Invasion of privacy

[HalfFullmoon]

Had an interesting and concerning thing happen an hour ago. An individual rang our doorbell asking if we had an AirPod Pro Max. Why yes, but how did he know? Apparently, he lost one of his AirPods at a daycare and the ‘find my’ location showed it as being in the vicinity of our house. Interesting. I asked him to let me see the app on his phone. What I saw was alarming. That map showed real-time locations of nearby AirPods! Not only our house, but also other houses nearby. My god.

Can someone explain just what in the world just happened? Did this happen because we participate in ‘Find My Network’? The security ramifications of this is alarming. I suppose iPhones can be tracked in similar fashion, when you are walking down the street, especially at night! This is a serious invasion of privacy that Apple decided to enable by default! ?

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Had an interesting and concerning thing happen an hour ago. An individual rang our doorbell asking if we had an AirPod Pro Max. Why yes, but how did he know? Apparently, he lost one of his AirPods at a daycare and the ‘find my’ location showed it as being in the vicinity of our house. Interesting. I asked him to let me see the app on his phone. What I saw was alarming. That map showed real-time locations of nearby AirPods! Not only our house, but also other houses nearby. My god.

Can someone explain just what in the world just happened? Did this happen because we participate in ‘Find My Network’? The security ramifications of this is alarming. I suppose iPhones can be tracked in similar fashion, when you are walking down the street, especially at night! This is a serious invasion of privacy that Apple decided to enable by default! ?

Not sure why that's happening to you but I just tried what you described and only my devices show on find my.. My neighbor has a ton of Apple devices and they don't show on my find my. I also checked on his find my and none of my devices are showing.. Contacting Apple and requesting some insight or maybe they can elevate the problem to their engineering team to figure out what's going on

 

[hg.wells]

Just did the same and can only see my devices. Very strange, I wonder if it’s some sort of scam maybe.

But unlikely if you could see your devices as well.

 

[nattK]

Had an interesting and concerning thing happen an hour ago. An individual rang our doorbell asking if we had an AirPod Pro Max. Why yes, but how did he know? Apparently, he lost one of his AirPods at a daycare and the ‘find my’ location showed it as being in the vicinity of our house. Interesting. I asked him to let me see the app on his phone. What I saw was alarming. That map showed real-time locations of nearby AirPods! Not only our house, but also other houses nearby. My god.

Can someone explain just what in the world just happened? Did this happen because we participate in ‘Find My Network’? The security ramifications of this is alarming. I suppose iPhones can be tracked in similar fashion, when you are walking down the street, especially at night! This is a serious invasion of privacy that Apple decided to enable by default! ?

Wth is an AirPods Pro Max?? And there is no way that is possible based on the way the software for Find My was written (if you want proof). Are you certain he was showing you the Find My app instead of some other dubious app and isn't just a social engineering attempt to get access to your house?

 

[HalfFullmoon]

Oops, I meant AirPods Pro, not Max.

I tried to locate our AirPods too, but was not able to see others on the official 'Find My' app. I wonder if you have to have it be deemed missing or lost, etc.

As to it being a scam, that's why I asked to see his phone. Anyhow, I don't trust the whole 'Find My Network' (not to be confused with regular Find My iPhone, etc.) and am thinking of turning it off all devices, AirPods and iPhones.

What Is Apple's Find My Network?

Surprise! A network of a billion Apple devices sniffing Bluetooth signals can actually be a good thing.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[chabig]

Anyhow, I don't trust the whole 'Find My Network' (not to be confused with regular Find My iPhone, etc.) and am thinking of turning it of all devices, AirPods and iPhones.

It's up to you. Do what you want.

 

[bmcgrath]

Got a screenshot?

 

[HalfFullmoon]

Got a screenshot?

No... it was on the other guy's phone. And I was not able to replicate the same map with airpods located nearby.

 

[lcubed]

hmmm. were his lost AirPods on his person while he was at your front door?
was he using the apple find my app?
was there a juicy fed ex package on your door step?

 

[HalfFullmoon]

hmmm. were his lost AirPods on his person while he was at your front door?
was he using the apple find my app?
was there a juicy fed ex package on your door step?

He wasn't trying to steal anything. Besides, we have lots of cops as our neighbors, and the police station is half a mile away on the same road.

He was using some kind of map, maybe 'Find My', I don't know. When I asked to see the map, I saw the airpods 'icon' shown in his map at our location, then I also noticed there was another airpod icon shown at a street across from us. He also said he lived in the street behind us. So, my thinking is that once he inputted his airpods as lost, Apple probably listed same model airpods nearby his 'home' location on the 'Find My' app? I don't know.

Another person complained about his partner's airpods being in his 'Find My', and vice versa, in the iPhone subforum:

AirPods and FindMy

Yeah I think there are a lot of bugs within find my which need ironing out. For me luckily it’s just within my family sharing group… but it’s as if Find My are recognising my partners AirPods thinking they are mine and adding them to my list of devices within Find My but then at the same time...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[lcubed]

if he wasn't using 'find my', he could have been using Wunderkind,
which finds everything within bluetooth range. if so, still could be scammy

"Wunderfind is an app that specializes in locating lost headphones. It shows you how close you are to the lost device as you move around. It works on any wireless headphones, not just AirPods."

in fact, i just read the reviews of this app. it can find anything with an active bluetooth and the first review was from someone who lost their bluetooth connected hearing aids. i should download this for the next time my relative misplaces their BT hearing aids.

 

[HalfFullmoon]

if he wasn't using 'find my', he could have been using Wunderkind,
which finds everything within bluetooth range. if so, still could be scammy

"Wunderfind is an app that specializes in locating lost headphones. It shows you how close you are to the lost device as you move around. It works on any wireless headphones, not just AirPods."

in fact, i just read the reviews of this app. it can find anything with an active bluetooth and the first review was from someone who lost their bluetooth connected hearing aids. i should download this for the next time my relative misplaces their BT hearing aids.

Wow, didn't even know this app existed. But isn't this a security issue, though?

 

[lcubed]

think of it as wifi wardriving except looking for broadcasting bluetooth devices.

in my neighborhood, it'll show all the bluetooth smoker temperature probes in people's backyards! great for finding that misplaced brisket!