Elevation Lab says it has removed its AirTag silencing accessory after criticism that it could help stalkers. MacRumors and Six Colors identify the product as the AirTag Silencer. Its job was to disable the AirTag’s audible alert, the sound that warns people an unknown tracker may be with them.
The company announced the move in a blog post titled “An apology,” dated October 13 and posted under CEO Casey Hopkins’ byline. It wrote:
We have removed the product and will use our patent on it to prevent anyone else from making one in the future.
As of 06:46 IST on October 14, Elevation Lab’s public product catalog lists no Silencer. It isn’t clear whether third-party sellers still have stock.
How the AirTag Silencer worked
The apology doesn’t explain the mechanics, but MacRumors does. It describes a pin that sits over the AirTag’s speaker. Users were told to remove the AirTag battery, fit the Silencer and then hit it with a hammer. That drove the pin through the plastic cover and into the speaker.
MacRumors also notes that Apple’s AirTag 2 has a louder speaker and more adhesive, which makes the speaker harder to remove.
Why the AirTag’s alert matters
The sound is an anti-stalking safeguard. It matters most for people who won’t get a phone notification about a tracker travelling with them. In its own apology, Elevation Lab admitted the accessory could help someone with bad intentions track exactly that kind of person.
The company’s stated reason for making it was to keep AirTags on its own bikes, as a theft measure. That rationale deserves skepticism. A product built only to silence the alert switches off the anti-tracking feature, whatever the buyer intends.
The pushback came first
According to MacRumors, Six Colors’ Glenn Fleishman called the device appalling. Six Colors also urged Elevation Lab to withdraw it in an October 1 column on stalking and domestic violence.
MacRumors reports that Hopkins defended the product before the reversal. He argued that users could already silence AirTags themselves. He also said phones would still alert people to an unknown AirTag travelling with them. Those are the company’s arguments, not settled facts.
If you’re looking at trackers from the Android side, our post on the $29 Google Pixel Tag covers Google’s option.
Sources: Elevation Lab, MacRumors, Six Colors
