New AirTag Offers Expanded Range, Louder Speaker

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Originally published at: New AirTag Offers Expanded Range, Louder Speaker - TidBITS

Apple has introduced the second-generation AirTag with three key improvements: extended finding range, a louder speaker, and Precision Finding support on the Apple Watch.

The new AirTag is powered by Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the same one found in the iPhone 17 lineup. This upgraded chip extends Precision Finding’s range by 50%, so you can start getting directional guidance to your lost keys from farther away. Additionally, an improved Bluetooth chip broadens the overall detection range.

Perhaps most welcome for those who have spent frustrating minutes listening intently for a muffled chirp: the new AirTag is 50% louder than its predecessor, making it easier to hear from farther away. Apple has also given it a new chime sound; no word yet on whether it’s more distinctive than the previous one.

Apple Watch owners will appreciate the new AirTag as well. Precision Finding now works on the Apple Watch Series 9 or later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later running watchOS 26.2.1, bringing that helpful directional arrow to your wrist.

Despite the internal upgrades, the new AirTag maintains the same physical design, so existing AirTag accessories continue to work with it. Pricing remains unchanged at $29 for one or $99 for a four-pack. The new AirTag requires iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 and is available to order now, with retail availability coming later this week.

These changes are welcome but not revolutionary, so whether they warrant replacing existing AirTags is a personal call. It might be worth it if you often use Find My to locate lost items, have difficulty hearing a lost AirTag, or would find it helpful to locate items from an Apple Watch. I think most people will probably stick with their current AirTags and organically swap them out for the new ones over time.

As much as I like the idea of the AirTag, I haven’t had a chance to take advantage of one in real life. I have AirTags inside the bells on my bike and ElliptiGO, but the only alerts I’ve received have been when I leave them on the car rack during errands or at a shop for service. I would absolutely put an AirTag in checked luggage while flying, especially now that Apple has partnered with over 50 airlines for Share Item Location (see “Find My Will Let You Share Lost Item Locations with Anyone—Including Airlines,” 25 November 2024), but I usually get by with just a carry-on bag. Also, each of my car fobs is always in exactly one of two places—a particular drawer at home or my pocket when I’m driving that car—so there’s no need to make them bulkier with an AirTag.

Have AirTags made a difference in your life? Do you plan to replace existing ones with these new models?

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I always put one in my carry-on bag as it’s especially easy to get separated from it at the airport during security check-through (like when you’re still going through the metal detector and your bag is already through the x-ray).

I also like it when I’m at a hotel or airbnb as I can be alerted if someone tries to make off with my stuff.

(I do agree with your conclusions: new ones are nicer, but not worth replacing existing tags.)

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I like that they are a product, but not really. So far I have used them standing at a baggage carousel on a Saturday night watching bags go by for an hour without my bag appearing - according to the AirTag, it was at the airport. I do have AirTags in both of the carry on bags I might use, my luggage, and I have a wallet with a find-my thing so I can track that as well if I’ve lost it. I haven’t lost anything since AirTags came out, though.

I know people who have misplaced items and used AirTags to find them again, though.

Nope.

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I’ve had AirTags on my EDC (every day carry) items since AirTags first came out. They’ve mostly provided peace of mind. The AirTags I use in checked baggage, though, have helped me a lot when flying. For example, I was able to find a big duffel quickly when the airline treated it like a baby stroller or sports gear (taking it directly to the baggage office rather than putting it onto the claim belt) not as a standard bag.

I’m not going to replace my existing AirTags but I did order one of the new version because I’ve been waiting for the release to buy an additional AirTag.

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That makes sense to me. Personally, I haven’t worried too much about my carry-on bag in part because I’m highly attuned to its presence at all times while actually moving around, and when it’s in in a hotel or Airbnb, I usually leave my Find My-enabled laptop and/or AirPods Pro in it, so I’d have some idea of where it was if it walked.

I suppose that’s a question—what is the practical difference between an AirTag and the MacBook Air or AirPods Pro for tracking?

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I have twelve of them… my keys, my wallet, my car, my flashlight, every bag I own…

Peace of mind, but finding things too.

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That’s an interesting question. Do iPads and Airs and AirPods connect to the same Find My network as the AirTags or do they only work when connected to wifi? My impression was the latter, meaning they don’t work as well, but laptops supporting location are a newer feature I haven’t explored.

I also like that AirTags are small enough they can be hidden in a laptop bag or backpack pocket where a thief might not notice them. A laptop they might disable right away so it couldn’t call home. At any rate, the double protection couldn’t hurt. (And I carry my AirPods in my pocket, so they wouldn’t help track my carry-on.)

I really like AirTags for tracking checked bags, though I rarely do that. I did it once on a flight that had a short changeover in Denver, a large airport notorious for bags not making the connecting flight. But when I got to my new plane and I was in my seat, Find My reported my checked bag was “with me” meaning it was already on the plane! That was a relief and one less thing to stress about.

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I have AirTags in:

  1. Luggage – I check bags fairly regularly and it’s good to follow them.
  2. Car – helpful to find the parking spot I left the car in.
  3. Keys – mine move around more than yours do.
  4. Purse & keys for my Mom – much more forgetful about things like that.

So far, haven’t had a major save with them, but lots of small ones.

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I use one when when I travel. Usually in my checked bag.

It came in very handy on one trip, a few years ago, when my bag ended up bumped to a later flight. I arrived at the airport and immediately saw that it wasn’t with me. But it wasn’t strictly necessary, because the United app told me which flight the bag was on. Since that flight was arriving an hour later, I just waited for that flight to land and picked it up. But it would’ve been very useful had it actually gotten lost.

My wife puts one in her eyeglass case, so we can quickly find it on those occasions where they get misplaced.

I don’t plan on upgrading mine, but I will appreciate the new ones the next time I need to buy more.

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I appreciate having them. I use them for travel (luggage, carry-on backpack), car keys, wife’s purse. When I was bike riding I carried one on the bike. I won’t be upgrading until one fails.

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I have them in all of my bags, including my everyday carry satchel.

Also in my vehicle and bicycles, which proved both useful and horrifying during a multi-state relocation and I could see where my belongs were versus where the moving company status page said they were.

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Never had AirTags and they are useless expense and complication in my humble existence.

Useful would be, an unintrusive way to know if any have been planted on my car for example, but apparently for that one needs to have bluetooth and other stuff turned on. Sigh.

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We have a bunch in our luggage, bags, bikes, backpacks, car, and I have a Find My compatible card in my wallet. I’ve never actually lost my wallet but it did once drop out of my pocket (I usually keep it in the back pocket of my slacks) when leaving a restaurant and just being able to double-check that it was still there while I ran back to pick it up, was great.

Since we’ve moved around a lot and worked in different countries over the years, we have amassed friends on different continents. With some we exchange items per postal mail — you wouldn’t believe how much the kids of our Czech friends miss Cheez Whiz (yes, indeed, of all American “foods”). With some of these friends I’ll drop an AirTag right in the parcel and when they send me something next time, they put my AirTag back in the box. There’s apparently always enough Apple devices at major airports and freight terminals, even among ramp workers in many parts of the world, so I’m always surprised how frequently I get updates. Much better than some shippers’ tracking pages.

I won’t be replacing my older AirTags with these new models. But it’s a useful and pleasantly low-key update to an already great product. I’ll look forward to getting one and testing the improved location finding when I need my next AirTag.

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Would love a smaller AirTag, but appreciate the battery etc. constrains size. I have four, two on car keys, one on the cat’s outdoor collar, and one I use on expensive thermal AI camera that I deploy in the wilderness as part of pest monitoring.

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I am a little disappointed that there is not more battery life. A lot of us might have replaced thed onces we have with longer lasting ones.

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I have been waiting for the new ones to add any (I assumed they were coming soon bc the old ones were dropping in price). I use them in luggage mostly and for that they have been valuable. I also have them on my cats, and for that the extra distance would be nice so will use the new ones for that

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We learnt our lesson about carry on bags at Las Vegas airport several years ago. We were in the secure area at a cafe waiting for the flight to D.C. While we were at the table talking to the waiter a seated “customer” behind us grabbed a bag from under my partner’s chair and left the cafe. In hindsight the waiter might have been complicit.
Fortunately the bag just had a sun hat and minor items (which is why it was under the chair). Airport security were not interested in following up the theft. It turned out that that area of the cafe did not have CCTV!
This was before Airtags were available. We now have Airtags in our carry on bags as well as checked bags. Good for peace of mind.

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As much as I like the idea of the AirTag, I haven’t had a chance to take advantage of one in real life.

Sometimes I’ll read something that reminds me people really are different. I’d say the AirTag is my second most important piece of technology, after the iPhone itself. I have them on my wallet, keys, thermos, my important paper notebook, in my vehicles, and in my everyday backpack. I’ve used every one of them to locate misplaced or forgotten items, and in any given week I check Find My for one item or another an average of 4-5 times. I’ve always been forgetful about stuff, even in high school my teachers joked that I left a trail of forgotten objects, and if anything it’s gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. To be exact, it got somewhat better for a while in my 20s and 30s as I got myself together, and has been declining again since my mid 40’s. Having AirTags has made that decline a little less hard to manage.

The ones in the vehicles are less about forgetfulness and more about the fact that parking is tight in my neighborhood and the cars can be anywhere within a three-block radius, especially if someone else has been driving it. Which is not to say that I don’t ever forget where I parked the car!

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My wife and son both seem to be experts at losing track of keys, and were using Tile — but we’re Apple people, so I bought them AirTags early on. I also added one to my keychain; it fell off — and while I found my keys, Find My and the alarm never managed to quite lead me to the missing AirTag, even though it seemed to know where it was. That was a huge strike to me. Changing the battery is an exercise, which was strike two.

I eventually bought Eufy tags — and still have one of those in each of my camera bags (four of them, don’t ask :rofl:). I ended up buying Keysmart locks for all of our luggage for when we cruise, and it comforts me to be able to confirm our bags are on the boat before we sail, and it’s a pretty sturdy TSA-compliant lock to boot.

So my answer is, screw AirTags. Not worth having much less replacing.

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Just curious…what aspect of your experience made you feel angry? And do you feel the same way about any other Apple products or Apple, the company?