Women say exes used Apple AirTags as ‘weapon of choice’ to stalk them. They’re suing

After a woman broke up with her boyfriend of three months, he started harassing her online before using Apple AirTags to stalk her, she says.

One day, the Texas woman received an iPhone notification alerting her to an unknown Apple AirTag nearby — and later found the device planted on her car near one of her tires, according to a new federal lawsuit. The AirTag, which is white and silver, was colored in with a Sharpie and tied up inside a plastic bag.

Apple sells the product, which are designed to help locate their owner’s misplaced items such as a wallet or keys, starting at $29.

To this day, Lauren Hughes fears for her safety and says her ex-boyfriend continues to stalk her with the devices created by Apple.

Now she and another woman are suing Apple, calling AirTags the “weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers,” according to the proposed class-action complaint filed Dec. 5 in San Francisco federal court.

The other woman, who is from New York and goes by “Jane Doe” in the complaint, says her ex-husband also used the device to stalk her after she found an AirTag inside her child’s backpack.

McClatchy News contacted Apple for comment on Dec. 6 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

The concern over AirTags being used for unwanted tracking is not new. The tech giant commented on the issue in February and condemned “any malicious use” of the company’s products, McClatchy News previously reported.

The company created an AirTag alert feature that notifies an iPhone user about a potentially unknown, detected device tracking them — like the notification Hughes received.

But the alert “is not immediate” and unavailable to those who have Androids instead of iPhones, according to the complaint. That delay, which was up to 72 hours when the feature first launched, keeps victims in “potential danger,” the complaint argues.

When AirTags were released in April 2021, the company described the devices as “stalker proof,” according to the lawsuit.

“Apple spent the rest of 2021 and 2022 scrambling to address its failures in protecting people from unwanted, dangerous tracking,” the complaint states. “To date, most if not all, of these failures persist.”

‘Consequences’ of AirTags

Soon after the release of AirTags, “reports have proliferated of people finding AirTags placed in their purses, in or on their cars, and even sewn into the lining of their clothes, by stalkers in order to track their whereabouts,” the complaint states.

In late 2021, local police departments across several states began putting out warnings regarding AirTags and their potential for “nefarious uses,” McClatchy News previously reported.

The devices are linked to at least two reported murders in 2022 after AirTags were used for unwanted tracking, according to the complaint.

In January, a woman in Akron, Ohio, was killed by her ex-boyfriend who was stalking her with an AirTag, the complaint states. He “buried” an AirTag in a pocket of her car’s passenger seat, tracked her and shot her.

Months later, in June, a woman in Indianapolis put an AirTag into her boyfriend’s car, tracked him to a bar and fatally ran over him with her car, the complaint states. The woman had believed her boyfriend was cheating on her, McClatchy News reported.

Women’s exes start using AirTags to stalk them

Hughes’ ex-boyfriend started stalking her and launched a harassment campaign against her on social media in late August 2021, according to the lawsuit. He began leaving threatening messages from blocked phone numbers and left items at her home.

By October 2021, Hughes started staying in a hotel after deciding it was time for her to move for her safety, the complaint states.

On Oct. 7, she arrived back at her hotel room after packing at her apartment when she was notified by her iPhone about an AirTag in her area, according to the complaint.

After ultimately finding an AirTag placed by her ex in the wheel well of her car, she says she went to an Apple store. While there, she asked workers how long the AirTag was on her car but they were unable to give her an answer.

The next day, “she encountered a strange man who was lurking near her apartment and looking at his phone,” the complaint states. “Ms. Hughes entered her apartment to find that the door jamb had been damaged and the AirTag was making noise. Ms. Hughes believes that the stranger had been sent by her stalker to retrieve the AirTag.”

As a result, Hughes went to a local police department and a detective said the only action they could take against her ex-boyfriend was to read him a cease and desist, according to the complaint.

“Her stalker has evidenced a commitment to continuing to use AirTags to track, harass, and threaten her, and continues to use AirTags to find her location,” the complaint states.

The second woman, Jane Doe, discovered an unwanted AirTag inside her child’s backpack following a “contentious divorce,” according to the complaint.

Her ex-husband seemed to always know her whereabouts and would challenge her about where she was going, especially when she was with her child she shared with him, the complaint states.

After disabling the AirTag, she found a second one in her child’s backpack soon after, she says.

This woman argues her ex-husband continues to use AirTags to track her, similarly to Hughes’ ex.

The women are suing Apple on several counts, including negligence, product design defect, the California Constitutional Right to Privacy and more.

If you’re wondering whether an Apple AirTag is tracking you — even if you have an Android device — continue reading here:

Is an ‘unwanted’ Apple AirTag tracking you? Here’s how to tell — and what you can do

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.

Apple’s iOS 16 has feature to protect people in abusive relationships. What to know

AirTag tracks airline worker accused of stealing $15k in goods from luggage, cops say

Woman tracks boyfriend with AirTag, then runs him over outside bar, Indiana cops say