“AirTag moves with you”: this is what you have to do if an AirTag follows you

AirTag moves with you? You must do this

The AirTag is a useful way to track and find your personal items if you lose them. But it can also be abused. Fortunately, Apple has taken all kinds of anti-stalking measures for the AirTag. One of those measures is that you will receive a notification if an unknown AirTag moves with you. You will receive this notification if an AirTag is following you that is not yours. But fortunately it is not always panic, because it can also have an innocent reason if an AirTag moves with you. We will show you what the message means and what you can do.

• Explanation AirTag moves with you
• Possible scenarios
• You must do this

“AirTag moves with you”: this is what the message means

An AirTag or other compatible Find My accessory (including recent AirPods models) is linked to the owner’s Apple ID. The owner can then see the location. This allows the owner to easily find the object to which the AirTag is linked if he or she has lost the object. The same also applies to AirPods and other trackers that work with the Find My network.

But if the AirTag or Find My item is out of reach of the owner, the anti-stalking feature kicks in. One of those measures is the message “AirTag moves with you”. This notification alerts iPhone users if there is an AirTag near you that is out of reach of its owner and moving with you for an extended period of time. Another measure is that the AirTag starts to make a sound if it is with you for a longer period of time.

The message will therefore not appear if the owner of the AirTag is nearby, nor will it appear with AirTags or other Find My accessories linked to your account.

In these scenarios you will get the AirTag tracking notification

The report is therefore mainly there to prevent unnoticed stalking. But there may also be other scenarios in which you receive this message. In fact, in most cases there is nothing wrong. These are the scenarios in which you can get the AirTag moving with you notification:

• You borrow an item from someone else that has an AirTag or Find My accessory linked to it, or you borrow a set of AirPods
• Your neighbor left an AirTag item at home while you were at home.
• You’re on public transportation and an AirTag item has been left near you
• Someone has unknowingly hidden an AirTag on you (for example in your bag), so that your location can be tracked

The last scenario is the most worrying: in this case, someone is trying to stalk you and track your location. Read on to find out what you can do in each of these situations.

Received a tracking message from AirTag: this is what you need to do

Do you receive a tracking notification from an AirTag? Then you can do the following, depending on your situation:

• Borrowed item
• No item borrowed
• No AirTag found

When you open the tracking notification, you can see on a map the approximate locations where the AirTag or other accessory has connected to your iPhone. Your tracked locations are shown with red lines, so you know where exactly the AirTag was connected.

AirTag item or Find My item borrowed from someone

If you know that you have borrowed an item with an AirTag attached to it (for example from your partner), you can pause the tracking notifications. You will no longer receive notifications that you are being followed for the rest of the day:

1. Tap the notification “AirTag moves with you”. The Find My app opens.
2. A screen will appear indicating that an AirTag has been found near you. Tap Continue.
3. Verify that the notification is indeed coming from the AirTag associated with the item you are borrowing by tapping Play Sound.
4. Tap the Pause tracking notifications button.

You will no longer receive notifications from this specific AirTag for the rest of the day. If you still receive a tracking notification that same day, there is probably another AirTag or Find My item nearby.

Didn’t borrow an item with AirTag or AirPods? Then do this

If you’re sure you didn’t borrow another item, something else might be going on. There is then an AirTag from someone else near you. You can find this out as follows:

1. Tap the notification “AirTag moves with you”. The Find My app opens.
2. A screen will appear indicating that an AirTag has been found near you. Tap Continue.
3. Tap Play Sound to find out where the AirTag is located.
4. If you cannot determine the location or cannot connect, tap Search Nearby (iPhone 11 or newer) to specifically search for the AirTag or other object. This option may not be available for all types of Find My items.

Have you found the AirTag? Then hold the back of the top of your iPhone against the white part of the AirTag to get more information about the AirTag. The AirTag may be in lost mode and you are helping the owner return his or her item.

If the AirTag is not attached to an object or you find it in your own belongings, there is malicious intent. In that case, you can turn off the AirTag by opening the battery cover and removing the battery. To disable the AirTag:

1. Press the back (the silver part) of the AirTag.
2. Hold this down and turn counterclockwise. The battery cover comes off.
3. Remove the battery from the AirTag.

The AirTag is now disabled and the owner can no longer see the location and therefore no longer track you. If you feel unsafe, you can contact the police if you suspect that someone is deliberately following you.

There is a tracking message, but you can’t find the AirTag?

It may also happen that you receive a tracking notification from an AirTag or other Find My accessory, but you cannot find the AirTag or the object in question. For example, you cannot connect because you are out of range. Even then there is no immediate reason for panic. For example, the neighbor may have left an AirTag at home, which connects to your iPhone at a certain time. Therefore, ask your neighbors whether they have an AirTag at home.

If you receive the tracking notification while you are on the road, check your belongings carefully and search places that you do not often look at, for example somewhere deep in a bag or in your car. Or go to another location to see if you still get notifications from an AirTag or if you can now connect. It is also possible that the AirTag is no longer near you and therefore does not move along. In that case, the message resolved itself.

AirTag prices