AirtagSource: Apple

What you need to know

  • Oklahoma State University police have issued a warning about AirTags.
  • A report says that a few students have been tracked with the devices.
  • The force told students, staff, and faculty not to ignore alerts about AirTags and to be mindful of where they were going and who they were meeting with.

Oklahoma State University police have issued a warning to staff, students, and faculty following a rise in students being tracked using AirTags.

2 News Oklahoma reports:

Oklahoma State University police issued a warning about Apple AirTags after a few students realized they were being tracked by the device.

OSU Tulsa Captain Michael Galbraith said the problem was new and "something we haven't dealt with before." The report says that there was a "concerning new trend that campus police have seen firsthand" and that "a couple of students in Stillwater" had AirTags placed on "various items and vehicles."

Captain Galbraith said the force "decided that we need to get ahead of it" and had "put out a warning to all our faculty, staff, and students that this is a potential risk for them."

Galbraith pointed out recent updates to iOS 15 that make AirTags easier to spot and find if they're unwanted, and warned staff and students not to ignore notifications about AirTags in their possession, saying they were so small that you wouldn't notice them without an alert. The report continues:

He also suggests that you're mindful of where you're going and who you're going to meet. It could be helpful to identify where you picked up the unwanted device.

While AirTags have proven abundantly useful in helping users track and find lost and stolen items of great value, a more nefarious trend of using AirTags to track people against their will has emerged. Apple acknowledged the issue earlier this year, making AirTags easier to find when users are alerted to them.