Apple and Google are teaming up so that both iPhones and Android devices can alert users about rogue AirTag-like devices that may be tracking their location.
The work is part of new industry standards to stop Bluetooth trackers from being misused to track people and track their location. Apple and Google today released a draft of the proposal, which the companies hope will be adopted by all suppliers across the technology industry.
Apple and Google also said : “The first-of-its-kind specification will allow Bluetooth location tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts on iOS and Android platforms.
So Android devices will one day have a built-in ability to detect nearby rogue AirTags. For now, Android users have to go out of their way to download Apple’s Tracker Detect app to help alert them to AirTags that may have slipped into their items.
But the new industry norm isn’t just Apple and Google. Instead, it looks like it’s possible for Android and iOS devices to detect and flag any rogue Bluetooth trackers — as long as all vendors adopt industry norms.
“A key element in reducing abuse is a common operating system-level solution that can detect trackers made by different companies on the various smartphones that people use every day,” said Alexandra Reeve Givens, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
The same proposal would also require participating Bluetooth trackers to “play a sound” when they confirm separation from their owners. “While the accessory is in range and connected via Bluetooth LE, it must also play a sound when the non-owner attempts to locate the accessory by initiating the play sound command from the non-owner device,” the draft says.
“A sound producer must play a sound for at least 5 seconds,” the document adds. Additionally, industry norms require customers to initially possess data from a rogue Bluetooth tracker “to provide to law enforcement upon a valid law enforcement request.”
Apple and Google have released a draft industry specification for comments from the public and other technology suppliers. The file is already supported by Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee.
Apple and Google plan to use the feedback to build a product implementation of the industry specification “by the end of 2023,” which will then be supported in future iOS and Android versions.
