My younger cats sits, and the neighbor was gone for a long time (about 10 days) once and the cat disappeared! We couldn’t find her, and it was a whole to do. She wasn’t eating food in the kitchen, the camera they had at the cat flap wasn’t working, etc. A few hours after they return, she jumps on their bed and looks terrific. I’m guessing another neighbor was feeding her?
So they stuck an AirTag on her collar and the next time my kid cat sat, again, couldn’t find her, but with the tag and then Precision Finding, we discovered her! She may have got herself stuck in an attic. She likes us, even? Weird. The upshot is that the AirTag is shared with me, so i still know where that cat is 24x7.
I’ll be looking to buy new AirTags after they create a feature where you can turn the speaker on/off without having to physically remove it for those times when you want to track your item without tipping off a thief to where the tag is located. Seems to me like that should be a no-brainer!
For you dog folks — I LOVE Tractive and its GPS out here in serious boonies with large loose dog. I signed up with 5-year plan and saved big bucks. The headlight is also very handy. And they replaced a lost tracker for free.
Two points. I was flying from London to New York a couple of years ago. My two suitcases each had an iTag within. As we were taxiing up to the airbridge at JFK, my iPhone indicated that my two cases were still at Heathrow - a big surprise. Then came the announcement that some clown had packed fireworks in his case and as a result ALL our luggage had been removed prior to takeoff.
I got a new car 9 months ago and I have placed an iTag under the carpet in a rear footwell.
Yes - we did consider checking the rubbish bins a around the airport in case the sunhat had been dumped (it had sentimental value). An airtag might have made that easier.
My story was more about how easy it is to be robbed when you are tired after a very long flight, even in a “secure” area.
Yes, I feel like I’ve been lucky, but I am vaguely paranoid about always having a hand on my belongings. I wonder what the theft rate is behind security, given the number of cameras and such!
Perhaps I use them in a different way? I mostly want to make sure things are with me, that I have not left them behind. Find My seems to be able to do that with any device. And for something nearby, they were loud enough before Apple turned up the volume. Ultimately, had a bad experience with AirTags and do not see a reason to chase good money after bad.
What David said is correct. There is no cell service and no Wifi. I have done tests with both Tile trackers and AirTag trackers. An iPhone will not cause an AirTag to beep even if it’s right next to it where there is no cell service.
I got tired of replacing the battery in the airtag hidden in my wife’s car, so I bought these airtag holder/battery extenders with some lithium batteries.
Interesting, given that the communication protocol is Bluetooth, which doesn’t require Internet access.
I assume that either your phone doesn’t retain the Bluetooth ID (and therefore needs to fetch it from a server) or that this is some kind of anti-stalking feature (perhaps checking to make sure the tag is not reported lost or transferred to a different user).
I have an AirTag on my keys, and I’ve used it a few times to find where my keys were in the house. I’ve also placed one in my mother’s purse. She has dementia, so she tends to put things in weird random places and then can’t remember that she did so.
I’m curious if Apple has modified the design of the AirTags so you can use Duracell batteries without having to remove the bitter coating on them.
When they ship, it should be obvious. Just look inside the battery compartment and see if the negative terminal contact is still on the edge of the compartment or if it’s moved closer to the center.
And, FWIW, Amazon Basics CR2032s work out of the package. I have no clue if the are coated or not.
I’m confused by this complaint. Tracking an AirTag and making the AirTag play a sound are two different operations. The AirTag does not make a noise when tracked, only when you request it or when it’s been traveling with someone in a way that suggests it might be being used by a stalker.
Maybe I’m the one who is confused, but from what I’ve read: (1) An AirTag emits a sound when it’s moved and has been separated from its owner for a period of time. (2) A thief, notified by their own phone that an AirTag is nearby, can make it play a sound. (3) In thinking their property has simply been mislaid and not stolen, an owner would inadvertently reveal the location by pressing Play Sound, thereby letting a thief know its exact location. Yes/no?
Well it turns out I bought the Take Control Books Find My and Air Tags ebook years ago but never read it, so I got the update and golly it is not a simple topic!
But it appears from @glennf ‘s description, I should be able to use Items (Apple or other Tags) the way I imagine: link them to iPhone and within some hundreds of meters be able to find them directly with iPhone if misplaced (left keys with Tag attached in the garden for example), either on a map and/or with the help of directions if precise location is enabled, or with help of the sound the item makes. Or if further away and I mark it as lost, it could be found thru the Find My crowdsourced network (even if I have that turned off on my iPhone).
One thing I’m wondering though is that these Items can start beeping if the linked iPhone is out of range for some days. So if I leave one at home while traveling for a week, my neighbors might hear the Item peeping and think something is wrong, like it’s a smoke detector or something. Or have I misunderstood the Item/AirTag’s ‘I’m feeling lonely’ mode?
I’ve ordered a Chipolo and aim to write about it here soon.
It’s not that loud. If you’re not in the same room with it, you probably won’t hear anything.
This feature is meant to help prevent stalking. If a stranger plants a device on you, after a while, it will start chirping, so you can find and deactivate it. This is in addition to your phone reporting that a device is traveling with you.