Privacy and anti-stalking protections built into item trackers

Item trackers raise two different privacy questions: is my location safe when my phone helps find other people’s things, and can someone use a tracker to follow me? The big networks have built protections for both.

Your own location

• Apple Find My: Apple says the network is anonymous and encrypted — only the owner can see where an AirTag is, the devices that relay its location stay anonymous, and not even Apple knows the location or the identity of the device that helped.
• Google Find Hub: locations are end-to-end encrypted with a key only you can unlock with your Android PIN, pattern or password. Google says it can’t identify you when your phone reports an item it has detected. You can choose how your phone takes part, from “Off” to “With network everywhere” (see how the networks work).
• Samsung SmartThings Find: you can encrypt a device’s offline location with a 6-digit PIN.

Protections against being tracked

Alerts on your phone

iPhones (iOS 14.5 or later) alert you if an unknown AirTag seems to be moving with you, and from iOS 17.5 also for compatible trackers from other makers. Android phones (6.0 or later) alert you about Find Hub tags, other compatible trackers and AirTags, and let you scan manually. In May 2024 Apple and Google launched a joint standard, Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers, so alerts work across both platforms; Chipolo, eufy, Motorola and Pebblebee were among the makers that committed to supporting it. Samsung says Galaxy phones warn about an unknown SmartTag moving with you.

Sounds

An AirTag or compatible tracker that has been separated from its owner for a period of time makes a sound when it is moved, so a hidden tracker can be heard.

Identifying the owner

Holding a phone to an AirTag shows its serial number and part of the owner’s phone number. Apple says the police can work with Apple to request information about an item, and Google notes that some trackers reset when switched off, after which the police can’t get the owner’s details — so think before you disable one (see what to do about an alert).

Tile: Scan and Secure, and Anti-Theft Mode

Tile’s Scan and Secure lets anyone with the Tile app — no account needed, on iPhone or Android — scan for unknown Tiles travelling with them. Tile also offers Anti-Theft Mode, which hides an owner’s Tiles from Scan and Secure. To switch it on, the owner must be 18 or over, verify their identity with photo ID and a selfie scan, accept a user agreement, and re-verify after 11 months.

What the companies say about misuse

• Apple: AirTag is designed exclusively for tracking objects, not people or pets, and Apple says AirTags and Find My accessories should not be used to track people — doing so without consent is a crime in many countries.
• Google: you may not use Find Hub to track people or property that isn’t yours, or to find out where someone is without their knowledge and consent; removing a tracker’s speaker or safety features is prohibited.
• Tile: Tile says its trackers are not designed to track people secretly and that doing so breaks its terms of service.

UK law and guidance

police.uk warns that Bluetooth trackers dropped into a bag or pocket, or hidden in a car, can be used to stalk people, and advises photographing a tracker where you found it (if safe) and reporting it if you think it is part of a pattern. The Crown Prosecution Service guidance on stalking lists behaviours such as following a person, monitoring their use of electronic communications, and watching or spying on them under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the more serious offences carry up to ten years’ imprisonment. Stalking Protection Orders, applied for by the police, are available under the Stalking Protection Act 2019.

If you are worried, read our step-by-step alert guide and contact the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300, or the police — 999 in an emergency.

General information, not legal advice.

This guide is general information, not legal or safety advice for your situation. If you are in danger, call 999.