Staying on track
Look after your devices — and everything else
We look at the latest developments in the world of tracking, and reveal what Apple has planned. Plus, the best tracking devices on the market now.
Tracking doesn’t, it’s fair to say, have the finest reputation. Few of us actively seek it out, but none of us can avoid it.
The web’s biggest entities keep tabs on you everywhere you go online — something which has been one of the most powerful drivers in the rise of VPNs. Automated facial recognition threatens to follow us around on the streets (do we wear full–face masks next?) and tomorrow’s connected cars will, for all their new smarts, no doubt report back on our activities on the road. Even your phone collects a whole host of data; if they need to, the authorities can determine your precise location by triangulating the signal strength of the cell masts your handset is connected to. You’re being tracked, whether you agree to it or not, and while the data that’s being collected often is more on a device level and rarely directly connected to your identity, it’s not a comfortable thing.
But there’s a less sinister aspect of tracking, one where you’re in control. Something that might actually help you sleep better at night. Tracking your devices — and, indeed, all of your personal property — is something you should be doing. It can protect you against theft, doubly so if you lock down your devices using secure methods, and (most importantly) it’ll act as some small defence against you losing that expensive device.
Apple has been the leader in device tracking for some time — Find My iPhone set the standard starting back in 2010, using cellular tracking to (mostly) pinpoint the location of a lost device. It did ask you to jump through a number of hoops though — your device needed power, the battery-draining Location Services function switched on, and phone service — and it only worked if the stray device doing the tracking was connected to the same iCloud account as the trackee.
> Bags of AirTags
The Find My app looks set to have a new target beyond iOS devices and Apple’s AirPods. Poking around the underlying elements of iOS 13, Apple detectives found references to an item called a “Tag”, with the same overall file structure as other proximity–paired devices, as far back as April. Later updates revealed a name, AirTags, and apparently–leaked screenshots have shown these things interacting with Find My in the same way as a lost device.
TAG TEAM
This means that, in all likelihood, Apple will soon be launching its own line of tracking tags, putting the company head to head with established competitors like Tile and Orbit. Apple will be entering the game already holding the better hand. Integration with the Find My app and its own iBeacon location network is a big plus, and providing the design is right (early assets suggest it will be a subtle circular design) and the price isn’t too crazy, we would imagine a multi–pack is something of a future must– buy. No word yet, though, on if the AirTag will feature an internal speaker or on when it’ll actually hit the shelves. We’ll keep you posted.