Skechers Is Making Kids’ Shoes With A Hidden Airtag Compartment

Skechers introduced a statement of kids’ sneakers that incorporate a hidden compartment wherever parents tin gaffe successful an Apple AirTag.

Inside of nan bottommost of nan shoe, a mini insert tin beryllium lifted to uncover nan compartment. Then, parents tin way nan location of their kid — or, astatine slightest their child’s shoes. These shoes don’t travel pinch an AirTag, and they don’t look to beryllium an existent collaboration pinch Apple, but rather, a third-party merchandise that Skechers has developed connected its own.

The shoes were announced successful mid-July to small press, but AppleInsider reported connected nan merchandise connected Wednesday.

Apple only advertises its AirTags arsenic products to support way of items for illustration keys, wallets, aliases luggage — not quality beings. But parents person been utilizing nan exertion to support an oculus connected their kids. Already, location are products for illustration AirTag-compatible bracelets, insoles, pins, aliases moreover knock-off Crocs Jibbitz that tin fresh an AirTag.

Perhaps intentionally, AirTags are not designed to beryllium very bully astatine search fast-moving things, for illustration a kid connected a schoolhouse bus, for example. Unlike an iPhone pinch location sharing enabled, AirTags don’t person built-in GPS. Instead, they usage Bluetooth beaconing technology to softly awesome their beingness to adjacent Apple devices, giving nan proprietor of nan AirTag an estimate of its location.

This exertion tin still beryllium utilized for nefarious purposes, however. Bad actors person hidden AirTags successful people’s bags aliases cars to stalk them, which sparked a people action lawsuit. Apple has instituted immoderate anti-stalking features, specified arsenic notifying personification via their iPhone aliases Apple Watch erstwhile an unfamiliar AirTag is walking pinch them.

Since Skechers only makes this merchandise successful kids’ sizes, it’s improbable that these shoes could beryllium utilized to surveil adults against their will — but nan continued normalization of this benignant of surveillance could person implications beyond childcare. It’s imaginable that Skechers aliases different footwear marque could make akin products designed for adults pinch conditions for illustration dementia, who whitethorn unintentionally rotation distant from their caretakers. While those uses whitethorn beryllium well-intentioned, these kinds of products could besides beryllium utilized to way adults without their consent.