I have an iPhone without a SIM card that I use as a test device and it happen that yesterday I left it in my backpack, together with an AirTag in the car. Shortly after I walked off, I got the AirTag notification as expected(the left behind notification). What I did not expect though, was to see the test iPhone also having an up to date location in the Find My app. That iPhone has no network connection, so I assumed that somehow it must have connected to my daily iPhone's hot spot.
And today, I learn that iPhones are capable of sending location even when turned off. So I checked the Find My setting, it's right there on iOS 14.4.2 on iPhone 7.
It's pretty cool, very aggressive tracking. Maybe we need clothes with faraday cage pockets for occasions when we don't like to be tracked.
It doesn't connect to your iPhone's hot spot, but your daily iPhone is able to detect the other iPhone's presence just like it detects AirTags and logs that info.
Yes but apparently other iPhones can also detect it and send the location just like with the AirTag even if the iPhone is turned off. That was a surprise.
That’s the whole point of the feature: being able to track a phone that has been turned off.
If you’re afraid of FBI, CIA or Mossad tracking you with this feature, you can disable this on settings
Nope, I'm happy to be tracked. I actually enabled Google Maps to track me all the time because I would like to be able to
look back at Google Timeline[0] and see where I have been at particular time in the past.
Since a few years, I'm in Turkey and I know that in this country the GSM operators track your location constantly and keep the records indefinitely. How do I know that? Well, in Turkey every SIM card is tied to a proven identity(ID scan is required even for pre-paid SIMs) and getting the GSM signal records to prove whereabouts of someone at particular time has become a standard practice on criminal cases. Everyone is well aware of being tracked by the govt. With Apple and Google, I at least get something out of it.
Kind of. The feature to join Find My network is there on iOS14 but to be trackable when powered-off apparently works only on iPhone 11 and up on iOS 15. Anything older will support only tracking without a network connection.
Your "test iPhone" was not turned off, it just didn't have a network connection (because it has no SIM card). And yes, that has been a feature for a while – iPhones without an internet connection can still be pinged via the Find My Network. The setting you see is about being "offline", not "power off", which are different things in this context.
The new feature is iPhones being able to be pinged while the power is off. This is indeed an iOS 15 only feature, and also an iPhone 11+ feature, so it is certainly not available on your iPhone 7 running iOS 14.
Okay, I think you are right. The power-off thing is new for the newer iPhones with iOS 15, for the older models with older iOS it's available only as "No network but power on".
I have an iPhone without a SIM card that I use as a test device and it happen that yesterday I left it in my backpack, together with an AirTag in the car. Shortly after I walked off, I got the AirTag notification as expected(the left behind notification). What I did not expect though, was to see the test iPhone also having an up to date location in the Find My app. That iPhone has no network connection, so I assumed that somehow it must have connected to my daily iPhone's hot spot.
And today, I learn that iPhones are capable of sending location even when turned off. So I checked the Find My setting, it's right there on iOS 14.4.2 on iPhone 7.
It's pretty cool, very aggressive tracking. Maybe we need clothes with faraday cage pockets for occasions when we don't like to be tracked.