AirTag 2 has more to prove than most Apple products

Apple is reportedly planning to release the AirTag 2 next year, about four years after its predecessor. And when it does, it will have a lot more to prove than most other Apple products. Here's why.

Upgraded AirTag 2 Will Include Three Key Changes

The AirTag isn't the kind of product you'd expect to see yearly updates. It's a pretty basic utility device. But now that it's been a few years since the original, Apple apparently has some decent updates.

Mark Gurman writes:

The new version will be similar to the current model, but will offer longer range, support for an integrated wireless chip, and improve privacy.

I want to focus on that last point – privacy – because it's one of the main reasons I think Apple has a lot to prove with the AirTag 2.

Privacy will be at the forefront of AirTag 2 expectations

Since the first AirTag shipped, there have been countless stories of it being misused and abused in horrific ways. Stalkers have turned the device into a tool to track others without consent.

Apple has made changes to prevent this behavior, but more can be done – and the hardware upgrade means expectations for improvements will be deservedly high.

Gurman says that with the AirTag 2, Apple will “make it harder for anyone to remove the speaker from an AirTag.” This will ensure that any malicious AirTags will still be able to make sound and will thus be easier to identify.

I hope Apple also improves the capabilities of the internal speaker, making it harder to miss any detection signal.

Apple’s goal with the AirTag 2 should be to make it as unfriendly to stalkers as possible.

The company often touts its value to user privacy. However, with the AirTag, it has inadvertently proven to be instrumental in some of the most egregious privacy violations.

Simply improving the specs with better range and a more powerful wireless chip won’t be enough. Apple needs to show that it has learned from the last four years of AirTag abuse by making the AirTag 2 as secure and privacy-sensitive as possible.

This will likely involve some hardware changes, but I'm also looking for software updates that will make AirTag harassment a thing of the past.

What changes are you hoping to see in the AirTag 2? Let us know in the comments.