A new feature included in iOS 15.2’s second beta adds the option within the ‘Find My’ app to manually scan the area around you for devices that are part of Apple’s object locating platform that might be tracking you.
As first reported by MacRumors, the feature is available through the ‘Items That Can Track Me’ option under the Find My item menu.
Once you tap the setting, Find My lists all of the devices nearby that you don’t own, but that could potentially still be tracking you. You’re then given the option to disable the device from tracking you. There’s also a ‘Help Return Lost Items’ setting that replaces the ‘Identify Found Item’ message currently included in this menu.
While Apple’s AirTags remain the most impressive Bluetooth tracking device out there, given the size of the company’s Find My network, it can more easily be used for nefarious purposes than competing crowd-sourced networks from Bluetooth tracker companies like Tile.
These new AirTags features, which are set to make their way to the final version of iOS 15.2, seem to be in response to criticism that the tackers can easily be used to track people rather than objects.
Over the last few months, Apple has introduced other changes to its Bluetooth tracker to mitigate this issue, including AirTags only being required to spend eight to 24 hours away from its owner before emitting a warning noise, instead of three days. The company is also working on an Android app that notifies users of unwanted AirTags tracking them.
It’s likely the public version of iOS 15.2 will release in the coming weeks.
Update 11/10/2021 at 02:07pm ET: Corrected an error in the third paragraph.
Source: MacRumors
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