Actor gets tracked by AirTag in Disneyland, shares experience on Twitter

Altered Carbon actor Hannah Rose May was in Disneyland for an afterhours event between 11:45 PM and 2 AM. At the end of the night May received a “Find My” notification on her iPhone. While she initially did not think much of it, she opened it anyway to find that she was being tracked.

The notification mentioned that May’s current location could be seen by the the “owner of this item”, which was an AirTag, and added that she could be carrying the item or it could be located closely. The notification stated that if the item was not familiar, it could be disabled to stop it from sharing location.

May used the alert to disable the AirTag. The actor took to Twitter to share her experience and mentioned that she was being tracked for about two hours before she received the alert and was able to disable the item. The actor added in the Twitter thread that she had stayed with a group all through her time in Disneyland and had not wandered alone even for a moment.

“Airtags are the size of a coin. It’s scary how easy they are to slip into a pocket or purse. Originally created to locate your keys it’s evident they are being used for more bad than good,” May tweeted and added that “If you ever get a “Find My” notification make sure you open the app immediately as the safety alert doesn’t appear on the screen you have to open the app. Non iPhone users, Apple created an app for androids for this very reason called Tracker Detect.”

Now, May’s Twitter thread does not mention if she actually found the AirTag on her but the issue of ‘phantom’ AirTags is also not wholly unknown. A similar case was reported earlier too by a teenager and her family in Walt Disney World in Florida.

When May posted about her experience on Instagram, many others replied to her story to say that they’ve had similar experiences reopening the whole privacy and security debate regarding AirTags.

Apple’s AirTags have been designed to keep a track of belongings and and not people. But given its small size and how easily it can be slipped into people’s bags or left in their cars, the bluetooth trackers started being used by some people to track and stalk others. In one case a woman reportedly killed her boyfriend after tracking him down using his AirTag through the iPhone.

Apple is aware of these issues and has been trying on its end to introduce ways to prevent unwanted tracking. When a new AirTag is set up, the Find My app warns that this device is meant to follow belongings and not people. Additionally, the pop-up also mentions that law enforcement can request information connected to the AirTag’s owner’s Apple ID if it is used for unwanted tracking.

Apple has also been working with law enforcement agencies to minimise such incidents.

“We have been actively working with law enforcement on all AirTag-related requests we’ve received. Based on our knowledge and on discussions with law enforcement, incidents of AirTag misuse are rare; however, each instance is one too many,” Apple mentioned in a post in February this year.

Besides the Find My alerts and Tracker Detect for Android devices, Apple says features like precision finding, display alert with sound, refining unwanted tracking alert logic and also tuning the AirTags sound so as it can be easily heard, are on the cards.

Also Read: Apple acknowledges security issues with AirTags, announces new updates

Also Read: AirTags can no longer be used to stalk people, Apple announces updates to stop unwanted tracking