A police department in Colorado has started issuing Apple AirTags to vehicle owners. Law enforcement officials in Arvada, a city of about 125,000, want to do a better job of cracking down on a rising number of car thefts. Broadcaster CBS Colorado reports,
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Apple doesn’t see AirTags as theft protection
It is known that Apple trackers with Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband (UWB) have already been used to solve various thefts in the United States and elsewhere. Some tricky people also use them for spying. However, Apple itself is only partially right. The company markets AirTags for locating items through its Find My network, not for theft protection. This can be seen from the fact that devices are being equipped with increasingly strict anti-stalking measures, which warn not only potential victims of harassment, but also thieves.
Arvada police launched their first “giveaway event” over the weekend, giving away air tags with stickers (“This car can be tracked by police if it’s stolen!”). This campaign was also started because some successful searches had been done with trackers in the past. As can be seen in the CBS Colorado video, in addition to AirTags, competing products from the provider Tile are also distributed, although they have a “Where?” Is a smaller network than. Use and therefore will be hard to find. Unlike AirTags, Tile also has a special theft mode integrated into it.
Airlines supporting AirTags
Apple has not yet officially cooperated with law enforcement for the reasons explained above. Recently, the group launched a collaboration with several airlines to help locate luggage with integrated AirTags.
Apple is currently preparing for the availability of the second generation of the popular tracker. It may appear later this year and is said to offer higher location accuracy and better transmission performance. A new UWB chip that’s already in the iPhone helps here. AirTags have been on the market unchanged since 2021, but are regularly updated with new firmware.
(B.Sc.)
