As a safety precaution, Apple AirTags will beep if they're separated from their owners for a set period of time—if they're slipped into someone’s pocket, bag, or car to stalk them, for example. But a merchant on Etsy tried to undermine this safeguard by selling modified AirTags that had their internal speakers removed.
The product, dubbed “Silent AirTag,” was up for sale for $77.50 before the listing abruptly went offline minutes ago. According to the merchant, “JTEE3D,” the device looks nearly the same as a regular $29 AirTag. However, a small hole has been cut underneath the device’s battery to disconnect the speaker.
The sale alarmed privacy advocate Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who tweeted about the Silent AirTag’s stalking risk on Wednesday.
AirTags arrived last year with the goal of helping people recover misplaced personal items, such as car keys, backpacks, and even pets. But the devices have also been used to stalk people, as they can be easily placed in a victim’s car or coat pocket to track them home.
Etsy merchant JTEE3D said he pulled the product listing himself and sent this statement:
"The intent of this modification was to cater to the several requests of buyers interested in my other AirTag product who were interested in fitting an AirTag to their bikes, pets and power tools. These requests led me to listing it as a product on Etsy, albeit without a great deal of traction. The vast majority of sales shown on my Etsy profile are from sales on my modified slim AirTag, designed to unobtrusively fit inside a purse or wallet.
There's also a listing for a Silent AirTag on eBay. "This [is] so it doesn’t keep beeping when away from you, e.g if left in car or bike or with a family member!" the listing notes. "Reduces chance of a thief being notified of its hidden location!"
Online guides on how to silence AirTags echo this sentiment—that silencing the speaker will make the AirTag harder to find in the event a thief steals a bike or a car, not to facilitate stalking.
Nevertheless, Galperin is concerned modified AirTags could be easily abused for other nefarious purposes. “Any item that works for the purpose of catching a thief in this manner is also a perfect tool for stalking,” Galperin wrote in a follow-up tweet. “That is why Apple advertises them as tools for tracking lost items and not stolen ones.”
Apple and Etsy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Apple did create a few safeguards to prevent stalking with AirTags. In addition to the beep alert, a rogue AirTag will automatically send a notification to any nearby iPhone owner. Apple also created a free app so Android users can scan for any AirTags that’ve been secretly slipped into their belongings.
But as Galperin told PCMag: "Removing the speakers from AirTags eliminates the only anti-stalking mitigation that works automatically and does not depend on the person being stalked having a phone."
Editors' Note: This story was updated with JTEE3D's statement.