AirTag Not Recognized

[psychstudent]

Hello,

I bought an AirTag add-on accessory for a Ridge Wallet. I am attempting to activate it on the following MacBook:

MacBook Air

Retina, 13-inch, 2018

Processor 1.6 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 617 1536 MB LPDDR3

Memory 16 GB 2133 MHz

Serial number C02XX00AJK7P

macOS Sonoma

I have gone over all the troubleshooting suggestions but this MacBook will not recognize my new AirTag. I have Bluetooth on. I have verified that Bluetooth is working as it is recognizing other devices. I have location services on and have FindMy on (location services enabled with FindMy). The window that is supposed to appear when the AirTag is near the computer is not appearing. I have taken the AirTag battery out and replaced it, being certain the battery is brand new. I've updated the MacBook and restarted it multiple times, and I have logged out of the AppleID and logged back on. FindMy works as I am able to use it to locate this MacBook on the web.

Any suggestions?

 

[KaliYoni]

AirTags cannot be activated using macOS.

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Requires iPhone SE, iPhone 6s or later, or iPod touch (7th generation) with iOS 14.5 or later, or iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation or later), iPad Air 2 or later, or iPad mini 4 or later with iPadOS 14.5 or later.

AirTag

Attach AirTag to everyday items and easily keep track of them on iPhone. Personalize with text and emoji engraving. Buy 1 or 4 pack now at apple.com.

www.apple.com

and

System Requirements and Compatibility​

• Apple Account
• iPhone and iPod touch models with iOS 14.5 or later
• iPad models with iPadOS 14.5 or later

AirTag - Tech Specs - Apple Support

AirTag - Tech Specs

support.apple.com

 

[psychstudent]

AirTags cannot be activated using macOS.

----------
Requires iPhone SE, iPhone 6s or later, or iPod touch (7th generation) with iOS 14.5 or later, or iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation or later), iPad Air 2 or later, or iPad mini 4 or later with iPadOS 14.5 or later.

AirTag

Attach AirTag to everyday items and easily keep track of them on iPhone. Personalize with text and emoji engraving. Buy 1 or 4 pack now at apple.com.

www.apple.com

and

System Requirements and Compatibility​

• Apple Account
• iPhone and iPod touch models with iOS 14.5 or later
• iPad models with iPadOS 14.5 or later

AirTag - Tech Specs - Apple Support

AirTag - Tech Specs

support.apple.com

Oh. Wow. How bizzare. Thank you very much!

 

[JPack]

You need an iPhone or iPod or iPad to activate it.

 

[psychstudent]

Thank you. I was able to find my late brothers iPad. I am updating it right now. Hopefully this will work! 🙏🏻

 

[psychstudent]

I just realized something about this. if I don't bring this iPad with me everywhere I go, the AirTag that I'm using for my wallet is useless, correct? it needs nearby iOS device to connect to via Bluetooth. Now I understand why it has to be an iOS device. My phone is an Android phone.

 

[psychstudent]

Okay, I just researched this using GPT-4o. I suppose soon these forums will be obsolete with our advancing AI. I was pleased to discover that I don't need an iOS device with me. everyone that has an iPhone or iPad with FindMy enabled takes part in a community effort to help locate air tags and devices. I suppose I will be keeping this AirTag afterall.

 

[waw74]

Some downsides to you not having an iPhone, some only apply to actual AirTags.

---you need an apple device to find a tag, The find my app is not available on non-apple devices or the web. I believe web location is coming soon, but. you'll have to re-enable it once a week.

---Think this also applies to non-apple find my devices, but if an AirTag senses movement, and hasn't seen it's owners phone in a bit of time, it will start to alert other devices in the area that an unknown AirTag is traveling with them.

---This doesn't apply to third party find my devices since only AirTags support this, but without an iPhone, you can't do precision finding,