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So, this prevents some legitimate use cases, for example putting a tag in a suitcase for the flight, because it'll start beeping at some point? A shame. It wou

So, this prevents some legitimate use cases, for example putting a tag in a suitcase for the flight, because it'll start beeping at some point? A shame. It would've been cool standing at that conveyor belt at the airport and rather than staring at the luggage as it comes, being able to sense one's own stuff. Also, seems that it's not suitable for putting on a cat or dog's collar for the same reason.

gruez 6y ago
Presumably "extended period of time" is several days, not several hours.
- drdaeman 6y ago
  That would defeat the purpose of this anti-tracking [counter]measure. One would be able to sneak a tag into someone's bag (or clothes, or car) and track their movement for the whole day. Then get back into tag's proximity to reset the timer.
  - gruez 6y ago
    If your threat model is 1 day, it's pretty hard to use that for any sort of "find lost things" product. If I forgot my keychain at work, is it going to beep the entire night? What if I'm out sick the next day? Is it going to annoy all my coworkers for the entire day?
    - drdaeman 6y ago
      > If I forgot my keychain at work, is it going to beep the entire night? No, I don't think so. As I understand it, the idea is that AirTags would only beep if they detect being moved (probably, accelerometer/motion based, as everything else is probably energy cost-prohibitive). So, no, a forgotten keychain left on a table shouldn't beep on its own, unless someone takes it and carries with themselves for some time. It shouldn't even beep if your coworker notices your keys and moves them to another room for safekeeping. The idea is that it should eventually alert if you put a tag in someone's back pocket and you or they walk away.
- JohnBooty 6y ago
  Probably needs to be more like minutes. Think about a stalker dropping a tracker into the pocket/bag/etc of their victim. They slip a tracker in their co-worker's bag at the end of the day. Coworker goes home. Attacker knows where they live now. Or, maybe it's a stranger on the bus. Or in a club. The victim is likely going to be home in less than a few hours. Perhaps less than an hour.
908B64B197 6y ago
Also rental gear. I could see businesses being a lot more willing to loan equipment for a trial period if they could put a tag on it.
crazygringo 6y ago
It doesn't say, but I have to assume that it detects it's moving, but moving together with an unrecognized cell phone or something -- e.g. picking up a single unchanging WiFi signal while most other signals come and go. Of course, if the person being stalked wasn't carrying a cell phone, then this raises the possibility the anti-stalking wouldn't be activated.
diebeforei485 6y ago
IDK if they've addressed this feature sufficiently well, but I assume phones could ignore airtags when set to airplane mode.
dzhiurgis 6y ago
> standing at that conveyor belt at the airport you're not supposed to put batteries in your luggage
- manmal 6y ago
  What harm could such a small battery do?

gruez 6y ago

Presumably "extended period of time" is several days, not several hours.

drdaeman 6y ago
That would defeat the purpose of this anti-tracking [counter]measure. One would be able to sneak a tag into someone's bag (or clothes, or car) and track their movement for the whole day. Then get back into tag's proximity to reset the timer.
- gruez 6y ago
  If your threat model is 1 day, it's pretty hard to use that for any sort of "find lost things" product. If I forgot my keychain at work, is it going to beep the entire night? What if I'm out sick the next day? Is it going to annoy all my coworkers for the entire day?
  - drdaeman 6y ago
    > If I forgot my keychain at work, is it going to beep the entire night? No, I don't think so. As I understand it, the idea is that AirTags would only beep if they detect being moved (probably, accelerometer/motion based, as everything else is probably energy cost-prohibitive). So, no, a forgotten keychain left on a table shouldn't beep on its own, unless someone takes it and carries with themselves for some time. It shouldn't even beep if your coworker notices your keys and moves them to another room for safekeeping. The idea is that it should eventually alert if you put a tag in someone's back pocket and you or they walk away.
JohnBooty 6y ago
Probably needs to be more like minutes. Think about a stalker dropping a tracker into the pocket/bag/etc of their victim. They slip a tracker in their co-worker's bag at the end of the day. Coworker goes home. Attacker knows where they live now. Or, maybe it's a stranger on the bus. Or in a club. The victim is likely going to be home in less than a few hours. Perhaps less than an hour.

908B64B197 6y ago

Also rental gear. I could see businesses being a lot more willing to loan equipment for a trial period if they could put a tag on it.

crazygringo 6y ago

It doesn't say, but I have to assume that it detects it's moving, but moving together with an unrecognized cell phone or something -- e.g. picking up a single unchanging WiFi signal while most other signals come and go. Of course, if the person being stalked wasn't carrying a cell phone, then this raises the possibility the anti-stalking wouldn't be activated.

diebeforei485 6y ago

IDK if they've addressed this feature sufficiently well, but I assume phones could ignore airtags when set to airplane mode.

dzhiurgis 6y ago

> standing at that conveyor belt at the airport you're not supposed to put batteries in your luggage

manmal 6y ago
What harm could such a small battery do?