This past Friday, Apple started selling its latest new product, the AirTag. An AirTag is the size of a small button, 1.26 inches in diameter. And like a button, it weighs virtually nothing, less than half an ounce (0.39 ounce). Place an AirTag in an object like a briefcase or a purse, and the AirTag can help you to locate that item if you lose it. A single AirTag costs $29, or you can purchase a four-pack for $100. I've been trying out four AirTags for the last few days, and I'm very impressed with how well this system works.
This post addresses four aspects of the AirTag. First, how to store it with an item. Second, how to find if it again if it is far away from you. Third, how to find its precise location once you are close to it. And fourth, how to use Lost Mode if you cannot find an AirTag.
Where to put an AirTag
An AirTag is a little larger than a quarter, about the size of a half-dollar coin. It is almost as thick as an iPhone in the middle, but it seems much thinner because of the curved side and the fact that it weighs almost nothing. It feels like a button on a jacket.
The point of an AirTag is to have it attached to, or somehow part of, an item that you might lose. For something that has a compartment like a purse, briefcase, or backpack, you can just slip an AirTag into a compartment, and you are done. I think that an AirTag is too thick to fit into a typical wallet that goes into a back pocket, but perhaps there are some wallets out there (or in development now) that could fit an AirTag.
I suspect one of the most misplaced items for many folks is keys, so adding a AirTag to a key ring makes perfect sense. You simply need a case for the AirTag that can attach to a key ring. Apple sells a $35 leather key ring case that comes in three colors.
To attach an AirTag to other items, like the handle on a piece of luggage, you can use a loop. Apple sells a polyurethane version for $29 that comes in four different colors and a similar version in leather for $39.
Instead of the Apple key ring and loop, I purchased versions sold by Belkin, which only cost $12.95. Both come with the same holder, two pieces of plastic (black, blue, or pink) in which you place an Air Tag in one half, place the other half on, and then twist the two parts to lock. The Belkin key ring product comes with a key ring to connect to the holder. The Belkin strap simply fits through the loop at the top of the holder and doubles around itself.
Creative folks are coming up with many other ways to attach an AirTag to an item. For example, Moment has a Stretch Fabric Mount that uses an adhesive that attaches to any fabric. Elevation Lab makes a waterproof case for an AirTag. And I'm sure that we will soon see many more products that work with an AirTag.
For those who don't mind paying top-dollar for a luxury item, Apple has long had a partnership with Hermès, and that partnership continues to the AirTag. For example, Apple itself sells a $349 Hermès Key Ring and a $449 Hermès luggage tag. And if you buy directly from Hermès, you can get a $699 travel tag:
A luggage tag that costs more than the luggage itself is certainly extravagant, but the point is that you can find a wide variety of products to connect an AirTag to an item.
Once you figure out how you are going to associate an AirTag with an item, put an AirTag close to your iPhone and you will be given the option to claim the AirTag as yours and give the AirTag a name and an icon. Once an AirTag is affiliated with your Apple account, another person cannot pick it up and start using it with their account.
Note that the AirTag contains a standard CR2032 battery. Apple says that the battery should last about a year. I see that Amazon currently sells a 6-pack of Energizer CR2032 batteries for $7.99, so they are inexpensive to replace.
How to Find an AirTag when it is not in your vicinity
Each AirTag works with the Apple Find My service, which you can tap into using the Find My app. I discussed the history and current version of that app almost a month ago in this post, and I recommend that you start with that post if you are thinking about getting an AirTag.
Each AirTag has a Bluetooth radio in it, which means that it can talk to other Bluetooth devices that are within the vicinity (typically about 30-50 feet). The AirTag sends out a number, that changes from time to time, and if another iPhone passes within Bluetooth range of that device, it will notice the AirTag number and notify Apple that a certain AirTag number was seen at a certain place and time. That way, if you use the Find My app to search for an item, you can get the location if another iPhone has passed by it. With over a billion iPhones now in active use, hopefully there is a good chance that an iPhone will pass by your AirTag.
For example, this past Saturday, I attended a championship middle school track and field meet with my daughter. (She did very well, including getting first place in one of her events!) I took the key fob for my car but left the rest of the key ring including the AirTag in my car. About four hours after I last saw my keys, I asked the Find My app to find them. It did so quickly, letting me know that another iPhone had passed by them just six minutes earlier — I presume someone else walking to their car in a parking lot who passed by my car, where my keys were in the glove compartment. The app then gave me directions for getting to my keys.
If multiple AirTags are in the same location, you will see the icons associated with the first two AirTags, and then an indication of how many more are also located there. Thus, when I was in my office in downtown New Orleans with four AirTags with me, here is what I saw:
The Find My system will not work 100% of the time. If an item with an AirTag attached is located in a remote location such that no other iPhone would ever be anywhere near it, then the AirTag won't be found. The alternative would be to use a tracking device with GPS so that it could always be tracked, but this is more expensive and the tracking device needs to be somewhat larger. For example, T-Mobile has just introduced a GPS tracking device called the SyncUP TRACKER. You need to pay $5/month for the TRACKER service, and then you pay $60 ($2.50/month) for 24 months for each SyncUP TRACKER. (It is unclear to me if you own the device after paying $60 or if you need to continue paying $2.50 every month.) And perhaps most annoying, the SyncUP TRACKER only lasts for a few days before it needs to be recharged.
How to Find an AirTag when it is in your vicinity
What if you are reasonably close to an AirTag that you are trying to find, either because you found it on a map and then got close to it or because you know that the AirTag is somewhere close — such as in your own house — but you just don't know exactly where it is located?
First, you can make the AirTag play a sound. (This tweet from Apple includes a short video with examples of all of the AirTag sounds.) If you can hear it, hopefully you can find it.
Second, when you are within Bluetooth range of your own AirTag, your iPhone can direct you to the precise location of the AirTag using a large arrow. This only works if you are using an iPhone with a U1 Ultra Wideband chip, such as the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max that Apple released in 2019 as well as most of the more recent iPhones.
Using one or both of these approaches, you should able to find your item with the AirTag, even if it is in a somewhat hidden location in your house or another location.
David Flynn of Executive Traveler wrote an interesting article about using an AirTag to locate luggage in an airport. Some of the interesting points that he noticed:
- You cannot use an AirTag to find the precise location of your luggage on a luggage carousel because an AirTag needs to be in a fixed position for Ultra Wideband chip to work.
- You can use an AirTag to confirm that your luggage made it to the same airport as you.
- You can use an AirTag to determine the precise location of your luggage if someone has taken it off of a carousel and moved it to a specific location, which often happens after you go through customs and immigration.
- Putting an AirTag inside of luggage versus using a strap and putting it outside of the luggage did not make a difference for range or tracking accuracy.
I'm sure we will see more reports like this in the coming weeks and months.
Lost Mode
If you have lost an item connected to an AirTag and cannot find it using the Find My app, you can put the AirTag in lost mode. Once in this mode, if another iPhone passes near the AirTag, you will receive a notification that the AirTag was located. You can also choose to leave a phone number and a message so that if someone else finds the AirTag, they can hold it close to an iPhone or Android device to see the message. Hopefully, this person will contact you and help you to recover your lost item.
This is the same system that Apple has used for years for a lost iPhone or iPad. There are no guarantees that someone will find it and contact you, but at least with the AirTag you have a chance of recovery.
Conclusion
Do you have an item that you don't want to lose, and are you willing to spend $25 to guard against that? Then the AirTag may be right for you. The hope, of course, is that you will never have a need to use an AirTag. But if you ever do need it — either because an item is lost inside of your own house or is lost somewhere in the outside world — you'll be glad that you have it.
Click here to get an AirTag from Amazon ($29, or four for $99).
