Apple sued by women over ‘dangerous’ AirTag stalking

The devices were advertised by the tech company as 'stalker proof' when they were launched in 2021

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  AirTag is a small and elegantly designed accessory that can be personalised with free engraving, and enables iPhone users to securely locate and keep track of their valuables using the Find My app. All photos: Apple

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  Precision Finding with AirTag fuses input from the camera, ARKit, accelerometer and gyroscope on iPhone to provide a more precise, directionally aware finding experience.

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  Precision Finding gives users the exact distance and direction to their AirTag, guiding them through a combination of sound haptics, and visual feedback.

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  If AirTag goes missing, the Find My network can help track it down, providing a notification to the user if it has been located.

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  Apple iOS devices can detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time.

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  With the Find My network accessory programme, the vast and secure network helps users locate important everyday things using the Items tab in the Find My app.

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  AirTag Hermes features an elegant assortment of handcrafted leather accessories, including a bag charm, key ring, travel tag, and luggage tag — all of which will be sold with a custom-engraved AirTag based on the brand’s iconic Clou de Selle signature.

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  AirTag has become the best tracking device for its accurate location capability.

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  A simple set up easily connects AirTag with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

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  AirTag can be placed into a bag or pocket on its own, or utilized with a wide range of Apple-designed accessories.

Apple has been sued by two women who said its AirTag devices made it easy for stalkers to track and terrorise victims.

The inexpensive devices, about the size of a half-dollar coin, are intended to be slipped into or attached to personal possessions, such as backpacks or keys, to help owners locate them.

But privacy advocates have warned — and police reports have verified — that AirTags can also be used to track people without consent.

An ex-boyfriend of one of the women who filed the lawsuit planted an AirTag in the wheel well of her car and was able to find out where she had moved to avoid his harassment, according to the proposed class-action complaint filed this week in federal court in San Francisco.

The other woman said her estranged husband tracked her movements by placing an AirTag in her child’s backpack.

In other cases, AirTag tracking has led to murder, according to the lawsuit. In one instance, a former boyfriend used the device to track and shoot a woman in Akron, Ohio; in another, a woman in Indianapolis, Indiana, hid an AirTag in her ex-boyfriend’s car, followed him to a bar and ran him over.

Apple advertised the AirTag as “stalker proof” when it released the device in April 2021. It included chimed notifications to inform users of Apple devices, such as iPhones and MacBooks, if there was an AirTag within Bluetooth range (about nine metres) for an extended period of time.

After continued complaints from privacy advocates, the company upgraded protections earlier this year, shortening the time for notifications and also informing Apple device users when an AirTag that wasn’t registered to them was “Moving With You,” such as one attached to the undercarriage of a user’s car.

Apple also released an app for Android users that lets them scan for AirTags around them.

But that hasn’t silenced concerns about the devices.

“While Apple has built safeguards into the AirTag product, they are woefully inadequate, and do little, if anything, to promptly warn individuals if they are being tracked,” according to the lawsuit.

The women accuse the company of negligently releasing an unsafe device and are asking the court to award unspecified monetary damages. They seek to represent others “who have been and who are at risk of stalking via this dangerous product”.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.