Received an AirTag alert at airport. Was another traveller near me. How to remove this from Find My Phone?

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Received an AirTag alert at airport. Was another traveller near me. How to remove this from Find My Phone?

I flew this week with about a 1.5 hour layover and then a 2 hour flight. That entire time, I was near a stranger that waited in the same line and happened to sit right behind me.

Just before the flight took off, I received the alert that an unknown AirTag was with me. I looked through bags and found nothing.

When I got off the plane, I played the sound. Could not connect. Tried again, could not connect. Then I tried a third time and, sure enough, I heard it beeping. I could see a woman stop and turn off the noise. So I walked behind her, played the sound again, and she stopped. So I tried to introduce myself to ask if she had an AirTag making a noise and she kept walking and said she owned an iPad and I'm tired and going home. She then told me it wasn't an AirTag. So I played the sound again as we were walking and she said "that don't mean nothing."

Very strange....anyhow, in my Find My Phone, the red dashes stopped as soon as I quit walking with her and was out of bluetooth range. I've been home about 48 hours and the notification in Find My Phone under connected devices now still has her AirTag and her iPods showing under my "with me" stuff.

How can I remove these without having the actual devices? Do they go away over time? Thank you.

Posted on Jul 15, 2023 2:42 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tesserax

Level 10

152,696 points

Jul 15, 2023 4:32 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

If you have "Find My Network" enabled on your iPhone, any active AirTag within Bluetooth range, will be able to broadcast its location data to your phone (approx. once every 10 mins.). This, in turn, can show up with the AirTag following you ... especially if that tag stays within that range for that time period.

When you had it play a sound, that's exactly what it did. That did not trigger her iPad. Whether or not, she was being honest with you about not having one, is not something I can tell you with any certainty ... but chances are good that she had one, whether she knew it or not.

Are you sure you actually want to remove this capability. The negative would be that someone could illegally place an AirTag on you or your luggage unbeknownst to you to try tracking you. These alerts do "go away" when the tag is no longer near you.

Ref: What to do if you find an AirTag or get an alert that an AirTag is with you - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

92 points

Jul 15, 2023 4:44 PM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for the response Tesserax.

While on the plane with an internet signal, I decided to research the AirTags and such to make sure I was up to speed (I don't own any). Based on that and the impression I had of this individual, I assumed she was either lying or un-aware. I agree with you on it.

I do not want to remove the capability to be notified. In fact, after this, I am making sure everyone in our family has the right settings turned on to be notified. What I'd like to do is see if eventually I can remove only these two notifications that popped up. I've been home now 48 hours and the AirTags are still showing there. They are no longer near me and haven't been for well over 24 to 48 hours. I haven't received any new "alerts" but when I go to Find My Phone, Items, these two items are still there. Any way to remove them at this point?

I tried toggling Location services off/on and that didn't do anything either.

Thank you.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

152,696 points

Jul 15, 2023 4:56 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

To be honest, I'm not sure of a 100% method to remove the historic "AirTag With You" notifications. The support article, I provided you, goes over a number of steps on what to do if this situation happens, but doesn't seem to offer any means to remove these notifications once the tag is no longer near you. If I had to venture a guess, it may take a bit more than that 24 to 48 hrs, you mentioned. AFAIK, Apple hasn't published this info either. However, if someone else here has been through this, and knows of a solution, I'm sure they will chime in with what worked for them.

FWIW, AirTags are very useful, and inexpensive items. They work great for what they were primarily designed for, and that is help the owner to track misplaced/lost items. They were never designed to be used to track people or pets ... which some folks seem to continue to use them for ... and for good or bad intentions.

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Received an AirTag alert at airport. Was another traveller near me. How to remove this from Find My Phone?

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