{"id":165782,"date":"2022-12-23T02:40:15","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T02:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/apple-quietly-rolls-out-new-updates-that-could-prevent-airtag-stalking\/"},"modified":"2022-12-23T02:40:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T02:40:15","slug":"apple-quietly-rolls-out-new-updates-that-could-prevent-airtag-stalking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/apple-quietly-rolls-out-new-updates-that-could-prevent-airtag-stalking\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Quietly Rolls Out New Updates That Could Prevent AirTag Stalking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A hand placing an Apple AirTag into the fold of a wallet.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Stalking with AirTags has been a continuous problem since the product’s release. The company has produced multiple updates it claims increase user safety, but so far nothing has truly mitigated the risks.<\/p>\n

Although it’s been more than a year and a half since Apple put its little tracking doohickey called AirTags on the market, the product has been repeatedly abused by stalkers as a way of keeping tabs on targets. This week, Apple silently released details on earlier firmware updates to its AirTags that lets users tell if an unknown AirTag is on your person.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Apple’s Support page added details about its latest two firmware updates, namely 2.0.24 and 2.0.36. While the latter update says it fixed the AirTags accelerometer not working in \u201ccertain scenarios,\u201d the former update is very interesting. The update \u201cenables Precision Finding to help locate an unknown AirTag detected moving with you.\u201d In addition, a user’s iPhone will notify users when an AirTag that’s no longer with its owner is on your person. The iPhone will also emit a sound to make it clear it’s been moved.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

Any paired AirTag should automatically download the update when it’s within 33-feet of Bluetooth range with the iPhone, though the feature only works on iPhone 11, 12, 13, and 14 models. The iPhone also needs to be running iOs 16.2 or later. These updates add to an earlier firmware update that included \u201ctuning the unwanted tracking sound to more easily locate an unknown AirTag.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firmware updates were released both last month and this month, according to MacRumors, but it took the company until now to describe what the updates actually did. The feature works using ultra wideband, which means AirTags in countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Indonesia, and more are still more than capable of keeping tabs on unsuspecting persons. And of course, the feature does nothing for any Android user who might have an AirTag on them. For that, Apple has had to release a separate app.<\/p>\n