AirGuard

That's true for Apple's Tracker Detect app, but any thief or other user could simply use the free and open source AirGuard app on Android, which has more functionality than both Tracker Detect and the AirTag anti-tracking features built into iOS: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard For example, AirGuard lets the user activate the alarm on any AirTag in range immediately without waiting any period of time. iOS and Tracker Detect only let the user do this if they determine that the AirTag is following the user, and Tracker Detect adds another 10 minute waiting period for no good reason.

Tracker Detect only scans for AirTags when the user manually requests a scan. Car thieves and other users who do not want to be tracked by AirTags would be better off using the AirGuard app on Android, which scans for AirTags and other Bluetooth tracking devices in the background automatically: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard AirGuard is a FOSS project developed by the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Not natively. You need to install a specific app, for example: - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac... - https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

Airguard kind of does this: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard It'll scan for bluetooth trackers in the background (and airpods and iphones) and can give you a per-device history.

Android apps that detect AirTags exist too, e.g. https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

AirGuard is still detecting AirTags and iPhones for me, and it automatically scans in the background without needing manual activation. A previous version of AirGuard had a bug that interfered with detection, but that issue was fixed in version 1.3.4 (released in May): https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard/issues/63

Apple's Tracker Detect app for Android does not automatically scan for AirTags. Users must open the app and manually initiate each scan, then wait at least 10 minutes after detecting an AirTag before causing it to emit a noise. A much better alternative is the free and open source AirGuard app developed by the Technical University of Darmstadt. It automatically scans for AirTags, Tiles, and other Bluetooth tracking devices in the background. When AirGuard detects an AirTag, the user can immediately force the AirTag to emit a sound without having to wait. - AirGuard: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

Apple's Tracker Detect app for Android was designed to be inferior to the AirTag detection in Find My for iOS because Tracker Detect does not scan for AirTags automatically. Instead, Android users must manually open the Tracker Detect app and tap "Scan" every time. Tracker Detect's lack of automatic scanning is not due to anything about the Android platform, since AirGuard exists as a free and open source Android app that scans for AirTags, Tiles, and other potential Bluetooth tracking devices in the background without needing user interaction. AirGuard: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard In addition to automatic scanning, AirGuard has maps showing where and when each tracking device was detected. AirGuard also allows Android users to (manually) make AirTags emit a sound through the app as soon as they are detected, while Tracker Dete

In F-Droid there is an app against tracking with air tags. https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

> I feel like this is ignoring the fact that if any company other than Apple made these trackers, it wouldn't do this with anyone's phones. Right, and Apple have provided everything that AOSP would need to implement this, someone even made their own version of the entire Find My client long ago (https://github.com/seemoo-lab/openhaystack), so technically AOSP could even integrate using Find My, although I imagine Apples lawyers would have a field day with this if they did. Identifying the AirTags has also been implemented as a background service by the same organisation as above (https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard). > I guess they could make the packaging more tamper resistant somehow, but again this is kind of shifting the goals a bit. I don't think it's reasonable to expect that every device will be physically resistant to modificat

Fixed link: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard AirGuard is great. They optimized the app to the point that it doesn't even show up in my Android device's battery usage statistics anymore. It's a set and forget app that scans for AirTags in the background automatically, but also when you trigger a manual scan. It's free and open source. Apple's Tracker Detect app for Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac...) doesn't have automatic scanning, and requires the user to open the app and tap the button to manually scan for AirTags. It also forces the user to wait 10 minutes before they can make the AirTag emit a sound. I'm glad that the Technical University of Darmstadt made a better solution and released the source code, too.

"We're working closely with the police on our pervasive, no-permission geo-tracking system" is a *terrible* fucking message to hear. It won't be long before they have tiny mics, too. And the little speakers they have, of course, can be disabled. We on HN should really band together to do something about this. There is already https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard which is cool. What else could be done? I can think of some general directions: 1) Fill their network with noise somehow. If there are lots of tags, or tags pretending to be other tags, then information on which tag is where will be less valuable 2) Make something that forces existing tags to out themselves (should they have working speakers) 3) Jam their radio signals. Probably illegal in the U.S. under FCC rules, but perhaps there's a way to do it where you're not actually jam

Might be useful: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuarg, a third-party Android app, can force an AirTag to make a sound even if Apple hasn't determined that tag has been following you (the BLE characteristic is unauthenticated: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard/blob/main/app/src/mai...) HN discussion: AirGuard: Protect yourself from being tracked by AirTags and Find My accessories (298 points, 150 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28577951

Sweet Apple didn't bother to create a real time Airtag tracking android app. They have one, but it's manual so it's useless. Thankfully, The Secure Mobile Networking Lab (SEEMOO)of the Computer Science Department of Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany has created an app for it. It's FOSS and available on Google Play and Fdroid. https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.seemoo.at_t... https://f-droid.org/packages/de.seemoo.at_tracking_detection

There is, it's open source and works. I have have this running on my phone in the background and it has alerted me a few times like when my phone was in the locker at the gym and someones airtags was in a locker close to mine. https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard