The first AirTag shipped in April of 2021, the size of a poker chip and half the weight. Within eighteen months it was a meme, a news story, and a courtroom exhibit. Apple's own detection features — added reluctantly, some say — only alert after hours of travel, and never at home, where most stalking actually takes place. A small, visible industry of aftermarket detectors has emerged to fill the gap.
Ours is called Dispatch. It is not the first. It may be the most considered. A single unlabeled button on a cold-forged aluminum body, a ring of amber LEDs that warms as you near whatever is watching you. Fourteen grams. Seventy-two hours of battery. No account, no app required, no data ever leaves the device.
I. A brief history.
Tracker-stalking began well before AirTag. But AirTag turned a niche concern into a crowd-sourced panopticon: any AirTag in range of any iPhone, anywhere, reports its location back to its owner. Apple's network has an estimated billion nodes. The battery lasts a year.
II. Inside Dispatch.
The case is milled from a single billet, anodized matte. A Nordic nRF54 handles Bluetooth 5.3 and Ultra-Wideband; a second radio listens for the nRF-series chips Apple and Samsung use. It does not connect to your phone unless you tap-and-hold for details. It does not upload anything. It does not even keep a log.
III. The field test.
For three weeks we carried four pre-production units across city and country. Two caught unfamiliar trackers — one in a used jacket, one in a parking structure. Both were real. Neither had alerted the owner's phone.
"It is not a fun device to own. It is, however, the correct device to own."