As part of the Apple Event, the organizer announced a change in the firmware of all AirTag trackers used to find lost things and animals. Now it will be more difficult to use them to spy on people.
If initially it was envisaged that AirTag would start emitting sound signals three days after the loss of connection with the tethered iPhone, the beacons will start emitting sounds at a random time 8-24 hours after the loss of contact with the owner. People will also have new ways to know when an AirTag or other device that supports Apple’s Locator Network (Find My) is nearby. If you find someone else’s AirTag, you can easily get instructions on how to turn it off using an iPhone or other NFC-enabled device.
In addition, the company announced that it is already developing an Android application that allows it to understand that there is an Apple tracking device nearby. The program will be presented before the end of this year. Unfortunately, it is still impossible to fully use AirTag with Android smartphones. Note that there is already a corresponding notification system for other people’s trackers for the iPhone.
The announcement of the new firmware followed a month after the trackers went on sale. They are marketed as a convenient solution for finding keys, bags, and even animals using the Find My network, which includes more than a billion iPhones and other Apple devices that help locate lost items with trackers.
According to the company, the distribution of updates for AirTag began yesterday. Devices will reflash automatically as soon as they are in the range of the iPhone. The developers declined to share details about the AirTag search app and Find My network-compatible Android devices, promising to provide more information “later this year.”