Mother divides viewers after claiming she uses Apple AirTags to ‘track’ her children

TikTok users debate whether AirTags are a helpful safety feature or if they’re ‘traumatising’ children

A mother of two has sparked a debate after revealing that she uses Apple AirTags to track her children’s location.

Vada Stevens, who lives in North Carolina, recently went viral when she shared that she keeps track of her two young daughters using an Apple AirTag bracelet. Stevens, who’s expecting her third child, posted a TikTok video in which her daughters Stella and Serena could be seen responding to the AirTag’s beeping noise.

“I saw a TikTok about a mom who puts Apple AirTags in bracelets on her kids and thought it was the coolest thing,” she wrote over the clip, showing a close-up of her daughters’ tracking devices tucked inside a bracelet. “You can find them on Amazon and you can track them and make a beeping noise.”

“And you can train your kids to come when they hear the beeping noise,” she added, before showing a clip of her daughters practicing using the AirTags. The two children came running from the other room after Stevens had pressed a button, which prompted the sound of the AirTag alert.

“You beeped for us,” one daughter said in the TikTok. “What did you need?”

Stevens jokingly captioned the TikTok video: “Today we are dog training.”

The video has since received 1.7 million views on TikTok, as many people in the comments section debated over whether the parenting trick was a safety precaution or “traumatising” children.

“This is perfect for the park or amusement park,” said one person.

“Yep, lost my little girl at a fair once. Never go in crowds without these now,” another shared.

“This is genius!” said someone else.

However, Stevens revealed some of the “negative comments” she’s received in response to the video. “So far the best one is I’m traumatising them,” she replied to one user.

“I really don’t know if this is cool or just terrifying,” another person said. “No judging, I‘d do it too without any doubt but just scary somehow.”

“I feel conflicted,” said someone else, while another person sarcasticaly wrote: “Can you also train them to retrieve and sit/stay?”

In 2021, Apple launched AirTags to help iPhone users track the exact location of a lost item, such as luggage and keys. The small, circular device can be tracked from Apple’s Find My app.

Vada Stevens isn’t the only mother to use AirTags to track her children. Last month, TikTok user Lacey Johnson also went viral when she shared a video of her son playing on a playground, before running towards his mom after she signaled the AirTag.

The Independent has contacted Vada Stevens for comment.