Elevation Lab has withdrawn its AirTag Silencer and apologized after acknowledging that permanently disabling the tracker's speaker could help people track victims without their knowledge.

Elevation Lab recently released a tool dubbed the AirTag Silencer. To use it, an AirTag owner could remove the battery, insert the AirTag into a jig, and use a hammer to drive a pin directly into the AirTag's speaker.

The pin would permanently silence the speaker without damaging any of the other components within the tracker. The creators say the tool was created to prevent thieves from uncovering the AirTag before the stolen item could be located.

AppleInsider refused to cover the AirTag Silencer when it launched. We believe this product, while it may have been created with good intentions, would enable users to track victims without their knowledge.

It's also a good time to remind you that AirTag is not an anti-theft device; it is an item tracker. While it may incidentally help recover stolen items, Apple clearly states that it's for misplaced items.

Elevation Lab has since removed the item and issued an apology:

We launched an AirTag silencing tool recently. We have always made products we want for ourselves, and this was no different - we wanted it for AirTags on our bikes. (Some of us here have bikes more valuable than our cars.)

In retrospect though, this also has the side effect of aiding someone with bad intentions to track someone that wouldn't get phone notifications.

We have removed the product and will use our patent on it to prevent anyone else from making one in the future.

Since its inception, many cases of unwanted tracking have plagued Apple's tiny tracker. In September 2026, a woman claimed a former partner used an AirTag to track her, and that the AirTag never warned her she was being tracked.

A month prior, two women in Detroit alleged they were tracked by their former partners using AirTag, but had never received an alert.

Another lawsuit from 2022 attempted to create a class-action challenge against Apple, accusing the anti-stalking measures of being inadequate and permitting unlawful tracking.

While that suit was given permission to proceed in 2024, it lost class-action certification in March 2026. This led to plaintiffs refiling in May.