling with them.
The changes come after multiple reports from women that they had been followed using AirTags.
Apple launched AirTags in April 2021. The small, circular devices can be attached to luggage or keys – anything that could be lost. But the devices can be misused to track people by being hidden in a car, or on a personal item such as a bag or luggage.
As part of the changes to make misuse harder, Apple said every user setting up their AirTag for the first time will see a message warning that using the device to track people without their consent is a crime in many regions around the world.
Currently, iPhone users receive “unwanted tracking” alerts if an unknown AirTag moves with them. Apple announced that people will be alerted earlier going forward that an unknown AirTag is travelling along with them.
And when people are warned of “unwanted tracking” by an AirTag, users of the iPhone will be able to use “precision finding” to see the distance and direction to an unknown AirTag.
Currently iOS users can send an unwanted tracking alert to make the suspect AirTag play tones and Apple has said tags will use louder tones in the future to make the tag easier to locate.
The company said it will also add to a feature that makes an AirTag that hasn’t been with the person who registered it play a sound when moved.
Apple AirTags are good at finding things. But their accuracy means that, in the wrong hands, they can be used as sophisticated tracking tools and to stalk people.
Apple said the new updates to AirTags will come into effect later this year.
