2 California Women Sue Apple, Claiming They Were Stalked Using AirTags

Two women filed a class-action lawsuit in California Monday against Apple, claiming that they were stalked and harassed with the help of AirTags and that the company has not done enough to prevent such use.

The AirTag was introduced in April 2021 and is roughly the size of a quarter. It's a tracking device meant to help consumers locate lost items, such as keys or purses, by emitting signals that are detected by Bluetooth sensors to any Apple devices nearby, reporting the missing device’s location back to Apple, then reporting it back to the owner.

In the complaint filed in the U.S. Northern District Court of California, one of the women said that in the wake of a contentious divorce, she found her former spouse harassing her and challenging her about her whereabouts, particularly when she was with the couple’s child.

According to the complaint, the woman said she was unable to figure out how her former spouse could follow her movements so closely, until one day she found an AirTag in her child’s backpack.

The other plaintiff said that months after ending a three-month relationship with a man, she was at a hotel when she received a notification on her iPhone that an unknown AirTag was traveling in her vicinity, the complaint says. She searched her car and found an AirTag placed by her alleged stalker in the wheel well of the rear passenger tire of her car, according to the complaint.

The women are seeking a trial with a jury but no monetary damages.

"AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person's property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products," Apple said in February.

Patch has reached out to Apple for comment about the lawsuit and will update this story when we hear back.