Following the announcement at I/O 2023, Google is now rolling out unknown tracker alerts on Android devices to alert you about hidden Apple AirTags.
Android devices will alert you if an “unknown Bluetooth tracker is separated from its owner and is determined to be traveling with you.” This “Tracker traveling with you” notification notes how the tag’s owner “can see its location” – and yours, by extension – if it was placed nefariously.
Opening the notification will show a map of where and when the tracker started moving with you. There’s also the ability to “Play sound” to help you locate it “without the owner of the tracker knowing.” Google provides three next steps:
- If you feel unsafe, get help: “Contact someone you trust or local law enforcement”
- Get and save tracker info: Tracker owner information if it’s been marked as lost, with a suggestion to take a screenshot of the map since these “alerts are deleted after 48 hours”
- Disable the tracker: Directions on how to twist off the AirTag cover and remove the battery
Besides automatic checks run by Android, you can manually scan for unknown trackers at any time from the Settings app > Safety & Emergency menu > Unknown tracker alerts > Scan Now. This will take 10 seconds, generating a list of any found around you.
Unknown tracker alerts are rolling out on Android 6.0+ devices starting today via an update to Google Play services that will become widely available over the coming weeks.
At the moment, Android’s unknown tracker alerts can only find Apple AirTags, but Google is working with other tracker tag manufacturers — “Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have expressed support” — to expand compatibility as part of the joint industry specification.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments