Police Find Unexpected Use for Apple AirTags
The utility of Apple's AirTag item trackers have started to be seen in law enforcement when locating stolen property, according to recent reports.
As reported by GadgetLite, an AirTag user in Boston was able to recover their stolen property with the help of the police and Apple's small tracking device.
Earlier this month, the user discovered that his bike had been stolen. Thankfully, he had hidden an AirTag inside the bicycle's pouch, which enabled him to see the bike's precise location and pass this information on to the police.
The Boston police were then able to recover the AirTag, still in its pouch, from a trashcan and found the stolen bike nearby. The police returned both items to their owner. Though the AirTag enabled the recovery of the bike, it did not help any arrests to be made or reveal who may have been responsible for the theft.
The AirTag has a number of features that prevent it from traveling with someone without their knowledge, which could alert a thief to its presence. For example, if your iPhone detects that an AirTag is traveling with you, it will issue a notification. A similar feature plays an audio alert when the AirTag has been separated from its owner for more than three days. In this case, it is likely that neither alert was triggered since the thief discarded the pouch containing the AirTag nearby.
While the AirTag is not explicitly designed to find a stolen item, instead being focused on locating a misplaced item, the reassurance of at least being able to try to track down a stolen item is an added bonus for many AirTag owners. For more about Apple's AirTag, see our dedicated guide.
Popular Stories
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
iOS 18 is expected to be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more...
