Laura Hobson, Co-Founder & COO, YoursGlobal · · 5 min read
When Apple released AirTags in 2021, the marketing was simple: find your keys, find your bag, find your bike. Tracking for everyday items.
What Apple didn't advertise: AirTags would become one of the most effective stalking tools ever invented.
AirTags are cheap (around $29), small, and silent. They use Apple's massive Find My network—hundreds of millions of devices worldwide—to triangulate their location. An abuser places one on a victim's car, in their bag, or in their jacket pocket. Then they can see exactly where the victim is, in real time, without the victim ever knowing.
This isn't theoretical. It's happening right now.
Shalini Thakur found an AirTag under her car hood in January 2026. It was the beginning of nine months of stalking that ended in her murder.
Brooks Nader, a model and television personality, discovered an AirTag on her car in New York. She posted about it publicly, prompting hundreds of other women to come forward with their own stories of finding AirTags planted on their vehicles.
The Indiana case: A woman used an AirTag to track her boyfriend to a bar, confronted him, and ran him over with her car, killing him.
These are the cases that made headlines. How many cases didn't?
An AirTag is 1.26 inches across and 0.3 inches thick. You can hide it under a bumper, in a jacket pocket, in a backpack, or in a handbag in seconds.
The victim doesn't know they're being tracked. No blinking light, no sound, no notification. They go about their life while someone knows exactly where they are.
If a victim confronts their stalker, the stalker can claim the AirTag got lost or ended up on the victim's property by accident. It's just a lost item. Nothing illegal about that, right?
Unlike older GPS trackers, AirTags don't need their own cellular connection. They piggyback on millions of iPhones. If you're in a populated area, the stalker always knows where you are.
At $29 each, AirTags are disposable. If a victim finds one and destroys it, the stalker just places another. No significant cost, no escalation in risk for the abuser.
In 2022, after reports of AirTag stalking, Apple added anti-stalking features:
Sounds good. In practice?
The notification system is designed for "I accidentally lost an AirTag and someone found it and is carrying it home." Not for "Someone deliberately planted this on me and is hunting me." The detection delay means stalkers have hours or days before the victim gets a notification. The sound feature requires the victim to know they're being stalked first.
And for law enforcement to access tracking data, they need Apple's cooperation—which requires a warrant and time.
Meanwhile, the stalker already knows where you live.
Women traveling alone. Predators often target solo travelers because they have fewer people watching out for them.
Domestic abuse victims. Abusers use AirTags to track partners they've threatened or isolated.
People in custody disputes. Parents trying to locate children, exes trying to locate former partners.
Anyone visible on social media. If a stalker can figure out where you'll be (from your Instagram story, your work location, your routine), they can place an AirTag on your car in advance.
AirTags are white and black, the size of a thick coin. But they can be placed anywhere—under your car bumper, in your wheel well, inside your bag, in a jacket pocket you haven't worn in days.
Look under your car bumper, in your wheel wells, under your hood, in your bag, in any pockets. Do this weekly if you're traveling solo or in a situation where you feel unsafe. Monthly if you're just being cautious.
On iPhone, go to Find My > Items. If you see an AirTag that isn't yours, tap it. If it says "Unknown AirTag," you've found a tracker.
If you're using an iPhone, you should get a notification if an unknown AirTag has been traveling with you for a while. Don't ignore it. Don't assume it's a mistake.
Apps like YourSweep can scan for Bluetooth trackers in range, helping you verify your car, bag, and personal space are clean. Especially useful if you think you might be being tracked but haven't found physical evidence yet.
AirTag stalking exists because the technology was designed without serious consideration for misuse. Apple built a global tracking network and gave it to people at scale without adequate anti-stalking infrastructure.
This isn't Apple's fault alone. This is what happens when consumer technology is designed with convenience as the only priority.
AirTag stalking is not a hypothetical concern. It's happening. It's happening to women traveling alone, to domestic abuse victims, to people trying to escape threatening situations.
The technology exists. The stalking is real. The legal system is slow. Law enforcement is spread thin.
That means you can't just depend on the system. You need to verify your own safety.
Check your car. Check your bag. Know what you're carrying. Know if someone is following you.
Because AirTags make stalking invisible, invisible doesn't mean it's not happening.
If you believe you're being tracked, contact law enforcement immediately. In the US, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (confidential, 24/7).