Does anyone use Air Tags?

[Halcyon]

Hi,


Does anyone here use Air Tags and have you found them to be any good?


Have you used one? Do they work well?




Thankyou.

[pip08456]

What's an Air Tag?

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by pip08456

What's an Air Tag?

a little tracker

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Does anyone here use Air Tags and have you found them to be any good?

No, but happy to give my thoughts on Tile, if interested

Originally Posted by pip08456

What's an Air Tag?

https://www.apple.com/uk/airtag/

[Halcyon]

It is a little device the size of a watch battery. It uses nearby phones to transmit it's location so you can track things. For example you may want to put one in a suitcase in case it gets lost at the airport and then using your phone you can track it's location.


I was involved in an incident yesterday where I really needed to know where a car was and the safety of the driver. An Air tag could have helped me track the location.

My daughter has one on her car keys.

Originally Posted by Halcyon

I was involved in an incident yesterday where I really needed to know where a car was and the safety of the driver. An Air tag could have helped me track the location.

You realise that air tags only work over short distances (about 30 feet max) ?

I do. They work well. You need an iPhone obviously.

---------- Post added at 09:06 ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul

You realise that air tags only work over short distances (about 30 feet max) ?

They ping iPhones so as long as someone with an iPhone is within range they will report the location.

---------- Post added at 09:07 ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Halcyon

I was involved in an incident yesterday where I really needed to know where a car was and the safety of the driver. An Air tag could have helped me track the location.

If this a family member the iPhone has location sharing between family/friends?

[Halcyon]

I ended up buying one this morning and so far it seems really good.



As Damien says, as long as it is close to an iphone it will report it's location.
So even if there is no iPhone in the car with you, when an iPhone passes by it then it will report the location.



From a bit of testing this morning it seems to work well.

Originally Posted by Damien

They ping iPhones so as long as someone with an iPhone is within range they will report the location.

They do what ? I hope thats only iphones configured in someway to listen to [specific] tags.
Otherwise that seems an unauthorised use of peoples phones, not to mention a great way to track (stalk) people.

Originally Posted by Paul

They do what ? I hope thats only iphones configured in someway to listen to [specific] tags.
Otherwise that seems an unauthorised use of peoples phones, not to mention a great way to track (stalk) people.

I am not quite sure how it works technically. The AirTags have a unique ID that's broadcast to any iPhone which in turn uploads that location of it to the Find My network. I do know the phone that broadcasts it isn't associated with the tag's location, that metadata isn't stored, so all Apple store is that AirTag's location. But it is any iPhone that can receive the AirTag's signal and upload it to the network, it's just that your phone details aren't important or stored when it does.

It would be a good way to stalk people. They added a feature where if your iPhone has been in near proximity to an AirTag for a while that isn't yours then your iPhone will pop up a warning. If you find an AirTag that isn't yours you can press your iPhone against it and it'll pop up details the AirTag owner has left for anyone who finds it (i.e these are my keys, please leave at 'x' or phone 'y').

It's similar to how Tile did it only there are a lot more Apple devices in the wild. Google are looking at add the same feature.

[Russ]

I’ve been using them for my keys, wallet and son for about 6 months and I think they’re amazing, I’m always forgetting where I left my key and wallet, plus when my boy wants to go out I make sure he has one in his pocket but have made him promise to not tell anyone it’s there.

Originally Posted by Russ

I’ve been using them for my keys, wallet and son for about 6 months and I think they’re amazing, I’m always forgetting where I left my key and wallet, plus when my boy wants to go out I make sure he has one in his pocket but have made him promise to not tell anyone it’s there.

FYI If your son has an iPhone you can enable location sharing on that as well and it has a few more features. It can also give you a notification if they've moved from a place and in the next version there is a feature that will let you know when they've arrived at a place safely or if it's taking longer than it should e.t.c.

[Halcyon]

As far as I know the air tags create a sort of mesh network using iPhones.


Everyones iPhone is on by default so if a handbag (with an air tag inside) had been left in a restaurant and you passed by with an iPhone in your pocket, then it would use your iPhone to send the air tags location.


Apple says:

Your location data and history are never stored on the AirTag itself. Devices that relay the location of your AirTag also stay anonymous, and that location data is encrypted every step of the way. So not even Apple knows the location of your AirTag or the identity of the device that helps find it.

I believe there is a way to disable the service that does this if you are not happy with your iPhone being used for this.




As for concerns about stalking, it is something that people have talked about before.
Apple implemented a sollution so that if the Air Tag is with someone else and seperated from it's owner, then it will beep and alert people that there is an air tag near them.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Damien

FYI If your son has an iPhone you can enable location sharing on that as well and it has a few more features. It can also give you a notification if they've moved from a place and in the next version there is a feature that will let you know when they've arrived at a place safely or if it's taking longer than it should e.t.c.

Theoretically yes but his mother would rather shit in her hands and clap than let the poor lad have an iPhone yet

[Matthew]

There are a few videos on YouTube showing things been tracked across the world, they are not bad if you want to keep an eye where something is, there are alternatives available that are not Apple that do the same job but never used any.