Epic Games' CEO Criticizes Apple's 'Find My' Feature, Sparks Controversy

TapTechNews July 31st news, Epic Games' CEO Tim Sweeney publicly criticized Apple's Find My feature today, calling it a super scary surveillance technology that shouldn't exist.

Sweeney disclosed that a few years ago, a kid stole a Mac laptop from his car. Years later, when he used the Find My feature by accident, he found that since the computer was still bound to his Apple ID, the feature showed the thief's address, and he said, What the heck Apple? How could you do this?

However, the original intention of Apple's Find My feature is to help users locate lost or stolen devices, and the design of binding the device to the user's account is precisely to prevent theft, so Sweeney's view has sparked controversy.

When facing the doubts of netizens, Sweeney further explained that locating the device is equal to locating the person, and people have the right to privacy, including thieves. He believes that recovering lost or stolen devices should be through legal channels rather than by the device owner tracking by himself. Due to this incident, Sweeney has turned off the Find My feature on all his devices.

TapTechNews noticed that although Apple's AirTag has been criticized for being used for tracking, the Find My feature itself has not had similar controversies before. In fact, the Find My feature and activation lock are important anti-theft measures, which have effectively reduced the theft rate of iPhones. Apple has also recently extended the activation lock to iPhone parts to prevent the device from being disassembled.