Apple, Google Unite To Fight Bluetooth Tracker Stalking

Apple and Google are taking Bluetooth tracker stalking more seriously.

The two companies have recently announced they're partnering up with each other to address the problems related to Bluetooth tracker stalking.

You may recall that criminals have been upgrading their methods of committing crimes with Bluetooth trackers to track their victims, as Apple put it in its previous statement in 2022.

Apple, Google Anti Bluetooth Tracker Stalking Partnership Details

Apple and Google, the tech giants going against each other in the mobile phone market, recently announced their collaboration in a joint statement to combat unwanted tracking using Bluetooth trackers like Apple AirTags and Tile Bluetooth Trackers.

The two companies recently submitted a new draft industry specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force that would help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking, per Mashable. To be specific, should these proposed standards be implemented, the new specification standard would allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to work with unauthorized tracking detection tools across both iOS and Android mobile operating systems, according to Engadget.

As such, if a malicious person slipped an Airtag into an Android user's bag, their target would still be alerted to it despite their phone's unauthorized tracking alerts. Currently, Android users suspected to be secretly stalked by someone with an AirTag would need to download a dedicated Apple app like Apple's Tracker Detect to detect such devices.

Although Google doesn't have a smart tracker like Apple, the company might be developing its own since January, per PC Magazine.

The proposed standards from the two companies already have support from Samsung, Tile, a company that also makes smart trackers, Chipolo, Anker's Eufy brand, Pebblebee, and various safety and advocacy groups. This list could still grow, though, as interested parties could view Apple and Google's proposal and state their opinion on it, and even get Apple and Google's response to their comment.

Interested parties have until the end of 2023 to comment on the new standards; Apple and Google would then revise their proposals based on feedback received afterward.

Ron Huang, Apple's vice president of Sensing and Connectivity, said that their proposals build upon the AirTag protections and that Apple's collaboration with Google results in a critical step forward to help combat unwanted tracking across iOS and Android.

Meanwhile, Dave Burke, Google's vice president of Engineering for Android, shares Huang's sentiments, with him stating that Android has "an unwavering commitment to protecting users and will continue to develop strong safeguards and collaborate with the industry to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth tracking devices."

Past Examples Of Bluetooth Tracker Stalking And Misuse

Incidents of stalking have been growing rampant since the release of Apple's Airtags for public consumption. You may recall that a family previously claimed that an Apple device tracked them to Disney World thanks to an AirTag.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency even used it to determine where drug dealers store their illegal drugs and where they buy them, per Forbes.

CBS News previously noted that AirTag is a security risk because Apple has a whole ecology of devices connected to one system. So while Apple advertises its advantage of instantaneously connecting people's Mac, iPhone, and iPad local data, it also creates a massive surveillance network available to any Apple user that can be misused by others.