Apple and Google on Tuesday proposed a new technical standard to warn people who are being tracked using small devices originally sold to track keys, luggage and other personal items, AFP reported.

Apple’s AirTags, coin-sized gadgets equipped with Bluetooth technology, are popular with travelers but have also been implicated in stalking cases.

Connected to a mobile app, they track in real-time the geographic location of the goods to which they are attached, as well as the people transporting them, sometimes without their knowledge.

The iPhone already alerts its users if they detect an AirTag (or Apple’s wireless headphones) nearby that they don’t own when they’re out and about.

The proposal from the two tech giants aims to harmonize the specifications of other companies’ Bluetooth beacons to alert people regardless of their smartphone operating system (iOS for Apple and Android for Google).

Samsung, Tile and other manufacturers of similar gadgets have “demonstrated their support” for this industry standard, Apple and Google said in a joint statement.

“Bluetooth devices have huge practical benefits for users, but they can also potentially be used to track people without their knowledge. It’s an industry-wide problem to solve,” said Dave Burke, vice president of Android development.

Last year in the US, several women filed a lawsuit against Apple after they were tracked via AirTag and harassed.

According to court documents, in June 2022, a 26-year-old Indiana man was killed by his girlfriend, who suspected him of cheating and was tracking his location via AirTag.

And in February, Robert Reeves, a police spokesman in Irving, Texas, told AFP that the city’s police department had already handled several cases involving the famous Apple accessory in which the victim and his stalker knew each other. (photo: Andreistanescu | Dreamstime.com)