Apple and Google cross-platform Bluetooth anti-stalking alerts are now live

O Detecting unwanted location trackers (DULT) is a cross-platform initiative designed to prevent Bluetooth trackers like Apple AirTags from being misused to track people without their knowledge. The specification allows iOS and Android devices to detect and alert when a standard-compliant tracker is traveling with you and its owner is not.

Apple said in a Press release you will receive a “[Item] “Found Moving With You” alert on your iPhone if an unknown Bluetooth tracking device is moving with you “over time, regardless of the platform the device is paired with.” You’ll be able to view the tracker’s identifier, have it play a sound so you can find it, and even find out how to disable it.

Although Apple launched AirTags without the ability to alert Android users if someone was following them, it has fixed this with an Android app a few months later. Since Google implemented DULT in December, the function is now built into Android. But with Google’s enhanced Find My Device network now live and rolling out to Android users, the potential for third-party devices to unknowingly track people could grow exponentially.

To avoid these types of valid privacy concerns, Google said it would wait for Apple to implement DULT into its ecosystem before adding support for Bluetooth tracking tags to the Find My Device network. Now that Apple has added the standard to iOS, it’s likely that many of these new Bluetooth trackers will be released soon.