10+ Things to Know About the New AirTag 2

[svish]

Longer precision finding range is beneficial. Overall a small update. Not surprised to see that the latest iOS version is required for the new accessory. Would have been nice if it was released in different colors. Don’t think the increased weight will be noticeable.

 

[svanstrom]

Requires iOS 26? They just threw 1/4 of their user base and those who refuse to upgrade from iOS 18 under the bus. 😵

That a brand new version of a very much optional device doesn't support an old OS is them throwing users that refuse to upgrade under the bus?

That has to be the stupidest take on this.

Refusing to upgrade doesn't make these people victims of the rest of the world moving on.

 

[Black_Mage]

I am interested, but I'm also disgusted that Apple basically made them useless as an anti-theft device because the PR dept is so afraid of a few weirdos who might use them for stalking.

 

[svanstrom]

I am interested, but I'm also disgusted that Apple basically made them useless as an anti-theft device because the PR dept is so afraid of a few weirdos who might use them for stalking.

Shouldn't take you long to find articles about them being used to track exes, strangers from bars, and expensive cars to get stolen later at night. So it wasn't just a nervous PR department, it was a very real problem. And it's not sold as an anti-theft device as much as a way to track your lost items.

 

[capamac]

iOS 26 ... guess I'll never buy an Airtag II. XD

 

[germinator]

What about battery life?

 

[nsayer]

Haven't found an answer to this yet: Are these physically the same size? That is, do they fit in Belkin's AT Keychain holder?

 

[AppleUser93]

They need to add a rechargeable battery and let you charge it using an Apple Watch charger. Stopped using mine because I don’t like replacing batteries. This isn’t the early 2000’s lol.

 

[Black_Mage]

And it's not sold as an anti-theft device

Irrelevant. I love being able to track something that belongs to me if it gets stolen.

 

[erihp]

Haven't found an answer to this yet: Are these physically the same size? That is, do they fit in Belkin's AT Keychain holder?

re-read the article

 

[erihp]

They need to add a rechargeable battery and let you charge it using an Apple Watch charger. Stopped using mine because I don’t like replacing batteries. This isn’t the early 2000’s lol.

the battery is good for plus or minus a year. youd be charging more frequently than that. and if you dont, now the thing youre relying on is dead. nah.

 

[rivertrip]

I am interested, but I'm also disgusted that Apple basically made them useless as an anti-theft device because the PR dept is so afraid of a few weirdos who might use them for stalking.

They track the location of a stolen object. How would you change the design so they could prevent theft?

 

[erihp]

They track the location of a stolen object. How would you change the design so they could prevent theft?

Just to tack on and nitpick here, nothing can prevent theft outright.

 

[JesterJJZ]

If I can't rip the speaker out no sale.

 

[goobot]

the battery is good for plus or minus a year. youd be charging more frequently than that. and if you dont, now the thing youre relying on is dead. nah.

There are already trackers that last a year with rechargeable batteries, people need to stop repeating this, it’s simply not true

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

And how people used to live without this ****. Absolutely not useful for me. My dogo is smart, he finds me faster than I finds him. I'm a very rational person and I remember what and where I have…

I really have no idea how to use this innovation, maybe it’s just no for me

 

[kenta_]

There are already trackers that last a year with rechargeable batteries, people need to stop repeating this, it’s simply not true

Same size? Source please..

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

They track the location of a stolen object. How would you change the design so they could prevent theft?

Absolutely useless thing in this case, it muffles very quickly

 

[jaytv111]

I think the original AirTag is in relative terms the best product Apple has ever made--it really does "just work", does exactly what it says on the tin exactly as well as promised, and basically feels like magic when you need it.

Everything here is unsurprising but solid improvements, particularly the watch find. I personally would have traded holder-backward-compatibility for even a slightly smaller form factor, but I can accept for most uses the current size is sufficiently small and people would rather not have to get new keychains or whatnot.


I remain mildly curious why Apple continues to call this out, since there's nothing as far as I can tell that would pose any risk to a pet that's greater than if it weren't attached to their collar. People put tags and bells on their pet collars all the time, how is a similar-sized AirTag that emits a minuscule amount of radiation any different?

Yes, a dog could swallow it, but I'd guess they're far less likely to eat something on their collar than they are something that isn't on their collar--I've never once heard of a dog eating its own tags.

Fear that the battery could hypothetically leak and cause skin burns? The new one is IP 67, so I'd think even if it DID somehow leak (which I've never seen a coin cell do), it wouldn't escape the case.

In any case, they're incredibly useful for keeping track of an outdoor cat. I recently adopted a stray (or maybe feral) cat (or maybe more accurately it adopted me), and prior to it deciding to move into my house one of the folks feeding it put a collar with an AirTag on; being able to figure out where that little critter was was incredibly valuable, not to mention interesting. That cat, it turned out, would do a circuit to places a half-mile away on a nighty basis.

I think it’s as simple as: if your pet runs away to where no humans are, your pet is untrackable, and Apple doesn’t want to be blamed for losing your pet.

There are pet collars with cellular built in that are built for this purpose. They are much more likely to be able to track your pet under all circumstances. Yes there are places cellular signal is lost, but it works in most places and even where signal isn’t great it can still transmit location due to the small amount of data it takes.

But yes, those cellular collars require a subscription.

And as others pointed out, AirTags will beep when away from you for long periods of time and it may freak out your pet. So yes, it’s just not designed for pets, so it’s okay for Apple to point that out, just that they don’t recommend it.

 

[kenta_]

Longer Range - UWB upgrades mean that Precision Finding works from 1.5x further away than before.

AppleInsider says 50% further range, MR is saying 1.5 (150%) further. I think MR has their math (or words) wrong. ie. 1.5x further would be 250m, assuming the original AirTag was 100m as an example.

 

[cbsnbiker]

I'm a bit confused. This article states:

1. Requires iOS 26.2.1 - If you want to use an ‌AirTag‌ 2, you're going to have to update your device to iOS 26.2.1. The ‌AirTag‌ 2 requires the latest Apple software, which means it won't work with devices that aren't able to run iOS 26.

Yet a previous MacRumors article states:

The new AirTag that Apple unveiled today features a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling the Precision Finding feature to work up to 50% farther away from an item compared to the previous AirTag, according to Apple. However, you need a compatible iPhone model in order to take advantage of this improvement.


So, which is it? Do we need to own a device that runs at least 26.2.1 to use the AirTag 2? Or do we need such a device only to make use of the "improvement"?

 

[erihp]

There are already trackers that last a year with rechargeable batteries, people need to stop repeating this, it’s simply not true

a cr2032 contains about 240mah.

a comparable 240mah li-ion pouch cell is MUCH larger in physical size. its not even close.

a rechargeable ml2032 manages 60-80mah.

 

[erihp]

I'm a bit confused. This article states:

1. Requires iOS 26.2.1 - If you want to use an ‌AirTag‌ 2, you're going to have to update your device to iOS 26.2.1. The ‌AirTag‌ 2 requires the latest Apple software, which means it won't work with devices that aren't able to run iOS 26.

Yet a previous MacRumors article states:

The new AirTag that Apple unveiled today features a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling the Precision Finding feature to work up to 50% farther away from an item compared to the previous AirTag, according to Apple. However, you need a compatible iPhone model in order to take advantage of this improvement.


So, which is it? Do we need to own a device that runs at least 26.2.1 to use the AirTag 2? Or do we need such a device only to make use of the "improvement"?

I would lean toward what Apple states.

You need 26 to use Airtag 2, and only devices with the newer UWB chips can utilize the advanced precision finding. If you have an older device on 26, you can still use the tag, but not the advances of the new UWB features/range.

 

[jaytv111]

AppleInsider says 50% further range, MR is saying 1.5 (150%) further. I think MR has their math (or words) wrong. ie. 1.5x further would be 250m, assuming the original AirTag was 100m as an example.

If someone says 50% more, it’s generally accepted as (x + .5x), or 1.5x. So they’re both saying the same thing, ie, old range times 1.5.

I'm a bit confused. This article states:

1. Requires iOS 26.2.1 - If you want to use an ‌AirTag‌ 2, you're going to have to update your device to iOS 26.2.1. The ‌AirTag‌ 2 requires the latest Apple software, which means it won't work with devices that aren't able to run iOS 26.

Yet a previous MacRumors article states:

The new AirTag that Apple unveiled today features a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling the Precision Finding feature to work up to 50% farther away from an item compared to the previous AirTag, according to Apple. However, you need a compatible iPhone model in order to take advantage of this improvement.


So, which is it? Do we need to own a device that runs at least 26.2.1 to use the AirTag 2? Or do we need such a device only to make use of the "improvement"?

You need iOS 26.2.1, but you can use the new AirTag with any compatible phone, just that the improved UWB range will only apply to phones with 2nd generation UWB.

 

[BlueberryMac]

I think the original AirTag is in relative terms the best product Apple has ever made--it really does "just work", does exactly what it says on the tin exactly as well as promised, and basically feels like magic when you need it.

Everything here is unsurprising but solid improvements, particularly the watch find. I personally would have traded holder-backward-compatibility for even a slightly smaller form factor, but I can accept for most uses the current size is sufficiently small and people would rather not have to get new keychains or whatnot.


I remain mildly curious why Apple continues to call this out, since there's nothing as far as I can tell that would pose any risk to a pet that's greater than if it weren't attached to their collar. People put tags and bells on their pet collars all the time, how is a similar-sized AirTag that emits a minuscule amount of radiation any different?

Yes, a dog could swallow it, but I'd guess they're far less likely to eat something on their collar than they are something that isn't on their collar--I've never once heard of a dog eating its own tags.

Fear that the battery could hypothetically leak and cause skin burns? The new one is IP 67, so I'd think even if it DID somehow leak (which I've never seen a coin cell do), it wouldn't escape the case.

In any case, they're incredibly useful for keeping track of an outdoor cat. I recently adopted a stray (or maybe feral) cat (or maybe more accurately it adopted me), and prior to it deciding to move into my house one of the folks feeding it put a collar with an AirTag on; being able to figure out where that little critter was was incredibly valuable, not to mention interesting. That cat, it turned out, would do a circuit to places a half-mile away on a nighty basis.

I’m assuming they don’t care if people use them for tracking pets, but if they specifically say that they are not for pets, when people’s pets inevitably eat/chew them, Apple won’t have people trying to sue them (or will have less people trying to sue them) for veterinary bills or pet deaths.