[asianthree]

So my preordered Air Tags arrived today.
The Good, I activated first one, sewing it into our cats harness. She didn’t seem to notice the extra small disk, but when I activated the sound, she couldn’t figure out what it was. I removed the harness, and took it for a drive, the tracking on my iPhone was pretty accurate showing map with homes, and where the Air tag was roughly. So if she ever got out, I have a good chance of finding her.

The cost is $29 with a battery life of about two years. However, you can activate lost alarm. If Air Tag comes anywhere near an iPhone, an alert shows up on their phone, with the information you put in system. Email or phone number. Description. We ran a test with about 20 neighbors, as I passed their location, the info came to their phone, and each texted to let us know it was working. Only way for other IPhone owns can see tag is it own activated Lost Mode. So while not really for a lost pet, it works well.

The Bad…. Downfall, while you could see I was between houses, the sound alert, is very soft, and you may not hear unless you are very close.

The Ugly, preorder took 4 months. So not something you can just pick up at the Apple store.

Added one to parents keys, which seems to go missing more than one would think. I took keys hid them couple times, and they found them within few minutes.

Will continue to post on usage and facts, but so far this beats a tile hands down.

[kathyspear]

I initially thought they would be useful for tracking a stolen golf cart. However, Apple is apparently so worried about people being tracked/stalked without their knowledge that they have killed that usefulness. (If a tag is traveling with/near an iPhone OTHER THAN the owner's for some period of time it beeps or something to notify that person there is a tag nearby. If your cart is stolen by an iPhone user this would let him or her know that the cart is being tracked and I doubt it would take them long to find the tag and toss it in a pond or something.)

That's a shame because I am more worried about my cart (or my purse/wallet/etc.) being stolen than being lost, as I believe the former is more likely to occur than the latter.

kathy

[BlueStarAirlines]

Originally Posted by kathyspear

I initially thought they would be useful for tracking a stolen golf cart. However, Apple is apparently so worried about people being tracked/stalked without their knowledge that they have killed that usefulness. (If a tag is traveling with/near an iPhone OTHER THAN the owner's for some period of time it beeps or something to notify that person there is a tag nearby. If your cart is stolen by an iPhone user this would let him or her know that the cart is being tracked and I doubt it would take them long to find the tag and toss it in a pond or something.)

That's a shame because I am more worried about my cart (or my purse/wallet/etc.) being stolen than being lost, as I believe the former is more likely to occur than the latter.

kathy

In the US, only around 60% of the population have an iPhone verses an Android.

Thinking like a criminal with an iPhone, once I realize I'm being tracked, I figure I have a very limited amount of time to find the tracker or ditch the item with the tracker. If you put it in a difficult to find spot on your golf cart, that would work. No one is going to spend an hour or two going over every inch of a golf cart looking for it. As for your purse, they already ditched the purse, grabbed your wallet, then ditched that and took your cash and cards.

My only caution if used on your golf cart is imagine how many people will get the warning as you drive around!

[Mortal1]

The fear of the tag is not as great as some think...firstly for another person to track you they must have the app...secondly people see you driving around in your cart or might hear you go by, so what's the difference?

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Mortal1

The fear of the tag is not as great as some think...firstly for another person to track you they must have the app...secondly people see you driving around in your cart or might hear you go by, so what's the difference?

Actually the owner has the app, and puts it in lost mode. If anyone with a iPhone comes near the airtag, info entered into the lost mode, could include your phone#, what is lost, or an email. Those who gets the alert on their phone can respond or not. Each person who responded in our airtag lost mode experiment, (no extra app added to their phone) texted to say the airtag was near them. So if a pet was walking next to your home your iPhone would receive the info from lost mode. So no you don’t need the airtag app on your phone unless you are the owner.

So if you choose a golf cart, the only time anyone would receive the alert on their phone is if air tag is put in Lost Mode, which would be activated by the owner.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by BlueStarAirlines

In the US, only around 60% of the population have an iPhone verses an Android.

Thinking like a criminal with an iPhone, once I realize I'm being tracked, I figure I have a very limited amount of time to find the tracker or ditch the item with the tracker. If you put it in a difficult to find spot on your golf cart, that would work. No one is going to spend an hour or two going over every inch of a golf cart looking for it. As for your purse, they already ditched the purse, grabbed your wallet, then ditched that and took your cash and cards.

My only caution if used on your golf cart is imagine how many people will get the warning as you drive around!

Missing the point airtag would only be seen by other iPhone if it was in Lost Mode, if not nobody except owner knows it’s there. So your cart or in our case our cat, could be stolen, owner can track on their phone without Lost Mode. So whoever takes your stuff (or your lost pet) doesn’t know they are been tracked if they have an IPhone unless Lost Mode is activated. So owner can track the airtag, on their phone with the map that shows the item is traveling or has stopped

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by kathyspear

I initially thought they would be useful for tracking a stolen golf cart. However, Apple is apparently so worried about people being tracked/stalked without their knowledge that they have killed that usefulness. (If a tag is traveling with/near an iPhone OTHER THAN the owner's for some period of time it beeps or something to notify that person there is a tag nearby. If your cart is stolen by an iPhone user this would let him or her know that the cart is being tracked and I doubt it would take them long to find the tag and toss it in a pond or something.)

That's a shame because I am more worried about my cart (or my purse/wallet/etc.) being stolen than being lost, as I believe the former is more likely to occur than the latter.

kathy

Nope owner of air tag can track without notifying in lost mode. So no iPhone owner would know item is been tracked

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Nope owner of air tag can track without notifying in lost mode. So no iPhone owner would know item is been tracked

Please see the 3rd and 4th paragraphs under "ANTI-STALKING PROTECTIONS" about half way down this page.

If an Air Tag is away from its owner's phone for a long enough time it will alert iPhone users with a notification and everyone else with a sound. (At least according to the author of the page linked above)

[Homer49]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Please see the 3rd and 4th paragraphs under "ANTI-STALKING PROTECTIONS" about half way down this page.

If an Air Tag is away from its owner's phone for a long enough time it will alert iPhone users with a notification and everyone else with a sound. (At least according to the author of the page linked above)

I believe this is correct only for iPhone users - anti-stalking mode will alert someone that an unknown airtag is traveling with them, so if thief has an iPhone they will be notified after some period of time.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Homer49

I believe this is correct only for iPhone users - anti-stalking mode will alert someone that an unknown airtag is traveling with them, so if thief has an iPhone they will be notified after some period of time.

Please read paragraph 4.

[Northerner52]

Have 4 and ordered 8 more. Wish I had installed on for my Roomba vacuum before it disappeared

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Please see the 3rd and 4th paragraphs under "ANTI-STALKING PROTECTIONS" about half way down this page.

If an Air Tag is away from its owner's phone for a long enough time it will alert iPhone users with a notification and everyone else with a sound. (At least according to the author of the page linked above)

My phone is away from 1 AirTag for 17 hours a day, (our Air Tag is on the cat harness) My second Airtag is at my parents home, app is only on my phone, over 46 miles away. Over 30 hours, from my phone, and didn’t alert our granddaughter’s IPhone when she stopped at their house.

If air tag Lost Mode is not activated, it has not show up on any of the iPhones in the 11 houses around our house.
This afternoon neighbor attached one to their dogs collar, and their son took him for a run. We could actually watch on their Mac the map where they were. 17 IPhone were all at the neighborhood gathering, no one could see the air tag except on the owners app.

Pretty sure my cat isn’t worried about stalking laws, but if she gets out, I might have a good chance of finding her.

I might have missed the info from Apple info app on install. How long is long enough time to alert I phone users? My app tells me only if I activate Lost Mode can any iPhone user see the Airtag. Our neighbor left their pup at breeders, and we’re 1400 miles away, for 8 days, and Air tag never notified any iPhone, that came to the kennel.
Reading an article and actually using a product is very different.

[kathyspear]

It sounds like that linked article is saying that Apple will notify an iPhone that appears to be "traveling with" an air tag if the iPhone is NOT the one that the tag is paired with. It does not say it will notify any iPhone that comes near the tag. If the author of that article is correct, then an iPhone-carrying thief who is driving my (stolen) golf cart would be notified that he/she is trackable via an air tag. Maybe the author is wrong but that is not the first article I have read that describes the anti-stalking "feature" (or bug, IMO) of the air tag as such.

Apple is probably limiting the usefulness of its product in order to avoid being sued by someone who is tracked by a domestic partner. Maybe someone will develop a hack that would let me use the product in a way that is most beneficial to me (the customer who is willing to shell out money for it).

k.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by kathyspear

It sounds like that linked article is saying that Apple will notify an iPhone that appears to be "traveling with" an air tag if the iPhone is NOT the one that the tag is paired with. It does not say it will notify any iPhone that comes near the tag. If the author of that article is correct, then an iPhone-carrying thief who is driving my (stolen) golf cart would be notified that he/she is trackable via an air tag. Maybe the author is wrong but that is not the first article I have read that describes the anti-stalking "feature" (or bug, IMO) of the air tag as such.

Apple is probably limiting the usefulness of its product in order to avoid being sued by someone who is tracked by a domestic partner. Maybe someone will develop a hack that would let me use the product in a way that is most beneficial to me (the customer who is willing to shell out money for it).

k.

Airtag was created to be used for lost items not attached to a Apple product, backpacks, keys, and for me my pet. So far unless owner opens Apple app and activated Lost Mode, no one else has contact with airtag. If you didn’t already know, any Apple device can be tracked and found with a lost app on owners phone, without an airtag. I couldn’t find my Iphone the other day, and my iPad app found it for me. So Apple products have always had tracking ability. So your spouse could always track your iPhone, I am guessing without you knowing it, and it’s free.

Newer cars have same ability. I can find my Buick any time of day, remote start it from anywhere, alert police or Onstar, that it has been stolen, and they can track the car, and disable it.

Now GM Onstar now has Guardian, that can be added to any cellphone, for up to 6 people. Service has the same ability as Onstar, towing, collision, and yes tracking.

For me it’s free, my grandsons added Guardian to their phones, in case of a breakdown. Our granddaughter added to her Iphone because she is on campus at night. My parents added it because their car is older.

New Guardian commercial has daughter late at night finding her dad with her cell phone, in what looks to be a secluded park. So Guardian doesn’t seem to be worried about tracking. Considering the new commercial.

[davephan]

To protect stolen items, the Airtag is pretty useless, since it warns the criminals about the presence of the Airtag. The Airtag could be designed with a hole in the Airtag, like the Tile, but the Airtag doesn’t have a hole it it. The reason that the Airtag doesn’t have a hole in it, is so that Apple can sell you can expensive Airtag holder.

The more practical tracking device is a Tile, which doesn’t alert the criminals that the stolen item can be tracked. The Tile is very useful to help find misplaced items around your house, like a key ring. The Tile Pro model is the best Tile model to buy, because it’s alert sound is much louder, and the battery is replaceable.

Using the Airtag to track stolen items is useless because it alerts the criminals. Using the Tile to track stolen items is a better choice. But for high value items, like a vehicle, or important things, like a pet, a Tile tracker is a poor man’s tracking device. For high value or important things, a real GPS tracker is the best choice. But GPS trackers are more expensive, and requires a subscription to a tracking service.

It might take days or weeks for another Tile user to move nearby to the stolen item. A GPS tracker would track the stolen item in real time.

Another option for tracking is the “Loc8tor” device, which is a stand alone tracker. The “Loc8tor has a range of up to 400 feet, so you have to be within 400 feet. But you can track the item to within about one inch. The “Loc8tor” doesn’t require a subscription service, and could be a more practical method to track pets, if you can get within the 400 foot range, to start the tracking.