AirTag and Tracker Stalking
Apple AirTags, Tile trackers, and similar devices can be misused to secretly track children, ex-partners using shared family devices, or anyone the abuser wishes to monitor.
Tracker Stalking is the misuse of small tracking devices, hidden in a bag or belongings, to secretly monitor a child's location and movements without their knowledge.
What is this?
Bluetooth trackers like AirTags and Tiles are designed to help find lost items, but they can be planted on people without consent. This is a recognised form of stalking and a safeguarding concern, particularly in cases of domestic abuse, contentious separations, or grooming where a perpetrator wants to know a child's location.
How it works
Trackers are small, inexpensive, and can be hidden in school bags, coat linings, or vehicles. They use the wider device network (Apple's Find My, Google's Find My Device) to report location continuously, even when the owner is far away. Detection alerts have improved on iPhones but remain inconsistent on Android.
Warning signs
In your child's behaviour
- • Receiving a notification on their iPhone that an unknown AirTag is travelling with them
- • Discovering an unfamiliar small disc in their bag, coat, or possessions
- • An estranged parent or ex-partner appearing to know the child's whereabouts unexpectedly
On their device
- • iOS "Item Detected Near You" notification appearing repeatedly
- • AirGuard or Tracker Detect app showing nearby unknown trackers
- • Find My app showing devices the family did not register
Prevention steps
Install Tracker Detect on Android devices
Apple's free Tracker Detect app for Android scans for nearby AirTags. AirGuard is a community-built alternative that runs continuously. iPhones detect AirTags automatically but only after several hours of co-travel.
Teach children to check bags after visits with anyone they don't fully trust
Particularly important in custody disputes, after sleepovers, or following any contact with an estranged adult. A quick visual check of school bag linings, jacket pockets, and the bottom of rucksacks takes less than a minute.
Disable AirTag notifications only with full understanding
Some children mute notifications because they're annoying. Discuss why these alerts matter and how to investigate one calmly rather than ignoring it.
What to do if it happens
- 1If an unknown tracker is found, do not destroy it immediately — the serial number is evidence. Use the iPhone Find My app to make it play a sound and disable it, and document where and when it was found.
- 2If you suspect deliberate stalking, contact the police on 101 (or 999 if you feel in immediate danger) and refer to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300.
- 3If the suspected stalker is an ex-partner, contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 — tracker abuse is a recognised pattern of coercive control.
Related topics
If you need to report this
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myths & facts
Myth: A hidden tracker would set off an alert on my child's phone straight away, so we would know about it.
Fact: Apple and Google now build automatic 'unknown tracker' alerts into both iPhones and modern Android phones, which is a genuine improvement. However, an alert only appears once the tracker has been separated from its owner and has been travelling with your child for a while, and some cheaper trackers or an out-of-date phone may not trigger one at all. Treat the alerts as a useful backstop rather than a guarantee, and still check bags and coats if you have reason to be worried.
Myth: Only iPhone families need to worry, because an AirTag can't track someone carrying an Android phone.
Fact: A tracker reports its own location through a large network of nearby phones, so it works regardless of which phone the person carrying it uses. Android phones now have their own unknown-tracker alerts and a manual scan you can run from the phone's settings, and Apple also offers a free Tracker Detect app for Android. Whatever phone your child uses, the protection exists, but it may need switching on or updating first.
Myth: Slipping a tracker into my teenager's bag to keep tabs on them is just sensible parenting.
Fact: There is an important difference between open, agreed location-sharing and secret tracking. A tracker your teen knows about and has agreed to can be a sensible safety tool, but covertly following a child, a partner or an ex without their knowledge can amount to stalking or, within a relationship, controlling behaviour, and it is taken seriously by the police. The honest test is simply whether the person being tracked knows about it and has agreed.
Age by age
- 8-10
A young child won't manage tracker alerts themselves, so this sits with you: do a quick check of bags, coats and the buggy or bike after time with anyone you don't fully trust, and make sure any tracker you use for your own peace of mind is one they know about. Keep the reporting details for yourself rather than worrying them with it.
- 11-13
As children start travelling more independently, show them what an 'unknown tracker' alert looks like on their phone and that it should never be ignored, and agree they can bring any odd disc or alert straight to you without getting into trouble. Check that alerts and scanning are switched on for their phone.
- 14-16
Teenagers are the group most likely to be tracked by a controlling friend, partner or ex, so talk about consent and trackers directly: no one should follow their location without their knowledge, and a hidden tracker is something to tell you or another trusted adult about rather than confront alone. Show them how to run a manual scan and where the police and the National Stalking Helpline numbers are.
- 17-plus
Focus on the coercive-control angle: an older teen should recognise that a partner insisting on tracking their location, or a tracker turning up unexpectedly, is a warning sign rather than a sign of affection. Make sure they know how to use their phone's tracker alerts, that a found tracker should be preserved as evidence rather than destroyed, and that stalking and domestic-abuse helplines are there for them.
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