Apple’s Find My network has seen its fair of hacks to devices, but perhaps the most unusual we’ve seen is before us today. [biemster] has added a Lidl Parkside smart connected power tool battery to the network, not by concealing an AirTag within it, but by hacking its on-board firmware.
Opening up the device reveals a Tuya BT17L Bluetooth module, the hackable nature of which due to other projects prompted a port of a previous Find My project which provided open source access to the network. The result is as he describes, the world’s chunkiest key finder, and also we’re guessing the one with one of the longest battery lives too.
The European budget supermarkets are well known for their budget bargain aisles, and Lidl’s Parkside range has some surprisingly robust tools among it. They might not quite be up to replacing IKEA in the hacker source stakes, but those of us who live in countries served by them know to keep an eye out in the hope of fresh gems alongside those awesome AlpenFest apple crumble cakes. This one certainly isn’t the first Parkside hack we’ve seen.