It took me a few readthroughs to understand what the heck an Apple Airtag even is. So some random person planted a tracking device the size of a coin on one of these family members? How did the family's phone pick up that they were being tracked by someone else though?
Tracking beacons periodically transmit Bluetooth Low Energy broadcast packets with a unique serial number in them. All nearby phones receive those broadcast packets. The software on the phone reports back to Apple the serial numbers it's seen, and the GPS location. Apple can then tell the owner of the beacon where it is, as long as it's within range of any compatible phone. That's fundamentally how they work.
Apple's software has an algorithm in it that detects when the same serial number has been within reception range for an extended period of time across many different locations, and the serial number isn't registered to the owner of the phone. It pops up an alert warning you.
Coincidentally, when we went to Disneyland, I tied a Tile brand tracker into my daughter's outfit.
I do think it's possible and perhaps likely even for Apple's warning to falsely trip at a place like Disneyland. 50,000 people a day go there. If only 1 in 50 people have an AirTag, that's 1000 people, all walking around. The BLE broadcast packets can go 200 meters or so. It seems very likely that you'll happen to end up within 200m of at least 1 unique person with an AirTag, for most of the day.
It took me a few readthroughs to understand what the heck an Apple Airtag even is. So some random person planted a tracking device the size of a coin on one of these family members? How did the family's phone pick up that they were being tracked by someone else though?
Tracking beacons periodically transmit Bluetooth Low Energy broadcast packets with a unique serial number in them. All nearby phones receive those broadcast packets. The software on the phone reports back to Apple the serial numbers it's seen, and the GPS location. Apple can then tell the owner of the beacon where it is, as long as it's within range of any compatible phone. That's fundamentally how they work.
Apple's software has an algorithm in it that detects when the same serial number has been within reception range for an extended period of time across many different locations, and the serial number isn't registered to the owner of the phone. It pops up an alert warning you.
THANK YOU!
Coincidentally, when we went to Disneyland, I tied a Tile brand tracker into my daughter's outfit.
I do think it's possible and perhaps likely even for Apple's warning to falsely trip at a place like Disneyland. 50,000 people a day go there. If only 1 in 50 people have an AirTag, that's 1000 people, all walking around. The BLE broadcast packets can go 200 meters or so. It seems very likely that you'll happen to end up within 200m of at least 1 unique person with an AirTag, for most of the day.