| ▲ | An Apology(elevationlab.com) |
| 43 points by cdrnsf 2 hours ago | 35 comments |
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| ▲ | gorgoiler 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-] |
| [delayed] |
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| ▲ | Barbing 15 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Photo of the device on MacRumors (who intentionally didn’t publicize its release): https://macrumors.com/2026/10/13/elevation-lab-airtag-silenc... |
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| ▲ | Perenti 34 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The "read more" link points to the same page. There is no more to read apparently. Why does this seem suspicious? |
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| ▲ | troupo 27 minutes ago | parent [-] | | It's likely a Wordpress page with a "read more" plugin/functionality that is as unworking as it has always been. |
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| ▲ | lifeisloving an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Do Iphone users get notifications everytime an airtag is nearby them?? |
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| ▲ | pnw 26 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Yes, within about 30 minutes. They are basically useless for theft prevention as a result. Apple nerfed the functionality after someone used it for stalking. You'll notice there is no mention of theft prevention in the marketing materials anymore. Apple even provide a handy Android app for locating them. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac... | | |
| ▲ | Gigachad 21 minutes ago | parent [-] | | There never was mention of theft prevention. The release day marketing was about losing your keys in the couch. Day one ios would alert you if a tag was tracking you but it took a while for them to collaborate with Android on it. The societal harm from allowing cheap silent tracking of people is greater than the benefit of recovering stolen bags. | | |
| ▲ | gfody 7 minutes ago | parent [-] | | maybe they could set something up where local pd handles the tracking if/when necessary |
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| ▲ | kalleboo an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | You get a notification when an AirTag is following you for some time, but the AirTags owner is not near it. It's meant to detect someone slipping an AirTag on you without the false alarms from, say, taking a walk with a friend who has one in their backpack. | | |
| ▲ | mahboi 31 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | So what good is piercing the AirTag's speaker? | |
| ▲ | froh 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Wait so a thieve an eye with an iPhone who steals my expensive bicycle that I have tagged with an airtag Is receiving a notification that there is an airtag "following" them nearby? | | |
| ▲ | cicko 30 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Yes, the moral of the story is - don't steal expensive bikes if you don't want to get spammed by notifications that the bike is following you. | | |
| ▲ | klipt 16 minutes ago | parent [-] | | With the side effect that the thief can easily find and remove the tag. |
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| ▲ | Barbing 17 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | They always talk about lost items in their marketing. They don’t talk about theft prevention or finding pets or anything. Gotta go for a mini GPS tracker or something for protecting $$$$(+) bikes (which should never leave one’s sight anyway). | |
| ▲ | gbalduzzi 24 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yes. The alternative is to have stalkers using hidden airtags |
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| ▲ | msteffen an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Yeah, I forget the wording but there’s a notification like “so-and-so’s AirTag is near you and they can see where you are.” My spouse put AirTags in our baby stuff and I get them whenever I’m using it. | |
| ▲ | nazgul17 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | We have AirTags registered to my wife's account because I use Android. I have one in my work backpack, and every morning I get a notification that an unknown tracker is following me. I wish there was a way to silence the warning for that specific tag. | | | |
| ▲ | jaredwiener an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | If an unrecognized AirTag is following you, you'll get a notice. I'm not constantly notified that my keys are with me. But if you stuck an AirTag in my backpack, my phone would tell me. | |
| ▲ | forsalebypwner an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | No, only if an airtag that's not theirs follows them for an amount of time | |
| ▲ | drusepth 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Not sure about on iPhone but Android definitely alerts you if an unknown airtag follows you while moving. |
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| ▲ | cloudie78 11 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Call me dumb I still don’t understand what exact problem these clowns were trying to solve |
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| ▲ | mbreese 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | I think the idea was to intentionally disable the speaker in an AirTag you own. The use-case that I think they were describing would be to make it more difficult for a thief to find the AirTag and remove it. Thus, you'd be able to track your stolen bike for longer (and have a better change of finding it). Of course, this would also make it easier for someone to disable a speaker and track a person without their knowledge, making it more difficult for that person to find a stealthy AirTag. I'm not surprised that someone didn't think this through. I am surprised at how many people this must have gotten by to make it into production. You'd think that with any AirTag related product, privacy would be more central to the planning. | |
| ▲ | occz 6 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It says right there in the blog post - bike theft prevention. AirTags are less useful for that use-case right now since the bike thief will get notified of the existence of the tracker on the bike once they transport it, and are hence prompted to find and remove the tag. | |
| ▲ | valvar 7 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Theft? |
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| ▲ | augment_me 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Vibe-coded clone in 3..2..1.. While I understand the reasoning this is just virtue signaling in a time where software is free. |
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| ▲ | jakelazaroff 34 minutes ago | parent [-] | | You're gonna vibe code a clone of hardware? Also, even if it were software, what is virtue signaling about this? If they offer some software at any point, they should continue to offer that software to new users in perpetuity? |
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| ▲ | atemerev 16 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I wonder why no one writes that all UWB devices - airtags, phones, headphones - form the opportunistic P2P network perfect for mass surveillance. Best case scenario, all phones and airtags can be localized on demand by FBI - yes, the current one. Worst case scenario, by FSB. |
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| ▲ | kylec an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Nice apology, though weird flex about their expensive bikes in there |
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| ▲ | mmh0000 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| 1. This is so dumb. You can be tracked any number of ways. The AigTag with or without sound is the dumbest way to track someone. 2. Physically disabling the AirTag speaker is soooo easy. It took under 3 minutes to do it on the AirTag I hid on my motorcycle. 3. "An Apology" is more like a weird advertisement (I guess it worked, I read the stupid thing. But, in fairness, I've now blocked their site in a custom ublock filter, so hopefully I never stumble on it again). 4. They have expensive bikes... Why? Who cares? That's not relevant to anything!? Why did they put that in there? Was this written by a 4th grader? Fuck me. I wish I had just read more AI slop instead. |
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| ▲ | hliyan 11 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | What would be dumb is to not discontinue an unsafe product because there are more dangerous products out there. | |
| ▲ | zhiyan 35 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | 1. There are a million ways to die. But that's no execute for companies to make products that could potentially kill people - in dumb ways.
2. "Easy" is subjective - something easy for one may not be so easy for others.
3. This guy blocked their site in a custom ublock filter... Why? Who cares? That's not relevant to anything!? Why did this guy put that in there? Was this written by a 4th grader?
4. Yea, go read more AI slop, good idea. | |
| ▲ | mahboi 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Doesn't your phone still tell you that the AirTag has been following you? |
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| ▲ | altmanaltman 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > Elevation Lab stops selling its AirTag “silencer.”The tool, which Six Colors recently slammed as “appalling,” pierces the AirTag’s speaker, preventing it from emitting sound. While Elevation Lab says it designed the tool to prevent thieves from detecting the presence of an AirTag, it also disables an anti-stalking feature that audibly alerts people when an unknown tracker is following them.
> Elevation Lab says it has stopped selling the tool and will use its “patent on it to prevent anyone else from making one in the future,” according to MacRumors. https://www.theverge.com/tech/1010718/elevation-labs-stops-s... Provide the full context when you apologize, not whitewash what you did. Go on a ride on your more expensive than car bike, maybe that will help you reasses your product ideation. |
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| ▲ | monideas 29 minutes ago | parent [-] | | > pierces the AirTag’s speaker > also disables an anti-stalking feature that audibly alerts people It sounds like piercing the speaker is the thing that disables the audible alert and the intent was not to help stalkers. |
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