Exploring the Criminal Use and Data Collection of Apple AirTags

Using a stalking simulation that utilized AirTags as a means of tracking the victim, this research sought to investigate the potential use of AirTags in severe stalking crimes by observing safeguard measures that the AirTags use to warn non-owners who have continuous close location to an AirTag, followed by an investigation into potential stored data location by AirTags. Of particular interest were notifications sent to or observed by the individual who the AirTag tracked, the intensity and frequency of these notifications, and if these notifications were affected by the individual’s personal phone’s operating system. Following the simulation, a file system data extraction of the AirTag owner’s iPhone was conducted to investigate location data storage of the AirTags’ location. Unknown Airtags were found to produce moderate volumed chirping noises when moved and provide notifications to iPhones, but not to Android phones. The data extraction evidently provided no accessible location data or log of AirTag locations. These results indicate that AirTags have many pivotal limitations in their security and data accessibility. While it was encouraging that the AirTags provided Apple device users with messages and small noises, the lack of ability to do so for individuals with non-Apple devices leaves a large population susceptible to unknown tracking. In addition, given the large amount of data collected by iPhones and Apple products, the AirTags’ lack of a log of tracked locations was surprising, especially given their primary marketed purpose as location trackers.