Photo: Jack Skeens (Shutterstock)
You need to borrow your partner’s car for a drive. Lucky for you, they have an AirTag on their car keys, so you don’t need to worry about losing them. Instead, you can worry about your iPhone going nuts, warning you that a strange AirTag is in your vicinity. Sure, you can dismiss the popup that appears on your phone screen, but it’s likely you’ll have to do so every time your phone comes close to the AirTag.
What gives, Apple?
Don’t be mad; your iPhone is trying to keep you safe
Let’s step back for a moment. While Apple’s AirTags are a great way to keep tabs on things that often go missing, there is an obvious security flaw to an inconspicuous tile that beams its location back to the owner. You don’t want someone being able to place an AirTag in someone’s bag or car, only to be able to silently track their movements.
Apple addresses this flaw by letting you know if you are in close proximity to an AirTag it doesn’t recognize. But speaking of flaws, this also happens when you’re in proximity of an AirTag you recognize, but that your iPhone doesn’t.
There is a solution
As it turns out, you can fix this issue. Apple has a way to confirm the AirTag in question isn’t nefarious, and that you know the person it’s attached to. You can even make sure that your iPhone never warns you about that particular AirTag again.
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The catch? The AirTag needs to belong to someone in your Family Sharing group. If not, the best you can do is disable alerts for one day (which is still better than getting hit with recurring alerts throughout the day).
The next time the “Safety Alert” page comes up on your iPhone, just tap “Continue.” According to Apple, if this AirTag belongs to someone in your Family Sharing group, you should see an option to turn off Safety Alerts for “One Day,” or “Indefinitely.”
If not, you should see an option to “Pause Safety Alerts.” Tap that to end safety alerts for the day, and get back at least a little of your sanity.
