Apple Air Tags as a cheap motorcycle/vehicle theft tracker?

[Clegg78]

Hey folks  -  So I was thinking ( I accidently do that now and then)   With the the launch of the Apple Air Tags, we now have access to a $29 tracker that uses the largest mobile system on earth (comprised of close to 1B compatible devices) that are everywhere for tracking.   This could make it a cheap, subscription free,  1Yr battery life, discrete,  and durable tracker for your motorcycle.  Tile had this functionality before but there are not as many devices setup to help track the Tiles.   With Apple, its a game changer though.  Here is how it works:

How Air Tags work :  You buy an Air Tag and Associate it to your account and in the "Find My" Network.   The Air Tags just ping a low power and highly encrypted Bluetooth/NFC signal that compatible phones passively listen for (Essentially any iPhone in the last 5 years) and report that it saw the tag and the location the phone was when it saw it (or some approximation of where the system thinks the tag is).

So an example in action:  You park your motorcycle for the day at a trail head and go for a hike.   You wont be anywhere near your motorcycle, but its location will be reported privately to Apple by anyone who comes by it and Apple will update the Find My network location. 

If your bike gets stolen, essentially anyone near the bike with an iPhone will relay its location to you.    You can set the tag into "lost mode" so it will msg you every time its seen with its location. 

I made a small mount for mine to go under the seat somewhat discretely and not blocked by a lot of metal, luggage, etc... out of a soft TPU rubber just using the stock push rivet. (I may post this part on https://JK3D.us for sale, but I haven't decided yet as I am not happy with the print quality for this complex design with the TPU I am using)

An example of how my Air Tag looks for the motorcycle (Taken when I went out to get lunch): 

 
 

 

Pros:  Cheap ($29 for one 4x for $99), no battery or power wiring needed, no GPS needed, no cell contract or satellite contract,  just replace the battery once a year (CR2032 standard battery).  Able to be used to remember where you parked the bike. 

Cons: Dependent on people having iPhones near by if you aren't near it,  Dependent on you having an iPhone/account,  It has a number of anti-stalking features that could let people know there is an Air Tag on the bike, it will emit a  (Pretty quiet) noise every now and then if it hasn't been near you in 3 days.   It also has a limited range, so if no one gets within like 20-30ft of your bike it may not be picked up and people cant be just racing by in a car to see it.

I am planning to do a lot of backpacking this summer with the motorcycle, so leaving the bike at trail heads for days on end... and bikes are stolen quite a bit.  I have a disc lock with an alarm + this tracker... and insurance.   So hopefully that is enough. 

[Clegg78]

and if you want to see what makes Air Tags click : https://www.ifixit.com/News/50145/airtag-teardown-part-one-yeah-this-tracks 

With this info I may actually change my mount design around to have the air tag sit turned around for better exposure of the antenna (the white side is the side where the antenna is most visible.)

[Garybinnyc]

Seriously I hadn’t even contemplated this.. of course now I’m on Apple‘s website getting myself an air tag.. , nothing to lose. Theft aside, at least now I’ll know if my son decides to take my bike for a joyride!

[dazzler24]

1 hour ago, Clegg78 said:

and if you want to see what makes Air Tags click : https://www.ifixit.com/News/50145/airtag-teardown-part-one-yeah-this-tracks 

With this info I may actually change my mount design around to have the air tag sit turned around for better exposure of the antenna (the white side is the side where the antenna is most visible.)

This quote taken from the link above - "To prevent malicious use, an iPhone will alert its user if an AirTag not registered to their iCloud account seems to be following them."

So.... does this mean that this could potentially backfire for the owner of the stolen bike/item etc if it's the thief that has an iPhone?  If I've understood that correctly it will be the thief that's alerted that they're being tracked!

[Clegg78]

3 minutes ago, dazzler24 said:

This quote taken from the link above - "To prevent malicious use, an iPhone will alert its user if an AirTag not registered to their iCloud account seems to be following them."

So.... does this mean that this could potentially backfire for the owner of the stolen bike/item etc if it's the thief that has an iPhone?  If I've understood that correctly it will be the thief that's alerted that they're being tracked!

Yeah that's true.  But it does take a few days for that to happen I believe.  Also, if they know there is an Air Tag on the bike being tracked but they cant find it... they may just dump the bike or bail on their plan.   Its not a perfect system by any means, but no tracking system generally is without a subscription service.   There are definitely ways to hide a small air tag better on the bike if you wanted.  there are a number of locations that would work well I think.  I was going with "easy and just not obvious" with my mount above  

Also I think if you put the tracker into "Lost Mode" it skips some of the anti stalking tech steps potentially.   not 100% sure.  There is a knife edge Apple is walking on this tech to keep it from being used maliciously. 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Clegg78

[dazzler24]

9 minutes ago, Clegg78 said:

Yeah that's true.  But it does take a few days for that to happen I believe.  Also, if they know there is an Air Tag on the bike being tracked but they cant find it... they may just dump the bike or bail on their plan.   Its not a perfect system by any means, but no tracking system generally is without a subscription service. 

Fair enough.  All valid points and as you indicate, the potential benefits out weigh the small negative.

[wanderer]

2 hours ago, dazzler24 said:

"To prevent malicious use, an iPhone will alert its user if an AirTag not registered to their iCloud account seems to be following them."

Interesting. And an Android user may be tracked by an Airtag and never know it.

Scary world we are entering.

[Clegg78]

1 minute ago, wanderer said:

Interesting. And an Android user may be tracked by an Airtag and never know it.

Scary world we are entering.

After a few days of the tracker moving around but it not being near the owners phone it will emit a chirping sound for a few minutes off and on so you know its there.   Its subtle but could be effective to give away its tracking someone. 

[knyte]

37 minutes ago, Clegg78 said:

it will emit a chirping sound for a few minutes off and on

If only ThinkGeek were still around - brings back memories of the Annoy-o-tron.

Srsly though that's a great idea

[Clegg78]

5 hours ago, KellyL said:

I can’t speak for Apple tags, but the Tile is pretty much useless for tracking anything beyond losing your keys in the couch.

I once had a Tile fall out of my wallet in a busy city train station, and the app couldn’t find it at all once I got home. I popped one single ‘found’ alert about 3 months later, then vanished again.

We tried putting a Tile on our dog just for fun and it didn’t show him on our app when we were at the office.

Might be different with the Apple product though.

Yeah, it’s should be different given the magnitude of scale difference that every apple product since 2018 seems to act as a tracking receiver.  But it is all too be seen.  I am going on a week long trip next week and will report back on my findings

[dazzler24]

9 hours ago, wanderer said:

Interesting. And an Android user may be tracked by an Airtag and never know it.

Scary world we are entering.

I think we've all been in that scary world of virtually no real privacy for quite a while now in reality. 🤷‍♂️