I've had that on my Android phone for some time now.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.seemoo.at_tracking_detection/
Yes there's an Apple version
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/airguard-tracking-protection/id1659427454
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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This will be built-in Google Play for all Android 6+, no need for external app
But then you have to have Google Play installed ๐คฎ๐คฎ
There's an official apple version on Google Play too just search for com.apple.trackerdetect
Isn't it the one app that Apple has published on the Play Store?
Apple has quite a few apps there. Music for one.
I know a few people that hide them in their bike frames. Will it tell bike thieves that the tag hidden in the stolen bike is following them?
I would assume so. It's a difficult thing, because I'm really not okay with people covertly tracking others with airtags without their consent, but the it can of course also be used to track stolen items or so.
Feels like a tragedy of the commons sorta thing. Most people would use air tags responsibly, but a small number of people abuse them and thus kinda ruin them for everyone. We can't have nice things because people suck.
Yeah, they aren't really useful for anti theft, but that's the compromise you have to make for safety
Yes, but that already used to happen before if the thieve had an iPhone.
Yes it will, after some amount of time.
I think the solution to this problem is embedding the tag into the frame in such a way that removing it would be destructive or at least highly impractical. That's my plan at least. Waiting for my Chipolo trackers to arrive.
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After reading this, I'm wondering how a phone could differentiate an Airtag following me from for example a guy with an Airtag sitting somewhere near me while inside a train for two hours.
I believe the tracker doesn't emit the same signal when the phone the AirTag is paired with are communicating directly. So as long as the owner of the airtag is in the vicinity it will not be considered as following/stalking you.
It can tell because the random guy's Airtag will be connected to his iPhone, it will only notify people if it isn't close to the owner's device
I'm pretty sure it's length of time. If you're on a train next to someone, you won't be for more than an hour or two. Not two days.
When the device follows you constantly for multiple days is likely when it'll make the alert.
When I visit family via train, google knows I was on a train ( maps timeline ), so maybe they can tell by how straight the travel is ?
It warns you but it doesn't contact the police for you. It's still up to you to assess the situation and your next steps. If you're on a sleeper train or have any reason to believe it's not a threat, just ignore it.
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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.
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.
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Thatโs 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. Itโs nearly impossible to actually lose something with an AirTag on it assuming it doesnโt come off and the area has even the faintest cell signal.
Thatโs 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
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They can? Because I just checked on my Pixel 7 running latest update of Android 13 and the documented feature does not exist under safety and emergency. The update I'm running was released on July 5th and there are no newer updates available.
So again.... "Now"??? I guess they mean it's in the next version.
From the article:
Now Android users will soon get these "Unknown Tracker Alerts."
Emphasis mine.
Rule of android: if a post reads "now" in the headline, this means anywhere from 1 week to Never depending on where in the world you live and what phone you have.
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Is this just apple airtags or all tracking devices? Honestly all these articles do is teach stalkers not to use airtags and instead use something else.
the alerts currently work only with AirTags, but Google says it will work with tag manufacturers to expand its coverage.
Google and Apple built the specification, but other tracker makers needs to adopt it.
Stalkers don't give a shit. It's not like they're thinking rationally anyway. There's quite a few non-tag options out there but you need a subscription that's attached to the device's unique ID. You can regulate and put in a million ways to prevent stalking but they will always find a way.
And they'll have to do it without a network of billions of phones helping them.
Bit OT, but has anyone used the Samsung tracker? Are they any good?
I mean they are currently /ok/ but since it's only samsung devices it bounces off instead of every android device it doesn't have the versatility that the Apple airtags have (where it bounces off any apple device and any android device with the app), so if it's between one of the other I would go with air tag since you can still use them on android (with a secondary app) but as always YMMV since it's made for Apple devices
that being said, might be changing with googles support for trackers!
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