Woman finds AirTag stuck to her car amid ongoing privacy concerns

Find My Precision Finding Airtag Hero (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

What you need to know

A woman found an AirTag attached to her car after being warned by her iPhone.
Following an alert to say an AirTag was moving with her, the woman found it attached to the car.
AirTags are again in the middle of a privacy storm.

A woman says she found an AirTag attached to her car after she was alerted that it was moving with her during a drive home from a bar. The story comes amid ongoing privacy concerns relating to Apple's location tracker.

Hot on the heels of the news that AirTags could possibly be being used to help steal cars, this latest story comes via a viral tweet in which the story unfolds.

If you don’t know, AirTags are what you can attached to shit so you don’t lose it. But someone put one of theirs *on my car*. It was 2 am and I was driving away with no cars around me and I kept getting this alert for like 30 mins straight. pic.twitter.com/qpodvYAphVIf you don’t know, AirTags are what you can attached to shit so you don’t lose it. But someone put one of theirs *on my car*. It was 2 am and I was driving away with no cars around me and I kept getting this alert for like 30 mins straight. pic.twitter.com/qpodvYAphV— jeana jeana (@Sega__JEANAsis) December 18, 2021 December 18, 2021

this morning while I was asleep I had someone close to me check my car and they found it stuck on the underside of my front passenger wheel well. I wish he took pics before he threw it away but it looks like this: pic.twitter.com/O7uZhrq4whthis morning while I was asleep I had someone close to me check my car and they found it stuck on the underside of my front passenger wheel well. I wish he took pics before he threw it away but it looks like this: pic.twitter.com/O7uZhrq4wh— jeana jeana (@Sega__JEANAsis) December 18, 2021 December 18, 2021

It isn't clear how the AirTag was attached to the car but what we do know is that it was placed there for a reason. We also know that Apple's privacy features worked as intended here and it's impossible to know what might have happened if they hadn't. Questions will obviously now be asked about what might have happened if the woman wasn't an iPhone owner or had the Android AirTag app installed.

Apple's AirTag is a great option for anyone who wants to make sure that they never lose their keys or just about anything else ever again. Unfortunately, like other tracking devices, they can be used to track people as well. Apple's solution is to warn people when an unknown AirTag is moving with them, but that in itself isn't a guaranteed fix. Amid ongoing privacy concerns, this latest story could amplify the concerns of many.

Looking to keep tabs on your keys but don't want to use an AirTag? These are the best AirTag alternatives we've found to date.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.