Apple last year to work on a new “industry specification to address unwanted tracking” after many about stalkers using accessories like to silently track people. Now it seems that
Apple is planning to launch these new anti-stalking features with iOS 17.5. Detecting and disabling unwanted tracking accessories has found evidence of these new anti-stalking features in the internal code of iOS 17.5 beta, . Strings added to the Find My app reveal that iOS will identify tracking accessories, even when they’re not Apple or Find My certified, and help users disable them. “This item isn’t certified on the Apple Find My network. You can disable this item and stop it from sharing its location with the owner. To do this, follow the instructions provided on a website by the manufacturer of this item,” reads one of the new strings. The feature doesn’t seem to be enabled for beta users for now, but this is strong evidence that it may become available with the official release of iOS 17.5. Companies including
Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, Eufy, and Pebblebee have expressed interest in supporting this technology. At the time, Apple and
Google said they would create a new universal system for iOS and
Android to detect and alert users about unwanted tracking accessories. Currently, iOS is already able to detect unwanted Bluetooth location-tracking devices, but only when they’re Find My certified. The company also offers an . More about iOS 17.5 iOS 17.5 beta 1 doesn’t seem to bring any significant changes, as we’ve only seen a few minor tweaks so far. Apple is likely to release iOS 17.5 to the public next month, as the company is also rumored to launch new iPads and accessories in May.