Apple iOS 15.2 update responds to users’ concerns over AirTag stalking

Apple has released a new feature for concerned users after copping criticism over its latest accessory, the AirTag.

Apple's AirTag helps keep track of belongings using Apple's Find My network, but there are concerns it could be used to stalk people. Picture: James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Apple has released a new feature after copping criticism over its latest accessory, the AirTag.

The AirTag is a small electronic device users can attach to things like wallets and keys and link to their Apple devices to locate them when they are lost.

The Washington Post, among others, pointed out the design flaw after the device’s release in early 2021, warning it could be “frighteningly easy” for stalkers to take advantage of the new tech.

Several tests conducted by online tech reviewers revealed just how easy it was for a potential stalker to place an AirTag on somebody and know their whereabouts.

“AirTags are a new means of inexpensive, effective stalking. I know because I tested AirTags by letting a Washington Post colleague pretend to stalk me,” the review said.

Cybersecurity director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation Eva Galperin, who is a prominent advocate for fighting stalkerware in new tech, also criticised the emergence of tracking tags after Tile launched their similar device in 2014.

“I don’t expect products to be perfect the moment they hit the market, but I don’t think they would have made the choices that they did if they had consulted even a single expert in intimate partner abuse,” she said.

Apple’s iOS 15.2 update moves to remedy this, giving users access to detect “items that can track me” from their Apple devices.

Several tests conducted by online tech reviewers revealed just how easy it was for a potential stalker to place an AirTag on somebody and know their whereabouts.

Within the Find My app, there is a new “unknown items” option that can scan for rogue devices the user may be unaware of in their vicinity.

The feature, which is still in beta, scans surroundings “when you think a nearby item is used to track your location”. If any unknown AirTags are detected, the Find My app will provide instructions on how to disable them.

“These are an industry-first, strong set of proactive deterrents,” Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of iPhone marketing, said in an interview. “It’s a smart and tuneable system, and we can continue improving the logic and timing so that we can improve the set of deterrents.”

Apple has built in another feature that could help Android users from being stalked. If an AirTag has been separated from its owner for several days, it will begin making an alert sound.

The beep is used to help reunite lost belongings with their owners, but it would also flag to an Android phone user that there’s an AirTag nearby that isn’t near to its owner.

Apple has introduced a new feature to trace unknown items in your vicinty.