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What will stop someone from stealing your AirTag?
- Thread starter hopsenberry
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STOP COMPARING A 30 DOLLARS PIECE OF PLASTIC WITH THE IPHONE.
NO ONE WILL WANT TO STEAL A 30 BUCKS TRACKING DEVICE.
And don’t get me started on that nonsense about “oh activation unlock doesn’t stop people steal iPhones”. Well guess what, PEOPLE SELL THE IPHONE PARTS. THE HARDWARE. You can take apart an iPhone, sell the screen, case...etc. why do you think dead iPhones still sell for good prices on eBay?
what parts are you going to resell a stolen AirTag for?
No one will want to steal your 30 dollars piece of plastic tracking device. End of story.
May I recommend that you read the earlier comments that discuss how this is false?
Which particular comments where Apple confirm it's for tracking stolen items? It's designed to allow you to find lost or misplaced items.
The OP asked what will stop someone from stealing an AirTag. The answer is Pairing Lock which Apple has disclosed repeatedly now in various interviews. That's what stops someone from re-purposing your AirTag and making it their own. Therefore the answer is not "nothing"
You can sell the whole thing. A thief can find plenty of unsuspecting buyers.
The thief doesn't care much about that.
Personally, I don't think that theft of Airtags will be a major problem, but it wouldn't surprise me if some do get stolen and sold to unsuspecting people.
The kill switch in iPhones dramatically impacted theft of iPhones which still have some value for repair parts if not as a whole phone. These air tags don't have that, will be useless to a thief, and have the sole job of being a tracker which wouldn't be smart for someone to steal.
The bigger issue is how durable they are in case someone discovers them on something they actually want to steal. Like a Tile, I'd hope most users would conceal them instead of showing them off.
The bigger issue is how durable they are in case someone discovers them on something they actually want to steal. Like a Tile, I'd hope most users would conceal them instead of showing them off.
They aren't all that durable in that there will be instructions on how to disable them on the web (I assume remove the battery). Being well hidden won't help too much either, once they start beeping.
That is a very good video. Apple should have included all that information during their presentation.
In a short time from now ...... AirTags will be such a common site, a thief won't bother stealing them. I would be wary of having them in the open the first month or two though.