Oliver Haslam·

An Australian Retailer Has Stopped Selling Apple AirTag Over Child Safety Concerns

Apple’s AirTag has only been on sale for a few days now but it’s already found itself in the middle of a child safety issue. One Australian retailer called Officeworks has already stopped selling AirTag trackers over concerns that children could swallow the removable battery.

First spotted by Gizmodo, the story initiated on Reddit with one customer saying that they were told that AirTag trackers were removed from sale over concerns relating to their battery and the potential for children to swallow them.

“Staff at the counter could see on their system that they had some in stock, and one staff member even remembered selling them on Friday, but they couldn’t find them today,” the user wrote in a post.

They went onto say that an Officeworks representative told them that the AirTags were removed due to safety concerns, specifically regarding how easy it is for the button-cell battery to be removed by a child.

However, Apple says that it’s aware of the issue but that it believes AirTag meets all required standards. A two-step process is required to remove the AirTag battery – a standard CR2032 part – and is sufficient to meet regulatory standards.

“AirTag is designed to meet international child safety standards, including those in Australia, by requiring a two step push-and-turn mechanism to access the user-replaceable battery,” an Apple representative said in an email to Gizmodo Australia.

“We are following the regulations closely and are working to ensure that our products will meet or exceed new standards, including those for package labelling, well ahead of the timeline required.”

Still, that might not be enough to satiate the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) after it too confirmed it is aware of concerns.

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