Another Device To Catch A Cheating Spouse

Adding AirPods to the list of warnings that I must give my clients on how to protect their privacy during their divorce. Here’s why.

Apple Air Pods have a feature called “Live Listen” that gives a person the ability to hear conversations in a room through their Air Pods so long as their device remains in the room.

This feature, included by Apple with the intent to assist the hearing impaired, can actually operate as an eavesdropping device limited only by the range of the Bluetooth connection.

Until I tested the feature myself, I refused to believe this was possible.

I was wrong.

After leaving my iPhone in the room that my children were playing, with the press of a silent button, I roamed around my house listening to my children through my AirPods as clearly as if I were still in the room.

I immediately recognized all of the ways this could impact my practice of Divorce and Family Law.

For couples still residing together while a divorce is pending, finding a private room in their home to take a phone call is no longer safe if their AirPod-using spouse left their iPhone or iPad in that same room.

Typically, I would not be alarmed if a spouse left their phone on the table of the conference room during a settlement conference to take a bathroom break, but the idea that they could be listening to what is being said in the room certainly will put me on higher alert.

As the list of everyday devices that can compromise a client’s privacy continues to grow, so does the importance of my custom of dedicating time with each client to ensure that they understand what to look for.

Gone are the simple days of when changing an email password was enough.