This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible.
GPS trackers designed to be magnet-attached to a car which report their location via cell signal cost ~$20 on Amazon. You then tend to need to pay for either a SIM card or a subscription to the device maker's service
-- bringing you up to about the cost of an AirTag. These are much harder to detect, as you might imagine.
The Apple device does try to make itself less useful for abusive purposes. Nearby iPhones will notify you if there's an AirTag following you. Apple released an Android app to scan for them (manually -- it'd probably be nice if they released something that did the same passive scanning as iPhones get, but there's battery trade-offs there, and obviously most people won't have that app). AirTags will also beep if they're separated from their owner.
In fact, this is news we're hearing about because of the steps Apple took to make it harder to use these devices for bad purposes. The tweet author got a warning about the device following them.
It's tricky to make something that lets you find where you dropped your keys while walking the dog that can't also be used for nefarious purposes.
GPS trackers designed to be magnet-attached to a car which report their location via cell signal cost ~$20 on Amazon. You then tend to need to pay for either a SIM card or a subscription to the device maker's service -- bringing you up to about the cost of an AirTag. These are much harder to detect, as you might imagine.
The Apple device does try to make itself less useful for abusive purposes. Nearby iPhones will notify you if there's an AirTag following you. Apple released an Android app to scan for them (manually -- it'd probably be nice if they released something that did the same passive scanning as iPhones get, but there's battery trade-offs there, and obviously most people won't have that app). AirTags will also beep if they're separated from their owner.
In fact, this is news we're hearing about because of the steps Apple took to make it harder to use these devices for bad purposes. The tweet author got a warning about the device following them.
It's tricky to make something that lets you find where you dropped your keys while walking the dog that can't also be used for nefarious purposes.