Comment by anonymousiam 3 days ago
On a related topic, I've opted out of Google's BLE tracking/repeating feature. Apple provides no way to do this. The extra battery drain is significant and measurable, and I did not sign up for this when I purchased my devices.
https://support.google.com/android/thread/284190689/how-to-o...
Turning this off doesn't necessarily stop your phone from participating in the "Find My" network, it just prevents your items from being seen. Your phone will continue to relay BLE/UWB traffic for others, and run down your battery more quickly.
Turning off Bluetooth seems to disable the traffic, but then you can no longer access your local Bluetooth devices.
This is wild, but it seems correct, none of the documentation I can find mentions opting out as a sensor that will pass data to Apple. On the other hand, on my Mac no apps are granted access to Location Services, which includes Find My. I don't have an iOS device but it seems like maybe you'd have similarly granular control?
If they are forcing you to transmit data, then it might make even more sense that Apple would steer clear of usage that could create liability for their users.
You can disable it on iPhone by:
Go to: Settings → your name → Find My → Find My iPhone
Toggle “Find My network” → OFF
It should be noted that this will also disable your ability to find your own airtags.