Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me

As far as I know, no one is using an Apple AirTag to stalk me. But if that were to change, I’m not even sure I’d notice Apple’s attempts to warn me. The “AirTag Found Moving With You” notification near-constantly sits on my homescreen, and I’ve gotten used to quickly swiping it away.

But I’m getting ahead of myself – let me tell you about my dog, Rosie. She’s a sweet tempered, mild mannered rescue. Still, there was one catch when we adopted her: She’s a flight risk.

We’ve seen this firsthand when the sound of fireworks or a strong wind causes her to enter a full-blown panic. Rosie shuts down, shakes and, when it’s really bad, tries to run away. We’re working on it, but, in the meantime, we’ve turned to Apple AirTags as an extra reassurance.

The $29 quarter-sized AirTag attached to her collar keeps track of her location so that we can quickly find her if she ever got away. It’s mostly for peace of mind — we’ve only had to use it once — but it’s also quickly become an annoying part of my daily routine.

The problem is that the AirTag is registered to my partner’s device. That means that Apple doesn’t recognize my iPhone in connection with the AirTag, seeing the unknown tracker as a threat to my safety. It sends a notification that there’s an AirTag following me, which won’t go away until I acknowledge its presence in the Find My app, and there’s no way to tell it “hey, that’s just Rosie!” to disable the recurring notification. Plus, it’ll ping and make sounds to alert me of its presence, causing our already skittish dog confusion.