3 ms·

I wonder if this modification could at least be made harder by having some kind of heartbeat. Build in a microphone whose sole purpose is to receive inaudible,

I wonder if this modification could at least be made harder by having some kind of heartbeat. Build in a microphone whose sole purpose is to receive inaudible, high frequency impulses (maybe a hash signal?) from the speaker every once in a while. If the signal does not arrive in time, the AirTag shuts off. Of course, no measure can beat physical access to the device but you could at least make the tampering about as expensive as building your own device from scratch.

causi 5y ago
It wouldn't be hard to make a silent container for an airtag that'd let the audible signal reach the mic but not the alarm. Personally I think they'll eventually have to link every Airtag to a real identity so anyone detecting one knows who it really belongs to.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  > have to link every Airtag to a real identity Isn't it already linked to your Apple account? Take the AirTag to the cops, they ask Apple who it belongs to.
  - iso1631 5y ago
    Not sure why you're being downvoted, valid question. I don't know how they work, but I assume they are linked to an account. Why even involve the cops - if you have an airtag, you should be able to scan it's code and it reveals the account holder's name.
    - rootusrootus 5y ago
      > Why even involve the cops - if you have an airtag, you should be able to scan it's code and it reveals the account holder's name. That's easy. If you find my house keys, I'd rather you couldn't just look up my address. I don't know if Apple makes it easy or not, but I'd certainly like to be able to push a notification to the AirTag owner if I have found one of their things. At least so I can send them a message "I dropped this off at the local police station so you can pick it up" etc, or something along those lines.
    - deleted 5y ago
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      - deleted 5y ago
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  - causi 5y ago
    I had a buddy try that just last week after he was alerted to one under his car. They laughed at him and did nothing but write a report.
  - throwaway48375 5y ago
throwaway48375 5y ago
Couldn't you just remove the speaker and microphone then wire the speaker output to the microphone input?

causi 5y ago

It wouldn't be hard to make a silent container for an airtag that'd let the audible signal reach the mic but not the alarm. Personally I think they'll eventually have to link every Airtag to a real identity so anyone detecting one knows who it really belongs to.

rootusrootus 5y ago
> have to link every Airtag to a real identity Isn't it already linked to your Apple account? Take the AirTag to the cops, they ask Apple who it belongs to.
- iso1631 5y ago
  Not sure why you're being downvoted, valid question. I don't know how they work, but I assume they are linked to an account. Why even involve the cops - if you have an airtag, you should be able to scan it's code and it reveals the account holder's name.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    > Why even involve the cops - if you have an airtag, you should be able to scan it's code and it reveals the account holder's name. That's easy. If you find my house keys, I'd rather you couldn't just look up my address. I don't know if Apple makes it easy or not, but I'd certainly like to be able to push a notification to the AirTag owner if I have found one of their things. At least so I can send them a message "I dropped this off at the local police station so you can pick it up" etc, or something along those lines.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- causi 5y ago
  I had a buddy try that just last week after he was alerted to one under his car. They laughed at him and did nothing but write a report.
- throwaway48375 5y ago

throwaway48375 5y ago

Couldn't you just remove the speaker and microphone then wire the speaker output to the microphone input?