Apple AirTags
Apple’s AirTags are a good product. They are not on this list because they suck at what they do, which is track things that go missing. They perform their tasks very well. But AirTags are also cheap enough and effective enough, thanks to the ubiquitousness of Apple’s Find My network, that they can be used to track people who don’t realize they’re being tracked, and Apple hasn’t done enough to mitigate that danger.
In the months since AirTags launched, Apple has beefed up AirTags’ anti-stalking features, even releasing an Android app so that non-iPhone users can scan their surroundings for unwanted AirTags. But there was clearly not enough thought put into how people would use this product for nefarious purposes. Women, in particular, are finding unwanted AirTags in their belongings or vehicles on a not-infrequent basis, which means that Apple has made it too easy for shitty people to be shittier. In 2022, we hope tech companies start to think through the ways in which their products and platforms can be used for evil and start there rather than imagining utopias in which everyone behaves. The wait-and-see, head-in-the-sand approach to product development has failed us too many times. —Caitlin McGarry
