Google's New Anti-Stalking Measure Will Alert Android Users About Unknown AirTags

Back in May, Google announced plans to introduce a new safety feature that would alert Android users about nearby unknown Bluetooth trackers, including AirTags, preventing people from being stalked with tracking accessories.

android unknown tracker alert
The tracking alert functionality is rolling out starting today. Android smartphones will provide automatic alerts if an unknown Bluetooth tracker is separated from its owner and traveling with the smartphone user. The notification can be tapped to view a map of where the tracker was last seen, and using a "Play sound" function will cause the tracker to make noise.

If an unknown tracker is detected nearby, Google will provide device information such as serial number or the last four digits of the phone number from the registered owner, along with details on how to physically disable the tracker. There is also a manual scan feature in the Safety & Emergency section of the Settings app on compatible Android devices.

At the current time, unknown tracker alerts are compatible only with AirTags from Apple, but Google is working on adding support for other trackers such as those from Tile.


Google's new feature addresses a major issue with AirTags. When AirTags launched, Apple introduced an anti-stalking function to prevent them from being used for people tracking, and that feature ended up having to be refined several times. iPhones have long been able to notify users about an unknown AirTag that is nearby and could be a danger with its "‌AirTag‌ Found Moving With You" alerts but Android users were nearly defenseless unless they knew to download the Android-based "Tracker Detect" app that Apple created.

An inability for Android users to easily detect an ‌AirTag‌ being used for stalking or other nefarious purposes has been a major ‌AirTag‌ criticism for more than two years now, but now compatible Android devices will spot nearby AirTags without the need for Android users to seek out an app.

Earlier this year, Google and Apple teamed up to submit a new industry specification that would cut down on the misuse of Bluetooth item trackers for stalking purposes. The joint venture will see Android and iOS devices both able to detect nearby Bluetooth devices and send unwanted tracking alerts for third-party item trackers.

As part of this specification, Google plans to add native support for tracking third-party Bluetooth tracking accessories from companies like Tile and Chipolo on Android devices. Google says that it is ready to roll out this new Find My Device network on Android, but it has delayed its plans as it works with Apple to finalize the cross-platform unwanted tracker alert specification that is in development.

Google will hold its ‌Find My‌ Device network until Apple has implemented the same protections for iOS devices.

Right now, Apple's ‌Find My‌ app is able to track third-party Bluetooth accessories, but only those that have implemented specific ‌Find My‌ support using Apple's protocol. Bluetooth trackers from companies like Tile cannot be tracked natively by an iPhone without the Tile app, which is the problem that Apple and Google are aiming to address.

Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, Eufy, and Pebblebee, companies that make Bluetooth-based tracking devices, have all expressed support for the joint specification and plan to support it. Apple and Google said that a production implementation of the specification for unwanted tracking alerts will be introduced by the end of 2023 and added to future versions of iOS and Android.

Popular Stories

WWDC25 Live Coverage Feature 1

WWDC 2025 Apple Event Live Keynote Coverage: iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and More

Monday June 9, 2025 9:00 am PDT by
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts today with the traditional keynote kicking things off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors is on hand for the event and we'll be sharing details and our thoughts throughout the day. We're expecting to see a number of software-related announcements led by a design revamp across Apple's platforms that will also see the numbering of all of...
maxresdefault

Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2025 in 9 Minutes

Monday June 9, 2025 5:21 pm PDT by
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
liquid glass

Apple Announces All-New 'Liquid Glass' Software Redesign Across iOS 26 and More

Monday June 9, 2025 10:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a complete redesign of all of its major software platforms called "Liquid Glass." Announced simultaneously for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and CarPlay, Liquid Glass forms a new universal design language for the first time. At its WWDC 2025 keynote address, Apple's software chief Craig Federighi said "Apple Silicon has become dramatically more powerful...
iPadOS 26 Apple Newsroom

Apple Says iPadOS 26 is Compatible With These iPad Models

Monday June 9, 2025 11:22 am PDT by
Apple today announced that iPadOS 26 will be compatible with the iPad models listed below. iPadOS 26 features a new Liquid Glass design, a menu bar, improved app windowing, and more. iPadOS 26 supports the following iPad models:iPad Pro (M4) iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later) iPad Air (M2 and later) iPad Air (3rd generation and...
iPhone Car Key WWDC 2025

Apple Says These 13 Vehicle Brands Will Soon Offer iPhone Car Keys

Monday June 9, 2025 2:38 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. During its WWDC 2025 keynote today, Apple said that 13...
AirTag Backpack

New AirTag With Three Upgrades is 'Nearly Ready' to Launch

Sunday June 8, 2025 11:44 am PDT by
Apple's long-rumored AirTag 2 might be coming soon. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman briefly mentioned that a new AirTag is "nearly ready" to launch. Last year, he said that it would be released around the middle of 2025, and the midpoint of the year is just a few weeks away. "The new AirTag is nearly ready, having been prepared for launch over the past several...

Top Rated Comments

tripsync Avatar
25 months ago
yet, they don't report themselves for tracking the user.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
toomuchrock Avatar
25 months ago
So are AirTags completely useless in tracking your stolen items? Seems like thieves immediately know the bike or camera bag they stole has a tracker in it, make it beep, and then toss it, right?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fatTribble Avatar
25 months ago
I’m glad Google is concerned about privacy
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
toomuchrock Avatar
25 months ago

It was never their intended use.
And yet that has been a major use. E.g. "New York Police Department Encourages Car Owners to Use AirTags to Deter Theft, 500 Free AirTags Available." So my question then stands, are Air Tags no longer good for this very real (yet unintended) use?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zest28 Avatar
25 months ago
Good. That will stop Megan Fox stalking me. Why can't she leave me alone?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
25 months ago

How helpful is this really?? you can disable and the air tags will still ping of other nearby phones.
If you are a bad guy, you steal the tracked item, this alerts you to a tracker and you hunt until you find it... then dispose of it. Now the stolen item is not trackable that way. Congratulations on your theft.

If car or bike, you might even set up the wild goose chase by not destroying it but depositing it in a cab or uber or someone else's bike so that it keeps moving around for those doing the tracking while you get further away with their property. They eventually track their lost car/bike to the corner of 11th and Main only to discover that it's not their car or bike at all there (only their tracking device).

So yes, for those who wanted to use trackers to increase the chances of potentially recovering stolen things- whether this is designed for that or not- this appears to significantly undermine that potential... if not make it nearly useless (for that purpose). Those wanting to track their luggage on trips or find commonly misplaced things of their own might still get the benefit of them for that sort of thing... apparently the intended purpose.

I bought a set, removed the speaker, hid one in the car and one in the bike in hopes of recovering either if stolen. To me, it doesn't matter if they were "designed for that purpose" or not. That's what motivated the purchase. So this seems to rain on that bit of hope that if either was stolen, there was something more than a missing item report to file in hopes of getting either back. I perceive the ability to tell the law exactly where the stolen item is likely to be recovered greatly increases the chances of ANYTHING being done to actually recover it... vs. filing yet another piece of paper and hoping that someone happens to notice one of countless millions of similar items also missing after being stolen via some kind of incredible mental recall.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)