Apple has been dragged into another lawsuit about AirTag, after two women in Detroit allege they were tracked by their former partners using the accessory, but weren't alerted to being tracked.
A lawsuit, filed on August 10 at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accuses Apple of failing to adequately protect people from being stalked by AirTag owners.
Filed by two women in Detroit, referred to as Jane MH Doe-1 and Jane WP Doe-2 for anonymity, the suit says that the pair were tracked using the accessory, Mlive reports.
One of the women says a former partner repeatedly appeared where she was over the summer, despite not informing them of where she was going. This included at a park on July 2 despite attempting to hide her vehicle behind a truck.
The next day, the partner was apparently aware of her attendance at a fireworks event. Despite moving her camper from a campground to avoid more visits, the former partner turned up at her new place on July 23.
The woman's 12-year-old son later found an AirTag hidden in the vehicle, which the woman then threw into a lake.
Throughout the ordeal, the woman claims she didn't receive any notification warning of an unknown AirTag was traveling with her. This despite Apple including anti-stalking features such as notifications that an AirTag is "moving with you."
The second woman alleges that the tracking took place after getting out of a four-year abusive relationship.
After moving to a new apartment in March 2023, the partner turned up the same day, despite not being informed about it. Two weeks later, an AirTag was found beneath the back seat of her car.
The alleged stalking was reported to police in April 2023, but the harassment continued. Her vehicle was keyed, and the partner attempted to enter the apartment building.
In her case, she was using an Android smartphone. Modern Android smartphone models are capable to scan for trackers in the background, with third-party tools also available for older devices.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple had failed to make adequate safeguards for AirTag. It claims this amounts to negligence on Apple's part, including defective product design, an invasion of privacy, and also violations of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.
A repeat legal problem
While AirTag is designed to keep track of items, its capabilities frequently lead to it being used for stalking purposes. This has, inevitably led to legal action despite Apple's attempts to protect users from stalking.
In 2022, this included a class-action lawsuit that accused Apple's anti-stalking measures of being inadequate and permitting unlawful tracking. That lawsuit gained dozens more plaintiffs in 2023, and was given permission to proceed in 2024.
However, the class-action suit lost its class certification in March 2026. As of May 2026, plaintiffs refiled separate individual lawsuits in California to continue the legal action.
AirTag Protections
AirTag's anti-stalking protections will warn if the AirTag is found to be traveling with an unassociated person for a period of time. This occurs if the AirTag is determined to be separated from its owner, such as not being within range of their iPhone.
In such cases, a notification will be provided to the tracked person's iPhone that there's an unknown AirTag following them. A notification is shown explaining how to locate and disable the AirTag.
For Android users, the Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers standard introduced in 2023 adds a notification to Android. This was implemented in 2024 in Android version 6.0 and later, as well as iOS 17.5.
The standard was introduced jointly by Apple and Google, and also applies to other trackers, including those of Samsung and Chipolo.
For both Android and iOS, the tracked user can make the AirTag play a noise to help locate it. After some time, the AirTag will automatically start chirping, just in case the person doesn't get the notification.
In April 2026, Apple deployed a new firmware for the second-generation AirTag that improved the anti-stalking feature. The sound was updated to make it easier to locate.
