Technology has proven useful to the police once again, this time when a simple set of wireless earbuds helped law enforcement agencies locate a stolen vehicle.
Not so long ago we told you how Apple’s tracking device, officially known as the AirTag, has become a major problem not only for car owners but also for the police force. As it turns out, modern thieves turn to the AirTag for the purpose of tracking their targets and monitoring the location of a car that drives through the city.
Most of the time, the AirTag is placed behind the bumper, and in some cases the driver overlooks the tracker’s warnings, making their car a sitting duck for thieves.
On the other hand, it looks like the GPS integration in some Apple products also works the other way around, helping car owners fight criminals out there.
A recent report sheds light on the story of a 2014 Nissan Frontier owner who discovered his vehicle was stolen shortly after it was parked on the side of the road. Fortunately, the thief drove away with the man’s AirPods, so the owner, together with the police, located the wireless earbuds using a special iPhone application, thus determining the location of the car.
The Nissan Frontier was eventually found undamaged and completely empty, so the thief was mostly interested in the belongings inside rather than driving away in the car.
In case you’re wondering how this works with the AirPods, everything is supported by the Find My app, which is preinstalled on your iPhone. Once you’ve lost the AirPods, just launch the Find My app on the mobile device, make sure you’re signed in with the same Apple ID, and then use the built-in features to see the earbuds’ location on the map.
You can also play a sound on your AirPods remotely, but of course that doesn’t necessarily help as it could alert the thief that he is being followed.
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