In a big boost for personal safety, Android phones now tell users if they’re being tracked by one of Apple’s AirTag devices.
Google has rolled out an update so that Android devices automatically send alerts if they detect ‘an unknown tracker travelling with you’.
AirTags pair with a smartphone app so that users can see the device’s location on a map – which is handy if attached to a set of keys or in stolen luggage.
But since AirTags were released two years ago, nefarious figures have been caught slipping them into people’s pockets or bags to follow their location on the app.
It follows the story of an Irish woman being tracked without her knowledge for two hours around Disneyland California.
A partnership between Google (which runs Android) and Apple (which makes AirTags) means Android users just have to go to their settings
Apple designed its coin-sized device so users could attach it to important items such as keys, wallets and luggage.
Through the accompanying app, called ‘Find My’, users are always able to know where the tag is (as well as the object it’s attached to).
Holiday-makers have been putting an AirTag in their checked-in baggage so they can find it if the airline loses it.
But since the release of AirTags in 2021, Apple was alerted to concerning instances of the technology being misused, risking people’s personal safety and privacy.
By slipping their AirTag into someone’s bag or pocket without them knowing, a criminal can potentially track their victim’s location all the way back to their house.
AirTags were built so that a notification from Apple’s Find My app will pop up on a person’s iPhone if an unknown AirTag is found ‘travelling’ with them, even if they do not have the Find My app installed.
However, Find My is for iOS, so Apple also created an app for Android devices called Tracker Detect so they devices would detect AirTags as well as iPhones.
But Android users were still vulnerable to AirTag stalking if they didn’t have Tracker Detect downloaded to their device.
If you are being tracked, the alert on your Android will read: ‘Unknown tracker detected. The owner of the tracker can see its location’
Tapping on ‘more info’ will give you the option to make the AirTag emit a sound, letting you know exactly where it’s been hidden. There’s also the all-important option to disable the tracker, stopping the owner of the AirTag from seeing your location
Now, Google has stepped up efforts to protect potential Android stalking victims by building alerts directly into Android security settings.
If you are being tracked, the alert on your Android will read: ‘Unknown tracker detected. The owner of the tracker can see its location.’
Tapping on ‘more info’ will give you the option to make the AirTag emit a sound, letting you know exactly where it’s been hidden.
There’s also the all-important option to disable the tracker, stopping the owner of the AirTag from seeing your location.
Alerts are on by default, but if for some reason you don’t want to receive them you can turn the option off.
Simply go to device settings and tap on ‘Safety and Emergency’ (or, if using an older version of Android, ‘Personal Safety’).
An option called ‘Unknown tracker alerts’ will let you toggle off and on permission to get sent alerts.
A big green tick should also tell you that there are ‘no trackers detected’ on its last scan, although you can perform a manual scan for the devices at any time.
Google warns that ‘only compatible trackers can be detected’, because at present the alert only works if it’s an AirTag.
Other tracking devices including Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, Eufy Security and Pebblebee are to get support at a later date.
AirTag is a small, circular device with an Apple logo at the centre, and is equipped with Bluetooth connectivity to pair with an iPhone or iPad. Using the ‘Find My’ app, the system provides step-by-step directions to locate the tag and the missing object
Ultimately, the update should offer peace of mind to Android users, such as women returning home from a night out.
A number of reports in the US have claimed people are being unknowingly tracked with AirTags, potentially by stalkers, thieves and sexual predators.
According to an investigation by Vice earlier this year, 150 police reports from dozens of US police departments had involved AirTags over an eight-month period.
Of the 150 reports, 50 cases involved women who had called the police because they started getting notifications that their whereabouts were being tracked by an AirTag they didn’t own.
In one case, a woman called the police to report that her ex had slashed her tires and left an AirTag in the car to watch her.
