FindMyWeb reverse-engineers Apple Find My and rival networks for self-owned trackers

One web interface for three tracking networks

A project called FindMyWeb, hosted on Codeberg and featured on the Hacker News front page, aims to let people build location trackers they actually own. Rather than deploying a new network of its own, it piggybacks on the crowdsourced device meshes already operated by the major vendors: according to the project's page, FindMyWeb supports Apple's FindMy, Google's Find My Device, and Samsung SmartThings.

The stated end goal is a single web interface fronting all of these networks, paired with open-source tracker hardware that requires no vendor-specific devices to operate.

The fragmentation problem

The project's motivation is a familiar complaint about the tracker market. Location tracking today is split across a plethora of incompatible vendor networks, each of which requires you to run its closed-source software on its own devices, with no visibility into what happens to your location data once it leaves the tracker.

The lock-in cuts both ways. Buy an AirTag and your tracking experience is tied to Apple's software and policies; buy a Samsung SmartTag and it only works within Samsung's ecosystem. Someone who wants a tracker they can inspect, modify or repair has essentially no off-the-shelf option, which is precisely the gap FindMyWeb targets.

How it works

FindMyWeb consists of two main pieces. On the server side, the backend currently talks to Apple's network through FindMy.py, a library by developer malmeloo — the same network AirTags use, populated by hundreds of millions of Apple devices that quietly relay the positions of nearby tags. Google's and Samsung's networks are listed as supported targets as the project develops.

On the device side, the trackers run a custom firmware called FruityTag, built on Zephyr, the open-source real-time operating system widely used for embedded hardware. The project also credits the seemo-lab research group for its early work reverse-engineering the Find My network, the foundation on which practical libraries like FindMy.py were built.

Still early

The setup documentation currently covers running the combined web frontend and backend in a development or bare-metal configuration, plus building the FruityTag firmware from source. Two convenience features — Docker deployment and prebuilt firmware images — are both still marked as to be done, suggesting the project is aimed at tinkerers rather than casual users for the time being.

Why it matters

Find My and its rivals are among the largest crowdsourced sensor networks ever deployed, and access to them is controlled by a handful of companies. FindMyWeb treats that coverage as public infrastructure: if a tracker can speak the network's protocol, anyone can tap planet-wide locating without deploying their own mesh and without accepting a closed stack as the price of admission.

It also reframes the question of ownership. A tracker with open firmware and a self-hosted backend can be audited, modified and repaired — something no commercial tag currently offers. The caveats are real: these networks were not designed for unlicensed third-party devices, so the approach sits in a legal grey area, and vendors can change their protocols at any time, forcing a cat-and-mouse response. Even so, FindMyWeb is a promising demonstration that tracker lock-in is not inevitable, and that the densest locating networks on Earth can, with enough reverse-engineering effort, serve hardware that people genuinely control.