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I was using trackers to help find my keys before Apple offered them, and just wanted to try theirs. Will probably stick with Air Tags unless the competition does something much better.
Which is near impossible because of how limited third party solutions can do on iOS and the ability to attract enough users in a short period.
 
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Hopefully in the 2nd gen you can share an airtag amongst your family.

I just picked up my first ones: discounted 4-pack on Amazon. Stashed one of each of the 4 family bikes. So far they seem pretty freaking handy to me.

But the weird part: I set them all up with my iPhone and my iCloud account. Yet my wife can see her bike’s AirTag - which is cool but not what I expected. Anyone know why? Family Share?
 
Rechargeable batteries would make the AirTags almost useless. Rechargeable batteries don't last that long. The key to AirTags is, you can put them on a device, then ignore them for several years. If you powered them with a rechargeable battery, they would be out of power the first time you tried to find something.

Wut? AirTags hadn't been out for a year yet and most of us were already getting low battery warnings.

AirTags just send out pings. A rechargeable battery would use just as little power as a coin cell. Having a low battery warning pop up every several months for a quick top up isn't any less convenient than having the battery warning pop up as it does now and require you to go buy a coin cell battery and swap out the old one for a new one.
 
Wut? AirTags hadn't been out for a year yet and most of us were already getting low battery warnings.

AirTags just send out pings. A rechargeable battery would use just as little power as a coin cell. Having a low battery warning pop up every several months for a quick top up isn't any less convenient than having the battery warning pop up as it does now and require you to go buy a coin cell battery and swap out the old one for a new one.
But, what would happen if rechargeable battery eventually dies? Will Apple replace it after, say, 4 years of use, for free? Or even at a cost? While wireless charging coil can be thin, support circuit may not be. Not to mention the heat generated during recharge, however little it might feel For us touching it. Sure, engineering problems can be solved, usually, but landfill concern is still there, especially if Apple doesn’t offer free recycle program for AirTag that the battery is dead.
 
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I have five and I wanted to use them as theft detection for some of my property, but then Apple added more 'you are being tracked' awareness features that the thieves would find very useful. I understand why they felt they needed to do that, but I'll not be replacing the batteries in any of them when they die. Pointless product for me now.
 
Most annoying Apple product I have ever bought tbh
Seems to be a common theme amongst people who buy it without having any idea what is for...ignoring what Apple says it is and is not used for...and using it for the wrong purposes anyway.
 
Most annoying Apple product I have ever bought tbh
Huh? What are you doing with it all day that annoys you? Is there anything at all that would make you post something positive about anything? Time to use the ignore list.
 
I have five and I wanted to use them as theft detection for some of my property, but then Apple added more 'you are being tracked' awareness features that the thieves would find very useful. I understand why they felt they needed to do that, but I'll not be replacing the batteries in any of them when they die. Pointless product for me now.
It literally says it is not an anti-theft device. What part of that is hard to understand?

Belligerent User: I want it for this.

Apple: That's not what it's for.

Belligerent User: I still want it for this.

Apple: That's not what it's for.

Belligerent User: I bought it anyway for this purpose. It doesn't work well.

Apple: That's not what it's for.

Belligerent User: AirTag bad.
 
Huh? What are you doing with it all day that annoys you? Is there anything at all that would make you post something positive about anything? Time to use the ignore list.
Using incorrectly is a sure way to have this kind of experience.
 
Hopefully in the 2nd gen you can share an airtag amongst your family.
It's for tracking personal items. You put it on YOUR keys or YOUR backpack or YOUR bag and if you misplace it, you can find it.

It is NOT for tracking things like the family dog, which despite clearing stating it is not for, ignorant people insist on using it for that anyway. Invariably, the people who complain about it not being shared across family are people ignoring what it is used for and trying to use it for other purposes like this, that would be more useful if shared.
 
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Rechargeable batteries would make the AirTags almost useless. Rechargeable batteries don't last that long. The key to AirTags is, you can put them on a device, then ignore them for several years. If you powered them with a rechargeable battery, they would be out of power the first time you tried to find something.
That's not really how it works. Swapping the battery chemistry won't increase the power draw of the AirTag. Modern lithium batteries are pretty good at storing energy, at a reasonable density.

Considering we can get rechargeable batteries in AirPods (which are far smaller than an AirTag), swapping out an LR44 battery with a rechargeable solution + port and circuitry probably won't affect the AirTag performance. It's likely not rechargeable as a cost saving measure.
 
This is such a glairing omission, I don’t understand it.
It's incredibly easy to understand. It's 100% intentional. Most of the use cases that lend themselves to being shared with family are all not what AirTag is designed for. AirTag is designed for a very narrow purpose of tracking personal items. Not tracking things like people or the family dog. You don't need to share with your entire family the ability to keep track of your personal set of keys. Therefore it is kept this way to discourage improper use of AirTags.
 
I have five and I wanted to use them as theft detection for some of my property, but then Apple added more 'you are being tracked' awareness features that the thieves would find very useful. I understand why they felt they needed to do that, but I'll not be replacing the batteries in any of them when they die. Pointless product for me now.
It can still give you enough time to track the device down properly, hardly a pointless product.

If you don't plan on using them, perhaps you can sell them or something instead of letting them die and become a chunk of unnecessary e-waste. :/
 
I think the biggest improvements for me would be:

1. Rechargeable battery. Coin cells are annoying, dangerous to small children, and not environmentally friendly. Could you make an AirTag that charges on an Apple Watch charger, or any wireless phone charger?

2. Thinner profile. If the AirTag wasn’t so fat it could fit inside wallets, for example. I recently lost my wallet so this is a sore point for me. I almost certainly would still have it if it had had an AirTag!
There are already products designed for wallet tracking with Find My network integration.
 
Huh? What are you doing with it all day that annoys you? Is there anything at all that would make you post something positive about anything? Time to use the ignore list.

Getting constant notifications from my BFs set of keys when he isn’t around. There should be a „I know this AirTag“ option, not just a „ignore for the rest of the day“.

2 of 5 claimed they are almost empty, even though I just changed the batteries.

Another one refuses to connect because it claimed the battery was too low to do so, even though the AirTag battery was nearly full. This got solved by someone on MR telling me to reset the AirTag.

Constant push notifications about having left X and Y behind even though I already said „ignore this location“ 7482828 times.

It also happened before, that Find My asked me to change location to search for my AirTag even though I was out in the open

Battery drain with „Find My“ randomly popping up throughout the night.

I have now connected them to my work iPhone instead to avoid most of it while still being able to find my keys if I do loose them.

Regarding the constant complaining. I am in Germany. That’s what we do!
 
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No, they won’t.

Why would anyone, more specifically a consumer, pay more for a GEN one AirTag that would cost more than a GEN two product that’s the newest version. Not only that, but the GEN one AirTag will be more limited in software updates.
Yeah idk how I was able to sell my Oculus Quest 1 for MORE than the retail price of a brand new Quest 2.
Idk how I was able to sell some of my HomePod 1 for almost 3x times the retail price!
 
These have been a life saver for me multiple times. Definitely apples most underrated product.
 
It's for tracking personal items. You put it on YOUR keys or YOUR backpack or YOUR bag and if you misplace it, you can find it.

It is NOT for tracking things like the family dog, which despite clearing stating it is not for, ignorant people insist on using it for that anyway. Invariably, the people who complain about it not being shared across family are people ignoring what it is used for and trying to use it for other purposes like this, that would be more useful if shared.
I can track all my wife’s other apple devices: her Apple Watch, iPhone, AirPods, iPad. None of those are mine, either. I have my own.

Please explain why an AirTag is so different from all those devices, without just saying “because Apple said so.”.
 
I forgot this product exist, and I forgot that I bought many of them. I just checked Find My app and it works like a charm and that’s the best thing about these AirTags, it’s great when technology works without getting in the way.

I can’t see how Apple would make this any better besides making the tracker thinner and renaming Find My app.
 
Love to see a 5G connection for more reliable tracking when in list mode. Not a separate customer account, but one that Apple uses with the cellular carriers. Heck, charge me some reasonable amount per day once enabled. When something is lost I want high resolution 100% reliable location tracking (pet’s lost location, for example).
 
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