this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2024
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There is a much more sinister issue that Google is trying to resolve with this: it's currently possible to stalk somebody by placing a tracker fob in their bag or on their car, so long as you know the victim's device doesn't support it.
Suppose some creeper with an iPhone is stalking a victim with an Android phone. So long as they use an Apple AirTag, the victim will never know they have a tracker trailing them wherever they go. And in reverse, the issue is the same.
Apple isn't concerned about this, because they hold a monopoly in the market they care most about and can leverage this as an iPhone-only feature. After all, so long as you have an iPhone, you'll be warned about an AirTag you don't own following you. Apple wants to leverage this as an exclusive safety feature and have no intention of allowing other devices to do the same.
Apologies for providing this background as I know that this goes against the circle jerk of accusing Google of infringing our privacy. Feel free to disregard this context of it being beneficial to our collective privacy.
This is not correct. Android devices can detect apple's air tags and alert users when an unauthorized tag is nearby. Google delayed the launch of their network to wait for Apple to implement the same feature for Android compatible tags, which is finally coming in the next iOS update.
Android has no way of knowing if a tag is "unauthorized" because Apple does not provision access to their tag network. You could, in principle, ignore tags that you know about, but you'd have to do it by identifying it by some arbitrary hexadecimal GATT ID.
As always, Apple wants to keep it that way, because it gives a poor experience on Android.
Theoretically (and I might be wrong about this), without attempting to reverse engineer how Apple assigns these codes, there would be no to differentiate AirTags, AirPods, iPhones, etc.
Android detects air tags and notifies users. https://support.google.com/android/answer/13658562?hl=en#zippy=%2Ccompatible-trackers
Yeah probably one of the only things Apple and Google could decide on together.
Yes, users have begun to be alerted of trackers—this is the recent change by Google as it relates to this post. An ongoing issue is, to my knowledge, that there's no way to identify what kind of device it is. Goggle's instructions literally suggest taking a screenshot of the serial number for later reference.
I get alerts on my Android for an Airtag I keep in my backpack all the time. My phone gives me the option to make the Airtag play a sound.
Allow me to clarify:
Consequently, the solution offered by Google appears to have been effectively built without Apple's support. Goggle's added support for AirTags despite Apple's cooperation—and support for other tracking devices—is a net positive for privacy.