Apple releases AirTag tracking app for Android

By Joe Wituschek
published

Airtag Hero
Airtag Hero (Image credit: Karen S. Freeman / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has released the Tracker Detect app on the Google Play store.
  • The app allows Android users to track AirTags.

Apple has made good on its promise to release an Android app for AirTag.

Today, the company released the Tracker Detect (opens in new tab) app on the Google Play store. The app allows users to scan for an AirTag (or other item trackers) that is currently separated from their actual owner and could be used to track someone without their knowledge.

Tracker Detect looks for item trackers that are separated from their owner and that are compatible with Apple's Find My network. These item trackers include AirTag and compatible devices from other companies. If you think someone is using AirTag or another device to track your location, you can scan to try to find it.

While it is great that Apple released the app before the end of the year as promised, it appears there are some more features needed to bring it up to expectations. The app currently has a 2.3 out of 5 on the store and, according to one user, doesn't have the same features of other item tracker apps released by independent developers:

Not very effective compared to existing AirTag warning tools. The app doesn't do background scans, and shows all AirTags nearby instead of only unknown AirTags. The app also doesn't save previously found AirTag locations, nor does it let you save their serial numbers. It's as if Apple saw the bare minimum they needed to do and managed to do less. 'cmon Apple, do better.

Apple's AirTag was originally released in the spring of 2021 and immediately took on Tile, the known brand for item trackers beforehand.

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Apple AirTag


Bottom line: For iPhone owners, this is the best item tracker on the market right now. With simple pairing and easy-to-use software, AirTags are a kind excellent Apple product of the same vintage as Apple's AirPod family.

Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.

1 Comment
  • I think the poor reception is unwarranted, considering no other tracker OEM does anything to mitigate this concern. "doesn't have the same features of other item tracker apps released by independent developers". It isn't intended to add AirTag functionality to other OSs, just help in determining if an AirTag is potentially being used to track you surreptitiously. (As any other such tracker could) As far as many of the reviews, many are just anti-Apple to begin with, and others want Find-My completely implemented on Android. Some mistakenly believe it didn't work because it didn't detect their own airtags while they were connected to their own iPhone.