Air Tags can be a useful tool for many standard purposes, such as finding lost keys or tracking your luggage, but there’s a dark side to Air Tags and other Bluetooth-based tracking devices.  These devices are being used more and more by stalkers and abusive partners to track their target’s whereabouts.  These tags can be placed covertly in bags or on vehicles by bad actors quickly and easily.

Newer smart phones and devices are able to detect when an air tag or another Bluetooth-based tracker is nearby, but it’s more difficult if you’re not an Apple user.  Apple devices perform these checks automagically, but Android device users need to either use a special app such as “Tracker Detect” or “AirGuard”, or through their device’s menus, “Settings > Safety & Emergency > Unknown Tracker Alerts” and configuring it to “Allow Alerts”. 

The only downside to this mitigation is that it requires your device’s Bluetooth to be enabled at all times that you wish to be capable of scanning for trackers.  Always-on Bluetooth is its own vulnerability, but that will be covered in a different post.

Still, it’s worth it to scan for trackers every now and again, and especially after meeting new people (first dates) or getting your car out of short/long term storage (such as airport parking).  If you have reason to believe you’re being tracked, do not go home.  Drive to the nearest police station and let them know your concerns.