Some of the comments on here are downright disgraceful. Those people wouldn’t be laughing if it was their child who swallowed a battery and ended up seriously ill in hospital.
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AirTag Removable Battery Sparks Child Safety Concerns
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You just knew that they if Apple finally made a device with a replaceable battery that the naysayers would castigate them for it.
If Apple allowed you to easily replace RAM in MacBooks, New Zealand would ban them because the DIMMs have sharp edges.
If Apple allowed you to easily replace RAM in MacBooks, New Zealand would ban them because the DIMMs have sharp edges.
Well that didn’t take lake long. All of the greenies riding Apple’s @$$ about non replaceable batteries in about everything so here comes Apple with the new AirTags with replaceable batteries and boom!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG think of the children. Such nonsense. Be a parent. Pay attention and keep small things away from children. It can be done.
I think the thing that really disappoints me about all of this is that the decision for tool-less entry was one down to aesthetics, that combined with a device who's purpose is to track items you probably regularly use and potentially lose means if you always know where the item is, so you can supervise your children and 100% know they haven't got it, you don't really need the AirTag.
It's also likely to be added to things that up until now you may have taken off you kids but you haven't hammered home "potentially dangerous", yes I take my keys off the kids when they occasionally mange to get their hands on them, but I'd have to completely change the messaging with an AirTag on it, to much like if they went to pick up a sharp knife.
While it has a similar mechanism to pill bottles these type of rotating back plates have a bad habit of loosening with time, had the same issue with some Somfy Protect fobs, after some time some were so easy to open a hard stare would cause the back to fall off, we insisted they switched them over when they changed the design to include a safety screw.
While I'm exceptionally happy these have replaceable batteries I find the decision to allow tool-less entry baffling, the device is, by that simple choice, potentially far more dangerous than it needed to be to small children and animals, why not simply have a little pin hold with a spring loaded locking mechanism you had to push down with something like a sim tray release tool, it means the person trying to open it either needs another tool or to physically destroy the device.
It's also likely to be added to things that up until now you may have taken off you kids but you haven't hammered home "potentially dangerous", yes I take my keys off the kids when they occasionally mange to get their hands on them, but I'd have to completely change the messaging with an AirTag on it, to much like if they went to pick up a sharp knife.
While it has a similar mechanism to pill bottles these type of rotating back plates have a bad habit of loosening with time, had the same issue with some Somfy Protect fobs, after some time some were so easy to open a hard stare would cause the back to fall off, we insisted they switched them over when they changed the design to include a safety screw.
While I'm exceptionally happy these have replaceable batteries I find the decision to allow tool-less entry baffling, the device is, by that simple choice, potentially far more dangerous than it needed to be to small children and animals, why not simply have a little pin hold with a spring loaded locking mechanism you had to push down with something like a sim tray release tool, it means the person trying to open it either needs another tool or to physically destroy the device.
You can never make people happy. Shame on Apple for not making their batteries removable!!! Actually scratch that, now they’re too easy to remove!!!!
Or Apple product designers could use a bit of common sense and check their products are safe and legal before releasing them.
LOL!!! Only in America! Guns are considered freedom but an AirTag is considered a safety threat. 😂
Ok I’m going to take a bite at this: what kind of sweet (assuming you mean candy) resembles a battery? I have yet to see say Mars or Hershey’s come out with a candy that is marketed as resembling a battery. Perhaps I have missed that ad campaign? Besides show me a video of a toddler that that the finger strength to open the AirTag up and get at the battery.
Well I'm certainly dissing you for not reading what I actually wrote...
I have ordered one already.
What’s so ludicrous about all the people defending Apple (and essentially sacrificing kids) over this is that this same simple flaw that potentially makes it dangerous to kids also seems likely to make the Airtag a lot worse at being an Airtag. If this thing comes apart too easily and sheds its battery if, for example, you drop it along with your keys, or it gets kicked to the kerb etc, then there’s a good chance it will stop working exactly when you actually need it.
But no, it would be UNTHINKABLE to expect Apple to secure the battery with a small screw. The rights of a trillion dollar company to sell a potentially flawed $29 accessory clearly far outweigh any other consideration.
But no, it would be UNTHINKABLE to expect Apple to secure the battery with a small screw. The rights of a trillion dollar company to sell a potentially flawed $29 accessory clearly far outweigh any other consideration.
I was thinking the same exact thing. Child-proof poll bottles have this.
They're probably legal, the issue is Apple definitely has a track record of prioritising aesthetics over practicality, the design for a tool-less entry over adding a screw or some other locking mechanism isn't because frequent access is required, however they've converted the AirTag from being really no more dangerous than a coin, to something that could potentially be fatal to animals and children if someone is unlucky.
The AirTags are very pretty, but if they're going to go on devices I lose I'm not using AirTags because I'm more likely to lose the items in the house than I am out and about, and that gives my two young kids a pretty good chance to find them, and while they'll be fine 99% of the time (more probably) it would just be an extra headache that I'd added potentially easy access to a watch battery to two young kids, so I'll pass on this generation.
Ask the thousands of kids who have eaten them and been injured/killed.
It’s not even necessarily the case that they think it’s candy, babies and very young children in particular use their mouths all the time to learn about the taste and texture of objects around them, it’s an instinctive thing.
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I stand corrected!This is absolutely not the case with the Belkin keychain! The battery can come out very easily while the AirTag is secured in the keychain:
AirTag came apart in my pocket
AirTag design flaw? It seems like the battery cover comes off much too easily! When I got home this evening and reached into my pocket for my keys, I found the AirTag battery cover and its battery had detached themselves.forums.macrumors.com
Mentos and other kind of mints. Already people are talking about their airtags coming apart so it’s not a far stretch for a child to get it open.
You don't traditionally attach a child-proof bottle to your keys that you're pretty good at losing. Also I have a video of my eldest when she was 4 brute forcing the lock on one of those bottles, we let her try to open it as it was only her vitamins and because she was being a pain and was being supervised and it took her about 20 seconds to get into it.
As for the stuff we're concerned about it's in a plastic tub well out of reach of the kids, I'm not convinced any AirTags I had would be 100% of the time, as their designed to be attached to items you use multiple times a day and may lose.
We live in a world void of personal responsibility...has 2020 taught you NOTHING?! It's ALWAYS someone else's fault for whatever stupid decision you make!
Stairs?
Read my post again. You are comparing a high risk event (motor vehicle death) with a super low risk event. Apple met reasonable guidelines. Things can ALWAYS be safer. That’s not an interesting argument. What’s the expected benefit vs cost to manufacture and utility?
Exactly and why is it only Apple that gets attacked for say AirPods having non replaceable batteries? Funny I never see people here attack samsung for non removable batteries. I know none of my Bose earbuds including the new Noice canceling earbuds have replaceable batteries. I am pretty sure Sennheiser earbuds don’t either. It’s the greenies crying about some mother earth nonsense or some law firm trying to sue apple for planned obsolescence. What do you get from samsung? Something that depending on your carrier you may or may not get the next update of Android. Although I think I saw somewhere they were trying to guarantee 3 years of os updates. Imagine if Apple did that. We are only going to start making iPhones that the iOS will only update for 3 years then you have to buy a new phone. The outrage and the inhumanity that would follow.Have removable battery: child safety concerns!
Have non-removable battery: environmental concern! Planned obsolescence! Landfill!
Have no battery: how would this thing power up with no battery?
People just find reason to whine and complain. Typical for 2021.
Can media tell what’s the best way to design these products? Can they?
I get the impression a lot of the negative comments here are from people who who haven’t had children or have the, ‘mine didn’t die so it’s your fault if yours do’ sort of attitude. I know I did everything I could with my children to make sure things were out of the way that could choke them but I know someone who lost a 10 month old to a tragic choking accident. The baby choked on a plastic temporary cuff link, the type you get on a new shirt to hold the sleeve together in its packaging. The truly tragic part is neither parent owned anything where this item could have fallen off. They think it came into the house on a shoe or carried completely randomly. So preventable and I know they’ve tried to get such items banned.
What you say is absolutely correct, mistakes and accidents happen and manufacturers have an obligation to make sure products are safe and warnings are clear.
Thanks, I have 3, you are not special.