Track your devices via Apple FindMy network in Go/TinyGo
12 comments
·January 11, 2025a12k
malmeloo
The process of requesting locations for a certain tag is not tied to any Apple Account. In the instructions in the README, when logging into macless haystack, you can just use a burner account.
jcutrell
I think there is some positive effect potential for Apple to let this slide. The broader this network is, the more adoption it receives. P2P as a super-structure has always been a bigger than vendor problem; adoption by any means is likely an allowable tradeoff, especially since Apple doesn't have to do the work here.
Eventually they will capitalize more on the mesh density, rather than crushing the adoption now.
malmeloo
Except that custom tags like these do not require an Apple device in order to use them, so the size of the network is not increased. They only increase the load on the network. FindMy is not a P2P/mesh network; all these tags do is broadcast keys which are picked up by iDevices, which then upload those reports to Apple.
bloopernova
I hope in the future we can determine the position of beacons to within a cubic metre or less.
My wife has ADD and she loses items often. Tiles aren't very loud and are flaky, we don't have an iPhone to use Airtags. I'm too exhausted to try to master the math needed to locate Bluetooth beacons, but I wish I could. I'd love for there to be a "just add 4 small Bluetooth boards" kind of software project, but it doesn't seem to scratch that itch for most open source devs.
nobunaga
Is it just me or this whole find my network capability is a security nightmare? I mean I understand its usefulness but can the [insert authority here] just request apple to tell them where this person is even without cellular coverage? Ive decided to move away from the apple ecosystem either way because of this but it just seems to me to be a surveillance nightmare.
malmeloo
I think it's worth mentioning that FindMy consists of two distinct "networks"; there's the one where other Apple devices find your stuff, and another where your devices upload their locations straight to Apple. The FindMy app combines these two networks to show the most recent location. As far as I can tell this project only uses the former network, which would require an explicit backdoor due to the way it is designed. But if you're trying to defend against government agencies, that latter network is probably more of your concern.
rgovostes
nobunaga
Interesting thanks. I understand that its designed to be anonymous, but I guess it requires faith in Apple not complying to any forceful request from a security authority in the US to not modify it in secret.
rgovostes
Cryptographers who design these systems do consider the threat of a malicious future iteration of the company and thus try to reduce the trust in a centralized authority.
Apple did fight in court to not have to crack the San Bernardino shooter’s phone, which probably didn’t garner much sympathy with the general public, specifically against government power to compel them to make changes to subvert security.
They also publish a Transparency Report about government requests they’ve received and how many they’ve responded to.
CubsFan1060
Of course that can be said for nearly anything you own. iPhone, android, tablet, anything that is Bluetooth (for instance, your car), etc.
givinguflac
Given apples outright refusal to help the FBI previously I have more faith than other companies that they’ll do the right thing. But nothing’s perfect.
Incredibly cool. I am constantly amazed by these efforts and the find my network is a really impressive thing. What’s stopped me from using anything like this ever is the fact that I’m confident that at some point Apple will either embrace this sort of piggybacking on the network and open it up more officially, or it will ban any Apple ID that has ever been associated with such things. Right now they know about this and are not commenting either way.
Hope in the future either Apple supports this more officially, or there is a way to use it with no direct link to my Apple ID or account. Until then, I am a spectator in these things.