// the find
dchristl/macless-haystack
Create your own AirTag with OpenHaystack, but without the need to own an Apple device
A self-hosted alternative to OpenHaystack that lets you track ESP32 or nRF5x devices via Apple's Find My network without needing a Mac. It bundles a Python HTTP endpoint, an anisette server for Apple auth, firmware for both chip families, and a Flutter frontend (Android + web). Target audience is hardware tinkerers who want cheap DIY asset tracking.
- Docker-first setup is genuinely easy: three commands and you have the full stack running, which is a significant improvement over the original OpenHaystack's Mac-only Mail plugin approach.
- Covers both ESP32 and nRF5x firmware with power-optimization patches cherry-picked from multiple upstream projects, so battery life is actually considered.
- Flutter frontend compiles to both Android and web, meaning you don't need to sideload anything - the GitHub Pages hosted version works out of the box for most users.
- Active maintenance (last push March 2026) and aggregates several research projects (FindMy, Find You, acalatrava's firmware) into one coherent repo with clear attribution.
- The entire thing hinges on storing your Apple ID credentials in a Docker container and using an anisette server to spoof Apple device auth - this is against Apple's ToS and Apple can silently break it or ban accounts with no warning.
- Only SMS-based 2FA is supported for the Apple ID, which is a hard blocker for anyone using an authenticator app or hardware key.
- Test coverage is essentially nonexistent - there's one test file for accessory_registry and that's it for a codebase handling cryptographic key material and location data.
- The endpoint is plain HTTP with no authentication layer; anyone who can reach port 6176 gets full access to your location data and Apple session tokens, which is a significant exposure if you're not behind a VPN or firewall.