why?
the battery lasts more than a year, and costs about $.50.
needing to charge a device like this makes no sense. just when you need it most, oops, forgot to charge it last month and now its lost too.
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AirTag 2 May Debut at iPhone 17 Event Next Week With These Features
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the battery lasts more than a year, and costs about $.50.
needing to charge a device like this makes no sense. just when you need it most, oops, forgot to charge it last month and now its lost too.
This isn’t the worst idea. It could help locating things if you could see what it sees.
I’m sure it will never happen though.
I use one of them to find my Mom in stores when we split up and go in different directions. I've put one into her purse. Trouble is, the range of the current models isn't very good, since I have to walk all over the store anyway to get a good signal, and by the time the signal is strong enough, I've found her anyway. I'm hoping the new model will be better at this.
It really doesnt make sense unless you have an old iPhone without precision finding.
First step, determine location of last ping on the map.
Go there, and once you are in range the UWB will point an arrow to and show you the distance to the AirTag.
At this point if you cant see it, it means its under/covered by something else which means a camera would be useless. You can then activate the sound and keep moving towards the arrow until you've found the item.
Having a camera solves nothing, and the FindMy network isnt designed to be streaming/transmitting images.
Here is a take i can agree with.
A bright LED wouldn't hurt! There are third party FindMy devices that flash/stroke instead of sound.
Another functional/cheap feature add would be supporting multiple tones and configurable duration for the patterns.
But that said, precision finding is pretty solid, so tripling the range is pretty great.
I know it’s unlikely, but anyone got an idea if these are the type of things to be available to order and ship straight away after the event on Tuesday or something available the following Friday or at a later date, got a holiday coming up and would be great to have these then.
I dont think anyone who does know could tell you.
My advice is to either buy the existing Airtag (seen them discounted as low as $69 for 4), or purchase one of the many (even lower cost) third-party FindMy devices available.
Both solutions will have utility even after the new updated models become available.
There is always something you can stash these in or on!
It’s not always accurate. I’ve walked around my house looking for keys with an AirTag on it, because it wasn’t accurate. Once you get close it’s really good. I’ve had it happen a few times where it turned out the keys were in my car, but it was hard to find, because the distance would update showing I was getting closer by walking in the wrong direction and then it would update showing that you were getting further away. It also has problems when you have a multi floor home.
That is the scenario I was saying a camera would be helpful. If you could see what it sees - in a vehicle, in a familiar room, etc - then you could get closer to where it is accurate.
Also, the sound doesn’t help if you are deaf. So a video would definitely solve a problem.
While in theory that sounds helpful, what is the likely good all you’d ever ‘see’ is a black screen? Even if transmitting an image was possible, it would waste much more battery, and at best would be a 50/50 shot that the tag isn’t sitting on its camera or something else covering it, as misplaced items often are not plainly visible.
FYI the map view and blue circle only gets updated with the location of the device that ‘saw’ the AirTag, not the AirTag itself.
When you get close enough to connect to UWB you see this:
Which is extremely accurate. The new models should triple the range of UWB.
If that’s true, I think you’ll find it will engage Precision Finding with a range that is more suitable to your lavish estate.
That’s the screen I’m talking about having issues. I’ll get close enough, but it messed up a lot when items are on a different floor. Maybe the new models will fix this.
Believe I know what they are talking about (the question about using the camera to locate the tag visually).
Samsung is supposed to have an AR finding function where it turns on your rear camera and you wave the camera around, and it should show dots on the screen of where it thinks the tag is.
In practice, I still haven't managed to get that to work yet; it was sold as a feature, and it's why I ended up getting the S25+, but when I go to finding the SmartTag2, it just shows a black background (it won't turn on the AR feature) and is only showing distance within basic UWB range and then the arrow once within UWB full precise range.
The speaker has been removed on AirTag 2; it probably detects if the speaker isn't connected (you can probably use a resistor to fake a speaker). The speaker has to be removed if it's been used in a bike or car or luggage (baggage handlers stealing bags, so you don't want the sounder).
Samsung is supposed to have an AR finding function where it turns on your rear camera and you wave the camera around, and it should show dots on the screen of where it thinks the tag is.
In practice, I still haven't managed to get that to work yet; it was sold as a feature, and it's why I ended up getting the S25+, but when I go to finding the SmartTag2, it just shows a black background (it won't turn on the AR feature) and is only showing distance within basic UWB range and then the arrow once within UWB full precise range.
The speaker has been removed on AirTag 2; it probably detects if the speaker isn't connected (you can probably use a resistor to fake a speaker). The speaker has to be removed if it's been used in a bike or car or luggage (baggage handlers stealing bags, so you don't want the sounder).
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When searching for my Mom I first find it annoying, but when I finally find her I see it as amusing too.
Polo! I would, except she's 95 and so her hearing isn't that great even with hearing aids, and her voice isn't very loud, so if she's at the opposite corner of the larger stores, I wouldn't hear her anyway. She sure can get around though, and fast.
I don't want to have to buy these batteries that are only used for one purpose. Streamlining things is the way to go imo. It's not just about cost, having them recharge would to me be easier than finding where the hell i left my pack of batteries at.