Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

That's how classic Lojack worked. Lojack is a car theft detection device. It's not GPS based. It's hidden somewhere on the vehicle and connected to power. It listens to FM broadcast radio stations until it finds one with the Lojack subcarrier, something Lojack licensed from radio stations in most cities. It decodes the subcarrier, listening for serial numbers of Lojack units that have been stolen. Then it starts transmitting. It doesn't transmit location, just its serial number. Police cars equipped with Lojack receivers get an indication of direction and distance. Lojack had an effort to equip police cars with the equipment. At peak, LoJack had coverage in parts of 29 states.

It was very effective. 98% recovery rate.

> You want to be able to ask them where they are.

Through what presently-existing technology, exactly, is this idea supposed to work over distances greater than at best a couple of miles with say LoRA?

> The reason you don't see these on the market is because the people that fund products want to sell location data.

I'm not equipped to analyse their claims in detail, but Apple claims the design of their find-my network is end-to-end encrypted, and presumably it would be a huge scandal if this turned out to be a massive lie.

It’s arguably pointless.

> despite the absence of the device on Tile’s app, it can still be tracked and located through other means available on the device.

> Tile Tracker with Anti-Theft mode has a static Mac-Address, which may make it even more trackable

https://techryptic.github.io/2023/03/11/Tile-Anti-Theft-Mode...

Probably. Or something like the TPL5110 might actually suffice, purpose-built timer for power gating at 35nA, but only goes up to 2hr at max.

I was wondering why an MCU with so many pins was used. Maybe it was picked for the total package height?

In rural areas you're always better off with gps+lte+LoRA tracker anyways.

Yes, unfortunately it would.

Yes I think having 2 is a good strategy. I'm also considering offering different timings in the future.

Good catch! Thank you I will correct it now.

> Stalking is already illegal, so why are the tags crippled in the first place?

I assume because it's a network that relies on its reputation among participating nodes to trust it will not be used to track them involuntarily, else they would opt out and collapse the network.

Breaking and entering is already illegal, why do people sell locks?

hardcoded, but I'm thinking of offering different time intervals in the future

That device you link to is more expensive but would never alert the person being stalked, so I suppose that might justify the price.

It's about 10x the size and 4-5x the price.

Probably worth it for a vehicle, but maybe not for a backpack.

I understand your point. In this case the price point makes this a bearable risk, especially to protect much more valuable items. A refund is only useful if only a certain % of people have issue or the company is big. Since this is my only product, an Airtag update that bricks the devices would just bankrupt the company and make me unable to refund most people as my margin is very low anyway.

A reasonable solution would be to get to buy the newer model half-off if this happens. Obviously the maker can’t just have his entire biz nuked with refunds if Apple happens to update firmware.

This. Normal AirTags are just fine for tracking your stuff.

> "(thiefs use apps to locate AirTags around, and AirTags will warn the thief if an unknown AirTag is travelling with them, for example if they steal your car)"

The reason this was introduced is exactly because people used AirTags to stalk others. Advertising that your product turns that off is basically targeting that specific demographic.

As it's 4 hours off / 1 hour on, the device is not very suitable for stalking someone. Also once the AirTag is back on and the person starts moving, they will be alerted that the AirTag is tracking them.

AirTags are already that. There's videos on YouTube on how to disconnect the speaker that allows AirTags to warn the stalking victim.

> You shouldn't go get back your belongings from a thief anyways.

And the police shouldn't either? Seems like knowing the location of your stolen property would help with getting it back in most cases.

The Airtag is mostly off and when back on will alert the person.

I try to remember where I put my cat but for some reason he's never in the place I remember.

Or kidnapped children

> These devices should be outright illegal

why should protecting my belongings from thieves be illegal?

> You shouldn't go get back your belongings from a thief anyways.

you can also send the police to the thieves if you know where they are

seriously, there are like 10 stalkers worldwide but 2 billion thieves. most likely any stalking story was made up by thieves because they hate if people get their stuff back...