An Apology

https://www.elevationlab.com/blogs/news/an-apology

36•cdrnsf•1h ago

Comments

lifeisloving•53m ago

Do Iphone users get notifications everytime an airtag is nearby them??

jaredwiener•45m ago

If an unrecognized AirTag is following you, you'll get a notice.

I'm not constantly notified that my keys are with me. But if you stuck an AirTag in my backpack, my phone would tell me.

forsalebypwner•45m ago

No, only if an airtag that's not theirs follows them for an amount of time

msteffen•45m ago

Yeah, I forget the wording but there’s a notification like “so-and-so’s AirTag is near you and they can see where you are.” My spouse put AirTags in our baby stuff and I get them whenever I’m using it.

kalleboo•45m ago

You get a notification when an AirTag is following you for some time, but the AirTags owner is not near it. It's meant to detect someone slipping an AirTag on you without the false alarms from, say, taking a walk with a friend who has one in their backpack.

froh•13m ago

Wait so a thieve an eye with an iPhone who steals my expensive bicycle that I have tagged with an airtag Is receiving a notification that there is an airtag "following" them nearby?

cicko•10m ago

Yes, the moral of the story is - don't steal expensive bikes if you don't want to get spammed by notifications that the bike is following you.

gbalduzzi•4m ago

Yes. The alternative is to have stalkers using hidden airtags

mahboi•12m ago

So what good is piercing the AirTag's speaker?

drusepth•22m ago

Not sure about on iPhone but Android definitely alerts you if an unknown airtag follows you while moving.

nazgul17•12m ago

We have AirTags registered to my wife's account because I use Android. I have one in my work backpack, and every morning I get a notification that an unknown tracker is following me. I wish there was a way to silence the warning for that specific tag.

sparqlittlestar•8m ago

My husband's "shared" his with me and now I don't get warnings anymore, but we're both on iOS

pnw•6m ago

Yes, within about 30 minutes. They are basically useless for theft prevention as a result. Apple nerfed the functionality after someone used it for stalking. You'll notice there is no mention of theft prevention in the marketing materials anymore.

Apple even provide a handy Android app for locating them.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac...

Gigachad•2m ago

There never was mention of theft prevention. The release day marketing was about losing your keys in the couch. Day one ios would alert you if a tag was tracking you but it took a while for them to collaborate with Android on it.

The societal harm from allowing cheap silent tracking of people is greater than the benefit of recovering stolen bags.

kylec•42m ago

Nice apology, though weird flex about their expensive bikes in there

mmh0000•36m ago

1. This is so dumb. You can be tracked any number of ways. The AigTag with or without sound is the dumbest way to track someone.

2. Physically disabling the AirTag speaker is soooo easy. It took under 3 minutes to do it on the AirTag I hid on my motorcycle.

3. "An Apology" is more like a weird advertisement (I guess it worked, I read the stupid thing. But, in fairness, I've now blocked their site in a custom ublock filter, so hopefully I never stumble on it again).

4. They have expensive bikes... Why? Who cares? That's not relevant to anything!? Why did they put that in there? Was this written by a 4th grader? Fuck me. I wish I had just read more AI slop instead.

zhiyan•15m ago

1. There are a million ways to die. But that's no execute for companies to make products that could potentially kill people - in dumb ways. 2. "Easy" is subjective - something easy for one may not be so easy for others. 3. This guy blocked their site in a custom ublock filter... Why? Who cares? That's not relevant to anything!? Why did this guy put that in there? Was this written by a 4th grader? 4. Yea, go read more AI slop, good idea.

mahboi•13m ago

Doesn't your phone still tell you that the AirTag has been following you?

augment_me•23m ago

Vibe-coded clone in 3..2..1..

While I understand the reasoning this is just virtue signaling in a time where software is free.

jakelazaroff•14m ago

You're gonna vibe code a clone of hardware?

Also, even if it were software, what is virtue signaling about this? If they offer some software at any point, they should continue to offer that software to new users in perpetuity?

altmanaltman•22m ago

> Elevation Lab stops selling its AirTag “silencer.”The tool, which Six Colors recently slammed as “appalling,” pierces the AirTag’s speaker, preventing it from emitting sound. While Elevation Lab says it designed the tool to prevent thieves from detecting the presence of an AirTag, it also disables an anti-stalking feature that audibly alerts people when an unknown tracker is following them. > Elevation Lab says it has stopped selling the tool and will use its “patent on it to prevent anyone else from making one in the future,” according to MacRumors.

https://www.theverge.com/tech/1010718/elevation-labs-stops-s...

Provide the full context when you apologize, not whitewash what you did. Go on a ride on your more expensive than car bike, maybe that will help you reasses your product ideation.

monideas•10m ago

> pierces the AirTag’s speaker

> also disables an anti-stalking feature that audibly alerts people

It sounds like piercing the speaker is the thing that disables the audible alert and the intent was not to help stalkers.

Perenti•15m ago

The "read more" link points to the same page. There is no more to read apparently. Why does this seem suspicious?

troupo•7m ago

It's likely a Wordpress page with a "read more" plugin/functionality that is as unworking as it has always been.

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