Hannah Rose May, an Irish writer and actress, said her location was being tracked without her knowledge for two hours around Disneyland, California on a Saturday night in June. She eventually realized she was only being tracked because the tag connected to her smartphone via Bluetooth and sent her an alert. It is not known who planted the coin-sized device in her or exactly where it was hidden without her knowledge – possibly in her purse or pocket. “The happiest place on earth could very easily turn into my worst nightmare,” she tweeted.
Some reports in the US have already claimed that people are being unknowingly tracked with AirTags, possibly by stalkers, thieves and sexual predators. Launched by Apple in 2021, AirTags are small, circular tracking devices, slightly larger than a two-pound coin. An AirTag costs £29. key chains sold separately (file photo) Hannah Rose May (pictured) is an Irish writer and actress who attended an event in Disneyland, California May described her experience of being secretly tracked by AirTag on June 25 in a Twitter thread

WHAT ARE AIRTAGS?

Launched by Apple in 2021, AirTags are small, circular trackers, slightly larger than a two pound coin, retailing for £29 each.
Users can find personal items that have an AirTag attached — such as wallets, keys, luggage or even a stolen bike — using a map in Apple’s “Find My” app. However, AirTag owners are increasingly using the coin-sized devices to plant people without their knowledge and then track their whereabouts on the Find My map.
The incident occurred on June 25 when May attended an after-hours event at Disneyland California. She said she only found out she was being followed after two hours because she received an alert from the Find My app. “I got a Find My notification at the end of the night that I thought nothing of, but I opened it anyway and it turned out to be this… someone had been following me for two hours,” May said in a Twitter thread. “Air tags are the size of a coin. It’s scary how easy they are to slip into a pocket or purse. “Originally created to locate your keys, it’s obvious they’re being used for more harm than good.” AirTags can connect to nearby smartphones via Bluetooth, so a notification from Find My will appear on a person’s phone if an unknown AirTag is found “traveling” with them, even if they don’t have the Find My app installed . Apple has also created an app for Android devices called Tracker Detect so that Android devices can detect AirTags as well as iPhones. Users can also assign the AirTag to an object and name it with a default such as ‘Keys’ or ‘Jacket’ or give it a custom name of their choice. Once the AirTag is set up, it will appear on the new Items tab in the Find My app, where users can see the item’s current or last known location on a map It’s a small, circular device with the Apple logo in the center and equipped with Bluetooth connectivity to pair with an iPhone or iPad. Using the ‘Find My’ app, the system provides step-by-step instructions to locate the missing tag and product The Find My notification on May’s phone read: “The owner of this item can see your current location. You may be carrying this item or it may be nearby. If you’re not familiar with this feature, you can turn it off and stop sharing your location’ May said she was grateful to Apple for notifying her, although she added that she believed “they should notify us sooner if we are being tracked.” She also shared a snapshot of where she had traveled while being watched – from all over Disneyland, to a parking lot just off South Harbor Boulevard, where she turned it off. When asked to comment on the incident, an Apple representative sent MailOnline a statement published in February, following media reports of misuse of the technology. “AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track another person’s people or property, and we condemn in the strongest terms any malicious use of our products,” the statement said. May shared a screenshot of where she traveled while being tracked by the AirTag — from all over Disneyland, to a parking lot just off South Harbor Boulevard, where she turned off the device “Unsolicited tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag. “For this Find My network is built with privacy in mind, uses end-to-end encryption and we innovated with the first preventive system that alerts you to unwanted tracking.” Apple also said that incidents of AirTag misuse were rare, but that “each case is too many.” The company also confirmed that it has identified “additional improvements” it can make to assist law enforcement with AirTag-related requests. Apple’s AirTags can be personalized with a custom message or emoji, on its laser-etched stainless steel body. They are small enough to slip into someone’s bag or clothes without them knowing In addition, Apple said it is considering a new “precision find feature” that will allow users to locate unknown AirTags with precision and tune the sound of the unwanted tracking alert sound to make the device more easily discoverable. According to a Vice investigation earlier this year, 150 police reports from dozens of US police departments involved AirTag over an eight-month period. Of the 150 reports, 50 cases involved women who had called the police because they started receiving alerts that their whereabouts were being tracked by an AirTag they did not own. In one case, a woman called police to report that her ex had slashed her tires and left an AirTag in the car to track her.

WOMEN REVEAL FEAR OF STALKER AFTER FINDING APPLE AIRTAG DEVICES HIDDEN IN THEIR CARS

Women in the US are coming forward with horror stories of finding Apple AirTag tracking devices hidden in their cars, bags, coats and other items. The $30 wireless devices were designed to help track frequently misplaced items like keys or wallets, but are increasingly being revealed to be being used by suspected stalkers to track women. A young mother in Texas said she found an AirTag stuck inside her purse while traveling from Texas to Maine. “I think they would definitely have hurt me. I don’t think you do that for no reason,” he told Inside Edition. “It took almost 14 hours to let me know it was happening,” he said. Another woman in Atlanta contacted police after being alerted that she was being tracked by an AirTag. “I randomly got a notification on my phone saying something about how there’s an AirTag that doesn’t belong to me and it was with me,” the woman explained to police. Dashcam footage captured the scene as police helped the woman search her car and eventually found an AirTag in her gas tank.
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