2y ago

Android phones can now tell you if there’s an AirTag following you

arstechnica.com Android phones can now tell you if there’s an AirTag following you

Google says its own tracker ecosystem is on hold until iOS has the same protection.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/795697

Archived version: https://archive.ph/55yyZ
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230728012552/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/android-phones-can-now-tell-you-if-theres-an-airtag-following-you/

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2y ago

Android phones can now tell you if there’s an AirTag following you

arstechnica.com /gadgets/2023/07/android-phones-can-now-tell-you-if-theres-an-airtag-following-you/

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2y ago

Android phones can now tell you if there’s an AirTag following you

arstechnica.com /gadgets/2023/07/android-phones-can-now-tell-you-if-theres-an-airtag-following-you/

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2y ago

Android phones can now tell you if there’s an AirTag following you

arstechnica.com /gadgets/2023/07/android-phones-can-now-tell-you-if-theres-an-airtag-following-you/

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60 comments

But we still don't have an equivalent android tag.
- They're coming as part of the new Find My Device network. The launch has been delayed until Apple releases their portion of the joint anti-tracking effort.
  see last paragraph on Google blog post on this topic
- I have a Tile Tag and it's not bad. I keep them on my keychain, in the car, and when traveling. They aren't as predominant as Air Tags yet, but they work.
  I seriously suspect that Google will eventually acquire the Tile brand so they can absorb the patents without having to start from scratch.
  
  I have a Tile Tag and it's not bad.
  But afaik, that doesn't have the same functionality as the air tag?
  Air tags can ping any iPhone and report their location back through the cloud.
  Most android devices won't have a location reporting function active, unless the person happens to have also installed the Tile app in their phone, which is a pretty small percentage of phone users.
  That's not going to help me locate my suitcase that Air Canada sent to the other side of the world.
  
  That is correct, currently the tile needs the app running in the background. Which actually a lot of people have. Funny thing is a friend was traveling through Europe so I loaned them a tile to put in their backpack to track if lost. I found that popular travel spots like airports and town squares around Europe worked just fine. It was harder when traveling down the highway for example as far less people would have tile running on their phone in the background.
  Like I said, I hope Google acquires Tile and integrates it like Apple did with the airtag. But instead it sounds like google is working on their own tracking chip, and will be releasing it as soon as Apple integrates their side (so both android and apple will alert users if someone else's tags are tracking them)
- Aren't there a number of small gps trackers on the market that are compatible with Android? Tile and Chipolo to name a couple.
  
  just for clarification, they are Bluetooth trackers. They don't have a GPS radio within them and have no intrinsic knowledge of where they are located. Essentially just a Bluetooth beacon
  
  The drawback of non-AirTags is that they depend on people consciously opting in to the network (by, say, buying Tiles themselves and running the app). The AirTag network just exists because every iPhone is part of the network, whether or not people have bought AirTags themselves. The AirTag network is orders of magnitude larger and denser than, say, the Tile network.
  This vast difference between coverage networks will also push Tiles to extinction, as the Tile network is now far, far worse than the AirTag one, and there's not much point in buying one. If you're serious about tracking your stuff, it's quite possibly worth buying a used iPad just for this purpose.
  
  I suspect Tile will end up being forced into using either Google's or Apple's network. Would be cool to be able to use both someday
  
  Air tags do not have GPS either. They use UWB+bluetooth but rely on the phone for location data.
  
  yes I wasn't trying to say otherwise! Just annoyed when people call them GPS
  
  That’s the amazing thing about air tags that no other tracker can offer. For better or for worse, every modern iPhone is - by default - reporting the location of nearby tags. It’s nearly impossible to actually lose something with an AirTag on it assuming it doesn’t come off and the area has even the faintest cell signal.
  That’s far from the case with tile or any other tracker.
  
  I'm optimistic Google will be able to wave a hand and bam now 2 billion Android devices do it courtesy of Google Play Services
  
  You do you. But they really only violate your privacy if they're following you. And that's what the warning is about.
  
  I understand but the concern but your device is reporting the location anonymously and you are not tied to the report.

60 comments