by Glenn Fleishman

AirTag Silencer, Silenced

ElevationLab has withdrawn its AirTag Silencer from sale. The device precisely destroyed the speaker in an AirTag while leaving tracking functions intact. Two weeks ago, I strongly suggested it stop selling it because their precision product offered abusers and stalkers a useful tool—true, available from other sources, but none with the high production quality or the stellar reputation among Apple users that ElevationLab has.

The company sent out a brief email to customers today:

We launched an AirTag silencing tool recently. We’ve always made products we want for ourselves, and this was no different – we wanted it for AirTags on our bikes. (Some of us have bikes more valuable than our cars.)

In retrospect though, this also has the side effect of aiding someone with bad intentions to track someone that wouldn’t get phone notifications.

We have removed the product and will use our patent on it to prevent anyone else from making one in the future.

At the time, the company defended the product. I don’t know if my words had any effect.