AirTag update: Apple to add ‘Precision Finding’ and refine unwanted tracking system to send alerts sooner

Apple has addressed concerns on increasing reports of unwanted tracking using AirTag. The company announced “advanced” to the tracking device and the Find My network, along with updates planned to be released this year.

The immediate changes Apple will introduce to the AirTag and Find My network will deal more with the company’s messaging about privacy and alerts in relation to using the device. Meanwhile, more significant updates are also in the works and the company plans to release them “later this year.”

Updates coming at a later time include Precision Finding that will be supported on iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13. This will inform users of the distance and directions to an unknown AirTag that is within their range. When users start locating the device, their iPhone will utilize data from the camera, ARKit, accelerometer, and gyroscope to provide more specific information on the location of the AirTag.

Apple also plans on improving the alert by adding actionable prompts. If the iPhone detects a device such as AirTag is moving with it, users will be presented with an option to activate Precision Finding and to play a sound from the AirTag. Apple says this should force the AirTag to play a sound even “if the AirTag speaker has been tampered with.”

The company also plans on using “the loudest tones” when users are trying to locate an unknown AirTag. Apple is working on improving the overall unwanted tracking alert system. “We plan to update our unwanted tracking alert system to notify users earlier that an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory may be traveling with them,” Apple wrote.

In an imminent software update, Apple will include a new message for new AirTag users setting up the device on the Find My app that will reiterate it is meant to only track their belongings. Apple said it will also inform new users that tracking people without their knowledge is a crime and that Apple could provide law enforcement “identifying information” on users who would violate that.

Existing users of AirTag might have also experienced receiving an “Unknown Accessory Detected” notification, only to realize that the Find My app is actually alerting them of a nearby AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max. Apple said this will be improved in the same software update by specifying in the alert that AirPods are with Find My users as they move.

Apple has also improved its support page for unwanted tracking by adding suggestions and instructions on what people can do once they are alerted of an unknown device traveling with them, like AirTag.

Photo by Jonas Elia on Unsplash