Don’t forget to lock your car. Or do, if you’re up for a wild adventure trying to get it back after it gets stolen!

That’s exactly what one Reddit user had to go through when his Subaru vanished overnight on the streets of Chicago. It seemed like the car was gone for good—until he remembered there was a hidden AirTag inside. What followed was a series of bizarre events as he worked to recover his missing vehicle. Read on for the full story.

When the man’s car was stolen in the middle of the night, he thought it was gone for good

Image credits: Eddie Pipocas / unsplash (not the actual photo)

But then he remembered he’d left an AirTag inside, sending him on a bizarre adventure to track it down

Image credits: thinkscotty

Image credits: thinkscotty

Image credits: Scotty Turner

Image credits: thinkscotty

Image credits: thinkscotty

Bluetooth trackers are making it easier to recover lost or stolen belongings

Image credits: Mark Chan / pexels (not the actual photo)

In the past, if someone’s belongings were stolen, they’d have to rely on law enforcement for help, with little hope of getting them back. But now, with affordable trackers, it’s much easier to trace lost items—and even catch the thieves yourself.

Especially after Apple released the AirTag in 2021, countless stories of people using it to recover things like cameras, mail, and more have gone viral. It’s also what the OP of the Reddit story used to track down their missing car.

“Everybody’s had something like this stolen from them and wished they had gotten it back, had some agency in that scenario, had something they could do,” says Dan Guido, a tech CEO in Brooklyn who found his electric scooter using AirTags. “It feels empowering and accessible, and that’s what makes it attractive.”

The AirTag, about the size of a quarter, works by sending a Bluetooth signal to any nearby device within Apple’s Find My network. This information is then uploaded to the cloud and shared with the owner, allowing them to see the item’s location in the Find My app. Essentially, every iPhone, iPad, and Mac can act as part of a system that silently detects AirTags if they end up somewhere unexpected.

Interestingly, Apple has been cautious not to market AirTags as tools for recovering stolen items. Instead, they promote it as a way to find easily misplaced essentials like keys, with the tagline urging users to “lose your knack for losing things.”

This is largely because the technology can also be misused, such as for stalking. In fact, Apple faced a class-action lawsuit alleging that they hadn’t done enough to address privacy concerns with the AirTag.

“AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products,” Apple stated in 2022. “Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag.”

Despite this, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. are using AirTags to help combat theft. In Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department has been using them to reduce package theft as part of a pilot program. In one instance, officers placed decoy deliveries with AirTags on a doorstep. When a thief stole the packages, police tracked the AirTags and quickly apprehended the suspect.

Similarly, a team at San Francisco International Airport’s police division that specializes in baggage theft recommends passengers use AirTags to help recover lost luggage and assist in prosecuting thieves, according to SFGate.

If you do decide to use a Bluetooth tracker for protection, police recommend contacting them to retrieve the stolen item rather than trying to handle the situation yourself. This way, they can manage it safely and return your belongings without putting you in danger.

In the replies, the man owned up to being careless for leaving his car unlocked with the keys in it

Commenters were relieved he got his car back and agreed it made for an incredible story

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