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by jfoster 1398 days ago
> An end game solution would be all the OEMs working together one some anti tracking notification spec but that isn't easy to arrange

Apple could just publish their spec so that Android can also implement it.

2 comments

There are also third party AirTag compatible trackers like the Chipolo. They are just as expensive as the AirTag so I’ve never seen the point.
they did - however, the only devices able to seamlessly detect airtags are ios devices.
What's unique about iOS device hardware that enables them to seamlessly detect AirTags? Pretty much all Android devices have Bluetooth.
Android manufacturers (Google and Samsung mostly) don't want to support Apple gear by default.

There are no technical reasons why they couldn't add all their phones to the Find My network. Only political.

There are technical reasons... Uploading data to Find My requires a connection to apple.com which is authentic (ie. Uses crypto keys from the apple device, and apple won't give those keys to an android manufacturer).
You really think Apple would say "no" if Samsung or Google said they want to connect their devices to the Find My network? They'd give the keys in a heartbeat.

But neither G nor S is willing to provide extra coverage for Apple nor do they want their phones connecting to a system they can't datamine.

I think the crux of the issue is that G & S won't work with A because A runs things like a dictatorship. Which is ironic considering how many international standards/specs A uses for their devices.

Pretty sure Apple would make a special "Apple-Fi" incompatible with standard Wifi if they could get away with it.

Apple would totally say no.

Currently it's a unique selling feature of the Apple ecosystem. If every phone could do it, then Apple would lose this benefit, and Apple would still be paying for all the servers.

There are android apps that can detect AirTags. It’s just iOS is the only OS that has this built in and enabled by default.