An exploit allows messages and additional data to be sent across Apple's Find My network, according to the findings of a security researcher.
Security researcher Fabian Bräunlein has found a way to leverage Apple's Find My network to function as a generic data transfer mechanism, allowing non-internet-connected devices to upload arbitrary data by using nearby Apple devices to upload the data for them.
The Find My network uses the entire base of active iOS devices to act as nodes to transfer location data. Bräunlein explained in an extensive blog post that it is possible to emulate the way in which an AirTag connects to the Find My network and broadcasts its location. The AirTag sends its location via an encrypted broadcast, so when this data is replaced with a message, it is concealed by the broadcast's encryption.
Bräunlein's practical demonstration showed how short strings of text could be sent from a microcontroller running custom firmware over the Find My network. The text was received via a custom Mac app to decode and display the uploaded data.
It is not immediately clear if this Find My network exploit could be used maliciously or what useful purposes it may serve. Nonetheless, it seems that it could be difficult for Apple to prevent this unintended use due to the privacy-focused and end-to-end encrypted nature of the system.
For more information, see Bräunlein's full blog post, which explains in detail the entire technical process behind passing arbitrary data through the Find My network.
Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by Juli Clover
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code.
In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by Juli Clover
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak.
As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Tuesday December 16, 2025 8:44 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with under-screen Face ID, and the front camera will be moved to the top-left corner of the screen, according to a new report from The Information's Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu.
As a result of these changes, the report said the iPhone 18 Pro models will not have a pill-shaped Dynamic Island cutout at the top of the screen....
Monday December 15, 2025 4:23 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas.
We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features.
Transfer to Android
Apple is making it simpler...
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Tuesday December 16, 2025 11:06 am PST by Joe Rossignol
We have been covering iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 17e, and iPhone Fold details from The Information's report about future iPhone models, and next up is the iPhone Air 2.
The report says that Apple aims to make the iPhone Air 2 more attractive in two ways.
First, Apple is apparently considering adding a second rear camera to the device, which would resolve a key limitation. The current iPhone...
Monday December 15, 2025 7:41 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...
Apple is developing a high-end iMac featuring the M5 Max chip, according to information from leaked internal software.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
The finding comes from leaked kernel debug kit files used by Apple engineers. These kernel debug kit files enumerate unreleased Apple hardware by internal identifiers, such as codenames and platform names, and they...
The first thought that comes to mind is someone installing a compromised IoT device that gains legitimate access to their network and then uses the Find My network to funnel data out of the network, bypassing any firewall rules that prevent the IoT device from communicating with the Internet at large.
It's the type of thing you'd see in a heist or spy movie to try and snag someone's password.
Another “IF YOU SET EVERYTHING UP JUUUUUUUUUST RIGHT, YOU CAN DO A THING!” from a security researcher. AirTags is the security gift that keeps on giving. Next week, “We’ve been able to determine that if you accelerate an AirTag at just the right speed towards a target that’s not trying to dodge and is totally aware and ok that you’re throwing it (though accelerate sounds cooler) YOU MAY BE ABLE TO HIT THEM!”
This could be used for some kind of Denial of Service Attack, couldn't it?
You set up a server that's just spamming the Find My network, then all the Apple devices are constantly bouncing these spam messages around. They may end up drowning out legitimate Find My network messages.
Waiting for someone to show a hack that executed the following steps: 1) uses forgot password 2) clicks try another device for access code pin 3) has a hamster run in a wheel to disrupt radio waves transmitting the secret pin 4) said wheel traps the secret pin and translated via a sudoku puzzle to the hacker 5) hacker inlists a millennial to decrypt the puzzle 6) millennial asks for gluten free juice cleanser for payment 7) hacker gets in!
This could be used for some kind of Denial of Service Attack, couldn't it?
You set up a server that's just spamming the Find My network, then all the Apple devices are constantly bouncing these spam messages around. They may end up drowning out legitimate Find My network messages.
From the source:
With the public key validity check implemented, everything worked flawlessly. While I didn't do extensive performance testing and measurements, here are some estimates:
The sending rate on the microcontroller is currently ~3 bytes/second. Higher speeds could be achieved e.g. simply by caching the encoding results or by encoding one byte per advertisement In my tests, the receiving rate was limited by slow Mac hardware. Retrieving 16 bytes within one request takes ~5 seconds The latency is usually between 1 and 60 minutes depending on how many devices are around and other random factors.
