Deeplinks
First came tracking devices like Tiles and AirTags, marketed as clever, button-sized Bluetooth-enabled gizmos that can find your lost backpack. Then, after bad actors started using the devices to stalk or follow people, came scanning apps to help victims find out whether those same gizmos were tracking them.
Such is the twisted, dangerous path of tracking devices in the wrong hands. That device makers are rolling out scanning apps that can potentially help stalking victims is a win for privacy—but with a couple of big asterisks. Tile’s new scanning app shows why.
The company, which has sold over 40 million trackers, is the latest manufacturer to roll out a scanning app. Its Scan & Secure feature allows people to determine if someone is tracking them using a Tile product. This follows Apple’s introduction in December of an Android app called Tracker Detect that allows people using Android devices to find out if someone is tracking them with its popular AirTag device or other devices equipped with sensors compatible with the Apple Find My network.
As we noted when Apple released the Android app, AirTags are an order of magnitude more dangerous than other device trackers because Apple has made every iPhone that doesn’t specifically opt out into part of the Bluetooth tracking network that AirTags use to communicate, meaning AirTags’ reach is much greater than other trackers. Nearly all of us cross paths with Bluetooth-enabled iPhones multiple times a day, even if we don’t know it.
To use the Tile scanner, you need to download the Tile app on your phone and tap Scan & Secure under settings. Users need to walk around or move/drive away from where they launched the app, which will scan six times to detect Tiles and Tile-enabled devices that may be traveling with them. The app displays the scan results showing both the known and unknown Tiles and Tile-enabled devices it detected and how many times they showed up in the six scans.
The need to download an app
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