AirTag Occasional Use -Battery Question

[Coffee50]

i’m planning on picking up a few more AirTags specifically for traveling (I currently use their tags from my car and house keys in mu luggage).

If I will only be using those AirTags every few months, should I just remove the battery & insert whenever I’m planning on using them? Do stationary AirTags use more battery life if it is separated from the iPhone on a daily basis ( these will be just be with my travel gear, so they will be apart from the iPhone every time I leave the house)

Does anyone else have AirTags for occasional use? If so do you remove the battery?

 

[Slartibart]

I have a few Airtags which I use only a few times a year and I remove the batteries in between use.
The reason is that I do not want e.g. my pets getting irradiated by their sound when I am away from home… or myself if e.g. if I would leave my mobile accidentally somewhere (not referring to ”loosing” it, but e.g. getting home late from a place dedicated to a hobby having left it there, where my lazy self would simply pick it up the next day… meanwhile at some point in between at home the Airtags start their alert sound… some faint noise which will enter at that point my probably sleepy brain, which then needs some time to put everything together, get up, get the Airtags… and remove the battery 🤪).

If the speaker is activated Airtags will obviously use the battery more - how this impacts battery life I do not know.
You could remove them from »Find My…« after before stowing them away in between uses or register them to another device which does not leave “home“ as much as e.g. your iPhone - but IMHO removing the battery is a non-brainer.

 

[russell_314]

Is saving $2 for a new battery once a year really worth the hassle of removing and installing the battery every time you need it? What happens if you forget to do it? Only you know that.

 

[fischersd]

Actually, it's more like $1 - you can get 10 packs of the CR2032 batteries on Amazon for less than $10.

(avoid the Duracell ones and any others that have the "child proof" bitter coating - tends to interfere with their functionality with the AirTags - though you can remove the coating.

 

[iStorm]

Do stationary AirTags use more battery life if it is separated from the iPhone on a daily basis ( these will be just be with my travel gear, so they will be apart from the iPhone every time I leave the house)

You could remove them from »Find My…« after before stowing them away in between uses or register them to another device which does not leave “home“ as much as e.g. your iPhone

Just for clarification on these… AirTags are not paired to your phone. They are paired to your Apple ID. You use an iPhone or iPad to set them up, but you can access or view the AirTags on any device signed into the same Apple ID (iPhone, iPad, or Mac). Other than that initial setup, they are not connected to any of your devices. All AirTags do is just broadcast a beacon signal for nearby devices to pick up and report their location. It makes no difference whether it’s one foot away, or on the other side of the globe.

Since it’s not paired to your device, your location is used for the left behind/separation alerts. Your location is determined by whatever device is set to be your location in the ‘Find My’ app on that device.

Personally, my AirTags have never beeped when I’ve left them home for a few days or more. Supposedly they should only beep if/when they’re moved. I’ve got two AirTags that stay home most of the time and two that travel with me all the time. The batteries in all four lasted about a year.

 

[fischersd]

Bought my first 5 AirTags at launch. Haven't replaced any of the batteries yet (so, that's 18+ months). Not much point in putting the effort into being miserly with the batteries.

 

[Coffee50]

Thanks everyone for replies! Good info