Ukrainians Use Looted Apple AirPods To Track Russian Troops’ Whereabouts

Modern warfare requires new strategies, technologies, and ideas. Moreover, what your enemies do can be used against them. We all are touched by the scenes in Bucha. Though this is the worst we saw in recent days, there are tons of stories about how Russian troops were looting in Ukraine. We understand that it’s a war and humankind showcases its nature. But even so, we still don’t understand how this could happen. Anyway, while we are discussing what a human being can do, Ukrainians are finding ways how to struggle against the Russian invasion. In this regard, it’s worth noting how they use technology and gadgets we use daily, for example, the Apple AirPods.

Apple AirPods Help Ukrainians Track Russian Troops

There have been myriads of reports saying the Russian troops were looting almost everything, including the Apple AirPods. But what the Ukrainians did is they used the “Find Me” feature to track the whereabouts of the Russian troops.

As you know, the “Find Me” function allows the users to track and find the AirPods. In fact, the Cupertino-based company has developed this feature to help Apple users find the lost AirPods. But no one disallowed them to use this feature for other purposes. This is especially true during wartime.

Ukrainians are locating their devices on the territory of the Homiel region, Belarus, where part of the Russian army retreated. pic.twitter.com/JsdhltRZ5E

— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) April 5, 2022

As a Belarussian opposition leader’s advisor said the Ukrainians used this feature to track what direction the Russian troops are going when leaving Kyiv. It turned out that the Russian troops moved across the border and back to the safety of neighboring Belarus.

Apple AirTags Were Used For Tracking Whereabouts As Well

When talking about the tracking feature of various Apple products, we should recall the case when thieves placed AirTags on “high-end vehicles so they can later locate and steal them.” Of course, we shouldn’t underestimate this feature because it can be quite useful in many situations. Say, parents usually attach it to their kids’ belongings to be aware of their whereabouts. But when Apple introduced the AirTag in April last year, privacy groups predicted that the devices may be abetting a new form of stalking.

@superrchar , @lifeoflanie and I were coming back from a concert and an airtag notification showed up on our rental car in the middle of the night!
After frantically trying to find this airtag(its been over an hour of looking still couldnt find it) I finally inform my host.. pic.twitter.com/W1Lf3Iab23

— j. (@jmarambaaa) November 11, 2021

As for now, after so many complaints, researchers believe that AirTags could cause more widespread problems related to tech-enabled tracking. For instance, Apple OS–powered devices can detect a digital signal that they emit.

So on the one hand, the companies like Apple develop and add a new feature to make our lives easier. But on the other hand, we deal with serious privacy problems.