Air Tags? Anyone using as an added level of security?

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And Air tags are listed in that article as one of the better ones with no subscription. My Airtag is locked on my center console vault. They may know they are being tracked but will not be able to disable it.

Yes, and if you look at that part of the article, it also says that one of the down sides is that they announce themselves to the thieves. Furthermore, in order to locate your AirTag that AirTag needs to be able to contact the Find My network. In order to do that it needs to be within 800 ft. of an iPhone or other Apple device that works with the Find My network. At which point it will announce itself. Also of note, because of all the stalking complains, Apple reduced the amount of time that the AirTag waits to announce themselves, it's not a matter of hours like it used to be. Also, with newer versions of IOS Apple increased the precision of the location feature, so a thief could actually use their iPhone to find the EXACT location of of your AirTag within your Bronco.

So, in order to find your stolen car:
1. The thief has to be carrying an iPhone, OR take it somewhere where there's an iPhone within 800 ft.
2. The thief has to not take into account that your car MIGHT have an AirTag in it or they can't find it if they look.
3. The thief who happens to have an iPhone doesn't notice the fact that the AirTag has let them know it's around.

As I see it, if some crackhead junky steals your Bronco, then, yes, the AirTag might help you get it back on one piece. If, on the other hand, it's stolen by a professional car thief, I think that they will enact countermeasures that will render your AirTag useless. At the very least, they will have your Bronco stopped down to just the chassis and your AirTag and then dump that somewhere before you or the police can get there.

So, is an AirTag better than nothing, IMHO, barely. But there are other devices you can get that might be better. Again, your milage may vary, and it each his/her own.

JoergH

Yes, and if you look at that part of the article, it also says that one of the down sides is that they announce themselves to the thieves. Furthermore, in order to locate your AirTag that AirTag needs to be able to contact the Find My network. In order to do that it needs to be within 800 ft. of an iPhone or other Apple device that works with the Find My network. At which point it will announce itself. Also of note, because of all the stalking complains, Apple reduced the amount of time that the AirTag waits to announce themselves, it's not a matter of hours like it used to be. Also, with newer versions of IOS Apple increased the precision of the location feature, so a thief could actually use their iPhone to find the EXACT location of of your AirTag within your Bronco.

So, in order to find your stolen car:
1. The thief has to be carrying an iPhone, OR take it somewhere where there's an iPhone within 800 ft.
2. The thief has to not take into account that your car MIGHT have an AirTag in it or they can't find it if they look.
3. The thief who happens to have an iPhone doesn't notice the fact that the AirTag has let them know it's around.

As I see it, if some crackhead junky steals your Bronco, then, yes, the AirTag might help you get it back on one piece. If, on the other hand, it's stolen by a professional car thief, I think that they will enact countermeasures that will render your AirTag useless. At the very least, they will have your Bronco stopped down to just the chassis and your AirTag and then dump that somewhere before you or the police can get there.

So, is an AirTag better than nothing, IMHO, barely. But there are other devices you can get that might be better. Again, your milage may vary, and it each his/her own.

I think if you had more experience with AirTags, you’d find a lot of your judgments about them inaccurate.

JoergH

Yes, and if you look at that part of the article, it also says that one of the down sides is that they announce themselves to the thieves. Furthermore, in order to locate your AirTag that AirTag needs to be able to contact the Find My network. In order to do that it needs to be within 800 ft. of an iPhone or other Apple device that works with the Find My network. At which point it will announce itself. Also of note, because of all the stalking complains, Apple reduced the amount of time that the AirTag waits to announce themselves, it's not a matter of hours like it used to be. Also, with newer versions of IOS Apple increased the precision of the location feature, so a thief could actually use their iPhone to find the EXACT location of of your AirTag within your Bronco.

So, in order to find your stolen car:
1. The thief has to be carrying an iPhone, OR take it somewhere where there's an iPhone within 800 ft.
2. The thief has to not take into account that your car MIGHT have an AirTag in it or they can't find it if they look.
3. The thief who happens to have an iPhone doesn't notice the fact that the AirTag has let them know it's around.

As I see it, if some crackhead junky steals your Bronco, then, yes, the AirTag might help you get it back on one piece. If, on the other hand, it's stolen by a professional car thief, I think that they will enact countermeasures that will render your AirTag useless. At the very least, they will have your Bronco stopped down to just the chassis and your AirTag and then dump that somewhere before you or the police can get there.

So, is an AirTag better than nothing, IMHO, barely. But there are other devices you can get that might be better. Again, your milage may vary, and it each his/her own.

I don’t have a lot of time to pick apart your conclusions, but I will say you are wrong about a few of them.

For iPhones, an air tag will only announce itself to someone who has an iPhone, is logged into an iCloud account, and has location services turned on. Apple keeps logs of these alerts. So if the car is stolen, Apple can turn over records of the user who disabled the air tag.

The air tag siren is very quiet. My air tag is hidden in a clever location on the outside of the vehicle, but is only accessible under specific conditions. A thief trying to locate it will not find it quickly.

There is also a honey-pot tracker that is less well hidden that the thief can discard and believe they are no longer being tracked.

NOTHING but car insurance will protect me from a sophisticated thief that has purposely targeted my vehicle.

Sulley

I think if you had more experience with AirTags, you’d find a lot of your judgments about them inaccurate.

That might be true, I only have 3 of them, and I've only had them for a few years. But like I said, if they give you a sense of comfort, it's an inexpensive thing to do, so why not? All I was really trying to say was that they aren't going to deter a truly professional car thief. But, then again, not much will...

TechnicalDisaster

I don’t have a lot of time to pick apart your conclusions, but I will say you are wrong about a few of them.

For iPhones, an air tag will only announce itself to someone who has an iPhone, is logged into an iCloud account, and has location services turned on. Apple keeps logs of these alerts. So if the car is stolen, Apple can turn over records of the user who disabled the air tag.

The air tag siren is very quiet. My air tag is hidden in a clever location on the outside of the vehicle, but is only accessible under specific conditions. A thief trying to locate it will not find it quickly.

There is also a honey-pot tracker that is less well hidden that the thief can discard and believe they are no longer being tracked.

NOTHING but car insurance will protect me from a sophisticated thief that has purposely targeted my vehicle.

We are actually more in agreement than you think. First, finding your AirTag is easy with a newer iPhone and precision tracking. I just found the only I have my my computer bag in about 30 seconds with my iPhone right down to about an inch or two. Check it out, it's REALLY cool.

You last point is exactly what I'm trying to say. I don't know where you live, but around here the only one who's going to steal my entire Bronco is someone who's a professional, and very possibly even targeting my particular kind of vehicle (yes, the professional thieves now "take orders"). The drug addicts, etc. are just gonna break into the Bronco and steal whatever they can grab to pawn. There are even stories about them hiding an AirTag in people's vehicles, then following them home so that they can steal it later that night.

Finally, just so you know, there's also an Android app that will locate an AirTag. It's called Tracker Detect. So, if I'm a car thief I would run tracker Detect over your car before I sole it, find your AirTag, and leave it behind. Although I think that there's someone here who put his in their console safe to guard against that.

But, hey, it's an inexpensive way to cover your bases, so why not, right?

THANKS ALL FOR THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT…. Thinking we’ve kicked this dead animal enough so don’t be offended if I don’t respond to anymore replies…. On to other topics.

Thought there was a way to turn off comments, but haven’t figured it out yet…

Bluestreak57

THANKS ALL FOR THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT…. Thinking we’ve kicked this dead animal enough so don’t be offended if I don’t respond to anymore replies…. On to other topics.

Okay, let's talk about LoJack now.... 😂

Sulley

A few points on this statement. First, if your car is stolen, you’re going to know about it and report it within hours. It takes several hours before an AirTag will announce itself. You’ll likely have your car back by then. Second, the enclosures I use help muffle the noise of the tag, and their 3M adhesive lets me install them in places that are very hard to get to on the exterior of the car. Third, as you know these trucks are noisy af. Nobody driving one is going to even hear an AirTag under the car somewhere. Even if they do, it will take hours for them to find it and even get to it. Fourth, you can install multiple tags in your car to make it even harder. Fifth, lost mode will present the thief with a message on their iPhone which may be enough to get them to abandon the vehicle. Sixth, if you’re really paranoid about it, there are YouTubes out there showing how easy it is to disable the speaker on AirTags.

I have yet to find another solution that is fairly tool proof, and also preserves my privacy while driving where a third party can’t eavesdrop on my location (even with a warrant).

7th...car thief is pissed you have the device on the car and trashes that car before you get there.

Yes, I have them in all my vehicles. Sort of a belt and suspenders thing.

From my personal experience I have found that any notification that iPhone sends of being tracked doesn't happen quickly nor frequently. My wife only told me of one occasion where she was told that a tag was with her. For a whopping $24 bucks I'd say you can't go wrong.

Sulley

Yep. See TagVault. You can get them on Amazon. Small waterproof and self adhesive enclosure for AirTags. I have them hidden on all my vehicles where nobody will ever find them.

This isn't true as Airtag functionality has changed and now can alert people to the use of Airtags in your vehicles. Even if you arent the owner. This isnt to say that everyone is tech savvy but yeah... thank people with criminal intent for ruining airtag use for the rest of us.

Maybe, Maybe not, guess only one way for a person to know LOL

Bluestreak57

Just curious if anyone is using Apple Airtags hidden in their rigs to track them if they wander off as stolen or borrowed without permission?

Yep !!!
I drop one into the bottom of @Jae22280 Koozie On thursdays.
So he won’t steal mine !

Kim’s not too worried about it ,
She had my neck chipped years ago ,
So she could keep track of me when we travel.

N0PRO

Yes, I have them in all my vehicles. Sort of a belt and suspenders thing.

From my personal experience I have found that any notification that iPhone sends of being tracked doesn't happen quickly nor frequently. My wife only told me of one occasion where she was told that a tag was with her. For a whopping $24 bucks I'd say you can't go wrong.

This was cover a bit earlier in this thread. Apple made some changes in the last year or so to address the "stalker issue" where they have decreased the amount of time before it notifies. But, still, it's not THAT quick. From a criminal perspective, they can use an app called Tracker Detect that will find an Apple AirTag. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trackerdetect&pli=1
so they don't have to wait for the "stalker alert", they can just scan to see if you have one hidden in your car before actually stealing it, or shortly thereafter.