[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Let me clarify the AirTag / iPhone behavior:

An AirTag can ping off of any iPhone. So the AirTag wants to report its location, there is an iPhone nearby, it says "Hey, broadcast my location" and the iPhone does so without any identification of the iPhone that reported it nor does it require that iPhone's owner to allow it. There's a guy on YouTube that tried to send an AirTag to North Korea and you can see the path it took and where it ended up getting stuck.

If an AirTag is separated from its owner and is following someone else and the tracked person is carrying an iPhone, their iPhone will notify them that a foreign AirTag is following them. Let's say the tracked person doesn't have an iPhone but spends all day with their friends who do, those iPhones might show that they're being tracked by that AirTag.

Once an AirTag is separated from its owner for three days and is not in a 'Do not alert' location, the AirTag itself will start beeping so that it can be found.

It's basically to prevent AirTags being used to stalk someone. Apple has said a few times that AirTags are meant to find possessions you misplaced around the house, and not people or stolen property. However, I do have an AirTag hidden in my car with the AirTag speaker disabled so if it were ever to get stolen flat-deck style, I'd be tracking it and know where it is long before the thieves would start getting notified.

So... it functions kinda like a tile? That makes sense.