What Happened
The application is available on the Play Store app marketplace and helps Android users to detect AirTags, albeit manually, as per an Apple Support document.“If you think someone is using an AirTag or another item tracker to track your location, you can scan to try to find it,” as per the Tim Cook-led company.
A sound can be played to detect an AirTag if the app detects an AirTag or compatible item tracker near a user for at least 10 minutes.
Why It Matters: Tracker Detect looks for item trackers within Bluetooth range that are separated from owners and are compatible with the iPhone maker’s Find My network, as per Apple.
While Apple users are warned regarding strange AIrTags in their vicinity, Android users had no such feature available to them until Apple added its AirTag detection app to Google Play.
“This is a VERY [necessary] app, but it’s unacceptable that you need to tell it to scan. That needs to be done automatically for safety purposes. Ideally, detection should really be automatic by both Apple and Android devices,” wrote James Wilson, a reviewer of the Tracker Detect app on Google Play.
Unauthorized tracking isn’t the only concern emanating from AirTags. In June, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warned parents to keep children away from the tracking devices due to the included lithium battery, which can be accessed by minors with ease.
