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This is weird. I had this notification pop up on my android phone earlier, that it had detected an unknown Apple Airtag travelling with me.
The above is from my notification history. I can't pull up the original notification but it included a small street map that showed a line from this supermarket I was at earlier, to my home street.
This freaked me out a bit as I was at the supermarket on my little vespa scooter and I thought maybe someone might have planted an Airtag on the bike while I was inside to see where I park it, for later on, obviously for theft.
There is an Apple app in the Android Playstore that you can download to scan for airtags, and when I do that it tells me that one has been detected. It also says that you can make it play a sound.
When I try to play a sound, it seems to try to connect but never does, eventually failing.
I've been out to my scooter and have physically checked everywhere I can think of that one could have been stashed but can't find anything. Also, the scan picks up the tag again by the bike but it still won't play a sound, same as in the house.
I've never come across this before and was wondering if anyone else on here might have done.
It's made me kind of paranoid about the bike tonight I have to say.
Have you got another phone you can scan with to see if it finds it?
What happens when you do a scan when you're not near the scooter?
If it doesn't find one then I'd say there is one on the scooter.
It is possible to remove the speaker from an AirTag to prevent it sounding
I thought that, but it doesn't connect. You'd think that if it was connected and playing a sound (despite no speaker) that it would tell me and I would just get the spinning wheel of nothing happening.
A guy reviewing the Android app noted that it wouldn't force an airtag to play a sound so it might be a "feature" op.
I wonder if you might have better success finding the thing with a borrowed iPhone?
What happens when you do a scan when you’re not near the scooter?
That's where i got the notification originally. Sat in my house with the scooter parked up the street about 5 houses away.
It says there is one when I'm in the house AND by the bike, though the sound playing feature won't connect in either place
Have you got another phone you can scan with to see if it finds it?
Just loaded the app on my partners Android and it finds an unknown Airtag on that too.
Definitely won't connect to play a sound.
That would freak me out a bit. Good luck in getting to the bottom of it.
Good luck, I would be paranoid too, id go full Gene Hackman to find the thing
I don't think Vespas have rocker panels 🙂
Don't know anyone with an iPhone but I'll ask about a bit.
Might go and put my movement sensor disc lock alarm on the scoot too.
Just loaded the app on my partners Android and it finds an unknown Airtag on that too.
What happens if your partner takes their phone down the road like 100m (away from the scooter and you and your house) and tries it there?
Any useful info in this article op?
https://www.macworld.com/article/345863/how-to-find-block-disable-airtag-moving-with-you.html
Have you checked your pockets? Not looking after a neighbour's cat and got their house keys?
Don’t know anyone with an iPhone but I’ll ask about a bit
they have 52% market share in the uk and you don’t know anyone with one?
do you take the Vespa to work, tomorrow would show if it’s on that or in your house.
Or if you are more worried about it, go out tonight.
Is it a bright yellow or orange GTS300? They're really pretty!
I'd be moving it into an alarmed garage if your able, but your buggered if it is a rouge criminal air tag as they now know where it lives....
The scooter is at the end of our small street locked to a telegraph pole. Hopefully trying to mess about with it would set the alarm off at least and I can lean out the window shaking my fist.
I don't want to bring it into our back yard as I've got an Asgard shed.
I'm sure I must know someone with an iPhone but it's not something I've noticed and it's 10pm on a school night so I don't want to bother anyone.
What happens if your partner takes their phone down the road like 100m (away from the scooter and you and your house) and tries it there?
This.
Kind of doesn't tell you anything useful really as they could be airtags on someone's keys in their house or something.
Is it a bright yellow or orange GTS300? They’re really pretty!
No, it's an 11 year old LML 125 manual, so not even a real Vespa but Indian made under license. Deffo not worth loads, but I enjoy it and would prefer that it wasn't stolen.
Could you ride it to a local police station and see if the AirTag moves? One of the police officers will probably have an iPhone.
wzzzz
Free Member
Try a faraday cage, Wrap the scooter completely in tinfoil, then move it.
I like your style but we could go full mission creep and hit the whole scooter with an EMP blast.
The scooter won't start afterwards but at least the airtag will be toast.
If the Americans can do it to a B52 then a scooter should be cake walk.
They start chirping either when in a faraday cage or when released from one, the internet is not sure.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AirTags/comments/rb4x8a/the_faraday_cage_for_car_remote_and_airtag_problem/
So wrap the scooter in tinfoil, listen for chirps.
If none, leave awhile then remove the tin foil and listen for chirps.
Hold up....
This seems just like a scam message to get you to engage.... there's no way you'd get an alert like that on an android phone for obvious reasons...
was it just an SMS/text mesage? = SCAM
mattyfez - no android devices have functionality in them to alert users to Apple and other AirTag style trackers than seem to be disconnected from their host but in proximity to you.
you can launch a scan at anytime from your Android device by doing: Settings → Safety & emergency → Unknown tracker alerts and tap the “Scan Now” button
the range on an air tag is about 30m, if there are no obstructions you might get lucky with slightly more. If you add walls it will go down. So if it’s showing up indoors and at the scooter 5 houses away then its unlikely to be on the scooter.
its not impossibly that it’s something nefarious but I’ve had these alerts just sitting on a train.
I did initially think scam as earlier today I got this random text message.
But this notification came from Google Play Services so seemed legit.
its not impossibly that it’s something nefarious but I’ve had these alerts just sitting on a train.
Good to know thanks.
LIVE UPDATE
It's 5.10am, can't sleep, scooter currently still there when I look out of the window.
android devices have functionality in them to alert users to Apple and other AirTag style trackers than seem to be disconnected from their host but in proximity to you.
you can launch a scan at anytime from your Android device by doing: Settings → Safety & emergency → Unknown tracker alerts and tap the “Scan Now” button
Thanks for that. I've tried a scan this way and it doesn't find one (lying in bed). A new scan with the Apple app still finds one however.
Using the inbuilt Android scanner that Poly mentions above, it seems to locate the Airtag (unlike 25 minutes ago) and it looks like a sound is being played.
I can't hear anything though and interestingly, the sound playing works in the house, but not when I'm stood right by the bike. It can't connect then.
Have you ever scanned the bike before?
Did your phone just update and newly has the ability to find such things?
Maybe the previous owner fitted it - are they contactable?
Glad it's still there.
Have you ever scanned the bike before?
Did your phone just update and newly has the ability to find such things?
Maybe the previous owner fitted it – are they contactable?
Never scanned before. Don't think the phone has updated or owt.
I'm wondering if it's just someone nearby who came back from the same area at the same time as me.
Just walked the dog and couldn't pick up the tag away from the street.
I've since been able to look at the map that I saw originally because of the tips Poly gave, and actually, the original travel path of the tag doesn't go from the supermarket I was at but in fact a 1/4 mile away in the housing estate.
It also doesn't come back to my street via the roads but is an as the crow flies straight line, which I suppose is all that level of tracking tech is capable of.
I'm slightly less paranoid, but still, it's all a bit odd.
I can’t hear anything though and interestingly, the sound playing works in the house, but not when I’m stood right by the bike. It can’t connect then.
First of all, an unpleasant and unnerving feeling. I hope you resolve it soon
I'd be inclined to look through clothing, shopping bag and the sorts of things that made the same trip with you and the bike but are now in and around your house
Baddies always hide stuff in the heel of a shoe, but watch out for wee before you pick them up 🙂 🙂
An AirTag detector app will presumably find any AirTags within range. I’d expect to find at least six in my house usually, but probably twice or three times that as there are other houses and gardens and a street within range. It’s specifically the “following” AirTag you could be concerned about, rather than any that turn up in a scan. Take the Vespa somewhere remote and scan there: if there’s an AirTag on you or on the Vespa you’ll still detect it (and probably be told that it’s travelling with you). I think I’ve had notifications while driving along the A1/A1M though, so it’s not entirely foolproof.
Meanwhile in the supermarket ...
The air tag itself has no GPS capability, it relies on its location being inferred from proximity to phones which do have that ability. I assume that an android user looking that the history map of an air tag you can only see the location YOU have assigned to it rather than any locations inferred from other peoples phones, so “as the crow flies” suggests it was close you at the start of that and the end of that but probably not for some time in between. I think the AirTag check in Android only shows devices which are out of range of their parent device, eg if I had an AirTag and an iPhone paired to it, but my iPhone is close to the AirTag it wouldn’t alert my neighbour. Of course if my phone battery is dead, or I leave it at home and take my air tagged keys with me that would make nearby android devices suspicious. If the same tag comes up at multiple locations in a short period of time - Android thinks you might be being stalked.
so how can that happen innocently? A neighbour puts an air tag on their keys and goes for a run when their phone battery has died. They happen to be close to you on the run then again at home. Alternatively they put an AirTag on a cat’s collar. When they are home the tag is paired to them, but when they are away from home or the cat is on the prowl it’s unpaired and could appear in your alerts.
Shouldn’t be too hard to take yourself and the scooter to middle of nowhere (100m from other people) and eliminate that tag being on either of you.
Presumably if it is on a pet and you make it ring they will be very confused?
I can’t hear anything though
I can barely hear AirTags of my own when I ask them to make a noise.
If the AirTag is in your neighbour’s house on their keys presumably they’ll be noticing the occasional beeping at some point.
Is it possible that you’re detecting different AirTags in different places?
Admittedly, it does require that the AirTag is close to you for some while before you’re alerted on iPhone. But in a store or even on the street that’s possible. At home, more likely to be a neighbour or animal collar?
IDK if putting a £35 AirTag on an old scooter is the MO of many prospective thieves. Seems a bit overly conspiratorial.
IDK if putting a £35 AirTag on an old scooter is the MO of many prospective thieves.
Hiding an AirTag to the extent the poster can’t find it on a Vespa seems like more work than just knicking it from outside the supermarket.
Is it hammered into your lawn inside a frozen sausage?
Thanks all, particularly Poly. Really helpful and makes me a little less paranoid.
Is it hammered into your lawn inside a frozen sausage?
What if I'd been buying frozen sausages at the supermarket? Makes you think.
Hiding an AirTag to the extent the poster can’t find it on a Vespa seems like more work than just nicking it from outside the supermarket.
Yes, it did occur to me that there surely must be bigger fish out there, but hey, people nick anything.
Anyway, while I was sat having breakfast, I was ringing the Airtag repeatedly so hopefully that'll annoy a cat at the very least.
if it could be a neighbours it sounds like you need to discount it being on the bike (take it somewhere remote ish and repeat the scans)
edit- soz someone already suggested that
Could it be in the petrol tank?
Could the airtagger be hoping people on a forum suggest you go somewhere remote to 'verify' it's on the bike, makes you think
Is it possible that you’re detecting different AirTags in different places?
The "tracking" detection knows which unique tag.
IDK if putting a £35 AirTag on an old scooter is the MO of many prospective thieves. Seems a bit overly conspiratorial.
Agreed - especially given every android and iphone now tells the scooter owner they might be being tracked! The internet loves to believe that we are all going to have anaesthetic gas pumped into our houses so someone can steal our dogs because someone from a utility company was looking for a leak and put a bit of paint on the road, and the idea that thieves are spending money on a traceable product that lets them find something stored outside is about as far fetched! There are creepy ****ers who will stalk, particularly women, and jealous controlling partners so the "you might be being tracked" capability is sadly necessary but not for quick cash generating theft!
if it could be a neighbours it sounds like you need to discount it being on the bike (take it somewhere remote ish and repeat the scans)
And then you'll be alone, in the middle of nowhere, with only the your nemesis aware of location 🙂
As people have said, if I wanted to steal scooters/motor bikes, I'd just drive round in my transit and pick them up when I saw them. I couldn't be arsed tracking them anywhere.
That tree's looking a bit shifty if you ask me.
That lawn needs a trim.
Heading towards Kineton from Moreton Morrell. Bandit country. Be careful out there.
Excellent work!
Excellent work!
Not really. He’s obviously tracking you.
Lolz
Tuned in for the latest episode, I guess no Season 2…
I just got one of the same notifications "unidentified air tag traveling with you". Mild panic followed by the realisation that I picked up my mother in law and her dog earlier tonight and I think the dog has an air tag on her collar.
There must have been an Android update recently that brought air tags in to play. I know I had a few emails and notifications about a similar thing starting with Android devices in the last couple of weeks
followed by the realisation that I picked up my mother in law and her dog earlier tonight and I think the dog has an air tag on her collar.
But you surely shouldn't get the notification if the dog owner and their phone is with you?
It's my understanding that the Airtag has to be out of Bluetooth range of the person who owns it and it has to be moving location with you.
I got another alert yesterday morning as it goes. Ignoring them now.
I was wondering, given that Airtags have featured in Rentons post about his stolen bike. Surely the thief would have gotten a notification to tell him that an Airtag was with him without it's owner and he'd have known the bike was being tracked?
Can't be too many places to hide one on a mountainbike.
Surely the thief would have gotten a notification to tell him that an Airtag was with him without it’s owner and he’d have known the bike was being tracked?
Can’t be too many places to hide one on a mountainbike.
Indeed, unless you can get it into a frame tube in which case you now have an Airtag rattling around your frame.
Unless the thief is one of the many people that don't have an up to date version of Android.
Muc-Off do and Airtag holder for their tubeless valves. Not sure most thieves would think to look there?
I'm actually tempted by the Motorolla Moto Tags as I'm not an Apple user. Apparently they fit most Airtag accessories.
The only thing putting me off is I'd have to remove one of my tyres and they're an absolute ball-ache to get on and off (Schwalbe HD). Might be easier to remove the BB and hot glue it into the frame.
Surely the thief would have gotten a notification to tell him that an Airtag was with him without it’s owner and he’d have known the bike was being tracked?
Can’t be too many places to hide one on a mountainbike.
Perhaps I'm giving the thieving scum too much credit, but might they turn off their phones while out commiting crimes to avoid tracking?
Came back to check if Bert had been eating too much while out litter picking one morning...
I’m actually tempted by the Motorolla Moto Tags as I’m not an Apple user. Apparently they fit most Airtag accessories.
The only thing putting me off is I’d have to remove one of my tyres and they’re an absolute ball-ache to get on and off (Schwalbe HD). Might be easier to remove the BB and hot glue it into the frame.
Someone off here invented one that went up inside the steerer tube of suspension forms and acted as a bug/holder all in one. That was very neat.
Apparently the Android system is pretty rubbish compared to Apple, I'd not bother yet.
Someone off here invented one that went up inside the steerer tube of suspension forms and acted as a bug/holder all in one. That was very neat.
Apparently the Android system is pretty rubbish compared to Apple, I’d not bother yet.
I'll have to search for that, sounds good! Don't suppose you remember the thread title?
Android Find My Device system had a big update a few months back so looks to be steadily improving. It just needs Google to enable UWB to be comparable with Apple, which I believe they plan on doing "soon".
The steerer tube ones apparently don’t work too well with it being metal all round it
But you surely shouldn’t get the notification if the dog owner and their phone is with you?
It’s my understanding that the Airtag has to be out of Bluetooth range of the person who owns it and it has to be moving location with you.
MIL has phone turned off/not charged, bluetooth disabled (lots of older people do this - perhaps to save the battery, perhaps for technical paranoia reasons), or left phone behind (again lots of older people don't have their phone as a life support system). Or MIL doesn't have an iPhone - perhaps its paired to an iPad instead, or FIL's phone, or one of the children's phones.
I was wondering, given that Airtags have featured in Rentons post about his stolen bike. Surely the thief would have gotten a notification to tell him that an Airtag was with him without it’s owner and he’d have known the bike was being tracked?
Can’t be too many places to hide one on a mountainbike.
you are potentially right - if the thief has a modern smartphone they may well be warned. I'm not sure how many people are nicking bikes but have a decent phone? but even if they are - I'm guessing only the most determined thief then hangs around hunting the bike for the tracker with the aim of removing it rather than ditch the bike and move to next target?
I’m not sure how many people are nicking bikes but have a decent phone?
anyone under 40 (and many people over it) has a smartphone permanently attached to them - maybe not the latest most expensive model. AirTags work back to an iPhone 6S which came out in 2015. A refurbished one can be had for £50.
Ok your opportunist crackhead might not have a phone but the theives in question traveled 35 miles each way by car/van to an address on their radar from last year. That’s a professional, not a junkie after a quick hit.
Ok your opportunist crackhead might not have a phone but the theives in question traveled 35 miles each way by car/van to an address on their radar from last year. That’s a professional, not a junkie after a quick hit.
I hadn't followed renton's story, but the evidence seems to suggest that those who nicked his bike were unaware it had a tracker, so either their phone was off (to avoid generating evidence themselves - but in a bike theft it seems unlikely the cops will be that thorough!) or not modern enough to find airtags - iphones go back to 6S (if updated to latest OS) but Android required android 12 which is much newer and android users (and the platform in general) tends not to update the OS autotmatically as much as iOS ones. It does mean that the utility of airtags for replicating renton's success may be diluted as time goes on; although notice even when they presumably knew there was a tag on it they didn't waste time hunting for it - they just ditched the bike.
But you surely shouldn’t get the notification if the dog owner and their phone is with you?
I think poly is right, it's more likely to be set up to father in laws phone but he wasn't with us so it will have lost that connection