AirTag Tidbits: Maximum of 16 Per Apple ID, Low Battery Notifications on iPhone, and More

[NotTooLate]

is moscow big enough for ya? and i've encountered very helpful cops in nyc. and the complete opposite too, naturally. yup — harlem, where else would a thief go, right?

Moscow is big enough ,and gratz on the cops doing their jobs , Harlem was an example , as it has areas where the NYPD will not go and retrieve a bag , I dont appreciate the last remark , it kinda stung and was not the intent of the example , but alas , i guess i had it coming for not putting more disclaimers and what not in my post.

Real question , would you go to the bad districts of Moscow to get a stolen bag yourself ? i feel ppl over rate the anti theft "feature" of those trackers , i have a GPS tracker in my car that the insurance are making me put as they have a private company that track down stolen cars , but they have pro doing the tracking and they also have much more connections in the police force.

I guess if its just a kid or some pickpocket person stole it i might go after that , but i had a friend in Barcelona that got pickpocket for 200 euro , he found the lady who did it (as she continued to work the crowd) and once he got near her and start confronting her , 2 ppl came over with a knife and ask him to leave the area or it will get ugly , FAST.

For normal ppl , going after thieves is usually a recipe for disaster.

 

[alexandr]

Moscow is big enough ,and gratz on the cops doing their jobs , Harlem was an example , as it has areas where the NYPD will not go and retrieve a bag , I dont appreciate the last remark , it kinda stung and was not the intent of the example , but alas , i guess i had it coming for not putting more disclaimers and what not in my post.

Real question , would you go to the bad districts of Moscow to get a stolen bag yourself ? i feel ppl over rate the anti theft "feature" of those trackers , i have a GPS tracker in my car that the insurance are making me put as they have a private company that track down stolen cars , but they have pro doing the tracking and they also have much more connections in the police force.

I guess if its just a kid or some pickpocket person stole it i might go after that , but i had a friend in Barcelona that got pickpocket for 200 euro , he found the lady who did it (as she continued to work the crowd) and once he got near her and start confronting her , 2 ppl came over with a knife and ask him to leave the area or it will get ugly , FAST.

For normal ppl , going after thieves is usually a recipe for disaster.

like i said — it depends on the particular cops yea, didn't mean to put you on the spot like that, but imagine how a harlem resident must get stung reading a comment like that sans the areas explanation

of course this isn't like a fool proof thing or anything of that sort and in a lot of cases i wouldn't go to retrieve anything even in an ok moscow neighborhood, but as you can imagine a lot of thieves dump things they don't need, and when my wive got jacked for her bag which had her passport that she ended up not flying without the next day... you never know — they might have dumped it somewhere she could've found it...

 

[mxrider88]

Unless everyone on the bus huddles together and walks off the bus with your bag, they won't be notified.

If the phone in their pocket detects that there is a tag moving with them they will I guess, no?

 

[manu chao]

Airplane mode does not disable the U1.. also, bluetooth is generally enabled, I do it all the time to use my AirPods

Apple: “Ultra Wideband can be turned off by turning on airplane mode.”

 

[manu chao]

So, you are forced to join a Family sharing if you don't want to be annoyed all the time with other tags of other people in the house? What about a close co-worker?

What makes you think merely being in the same house would set off any ‘alarm’?

 

[manu chao]

What I so far hasn't seen anything about (but maybe I haven't really looked for it either) are the technical details of the implementation. How do these things really work, behind the scenes?

Is it the iDevice which sends out a request to any AirTags within its vicinity, or the AirTag which broadcasts its presence to nearby iDevices? Is this done continuously, as in all the time, or at some reoccurring interval? Every second? Every 10 seconds? Every minute?

In the interests of conserving battery life (on both ends) I can't imagine wireless transmission being active all the time. For the same reason it also seems logical that it is the AirTag broadcasting its presence, or else their batteries would drain much faster in crowded areas when responding to requests from hundreds or even thousands of devices in the same area.

Then there is the question of how much of user's cellphone data plans this will begin to consume as AirTag adoption spreads. How long will it take before an iPhone in say NYC can expect to pass by thousands of AirTags daily? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand?! How much data is transferred to Apple's servers for each AirTag encountered?

Is it possible for a user to opt out of being a Find My network node, or is it always enabled whether you like it or not on any device with iOS 14.5 or newer?

It appears that it is indeed the AirTags that periodically broadcast their presence (all WiFi and Bluetooth devices normally do so). Here is how Tidbits describes how the Find My network works [in a pre-AirTag world]:

”When a device can’t connect to the Internet [which for AirTags would presumably be always], it begins broadcasting a cryptographically derived Bluetooth ID that provides no information to anyone around it and can’t be matched to the owner’s account. Any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with the latest operating system installed recognizes that form of Bluetooth ID and uploads it to Apple along with its own current location.”

In regard to data usage, Federighi said:

"It uses just tiny bits of data that piggyback on existing network traffic so there's no need to worry about your battery life, your data usage or your privacy."

 

[michael31986]

How do I add the air tags to a family sharing? Can I just add air tags to it?

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

So here's a question, say your on a night out with a group of friends and most of you have AirTags on your keys, bags. is everyone in the group going to be incessantly notified that they're being tracked??

Is there a time limit before it tells you there's an AirTag that's not yours near you, like if your commuting into work are you gonna see dozens of notifications of AirTags near you, or will the AirTag know it's near it's iPhone owner so not send out the alerts.

While I think this is a great idea to prevent stalky McStalkers is it just going to get unbearably annoying anytime your near someone with an AirTag? 🤔

The unknown tag would have to be following you without the owner nearby. So your scenario wold only happen if one of you leaves their phone behind. Unless that person has a watch and is sharing their location to Find My from the watch rather than from the phone.

 

[BigPotatoLobbyist]

“That would be the worst product Apple has ever made”

Buttonless 3rd gen iPod Shuffle wants to talk

 

[Slartibart]

Ugh, that's not enough to track 6 co-workers, 4 family members, 2 lovers, 2 mailmen, and 4 neighbors.

If only Apple had thought of another way to reach your coworkers from the iPhone you want to track tags with... 🤣😂🤓

 

[arkmannj]

Just a thought. If the remote was connected to wifi why would it need an air tag - surely it could fall into the same 'find my' as AirPods etc - no need to have a tag.

Yeah, My bad i was specifically saying airTag. But really I was meaning it as a more general kind of “find my” technology. like we see in many devices now. But having the precision of the U1 chip and/or ability to make the remote make a ping/chirp sound would have certainly been nice additions. I typically know the “general area” where items are (like a remote) but it becomes the precision of the location that can be frustrating.

 

[rmanbike]

Yes, the battery is user replaceable. However it doesn’t say what type of battery it uses, where you buy the replacements and how much they cost. It might be a special battery only available from Apple for $10. Battery lasts up to 1 year.

standard CR2032

 

[rmanbike]

That is a useful idea but may not work long term if you travel. Unless you take your pet with you on trips. A few days away and every time they get up to move it might beep based on the info provided. Maybe think of it as something you add when you get to the dog park and remove once you're home. I like the idea generally.

If I could just track my dog around our neighborhood, Airtags would definitely be worth it..

 

[rmanbike]

It is under AppleID -> Find My.

Turning it off means you cannot find your lost iPhone if it goes off line either, but since I am pretty sure you have said you have never lost anything ever, that should not be a problem.

under the same settings "share my location" goes on to say: people who can see your location will appear here

 

[Alan Wynn]

under the same settings "share my location" goes on to say: people who can see your location will appear here

Not sure why you are raising this?

 

[Alan Wynn]

Airplane mode does not disable the U1.. also, bluetooth is generally enabled, I do it all the time to use my AirPods

Actually, it does. It also disables Bluetooth, WiFi and Cellular. Once can individually re-enable Bluetooth or WiFi.

 

[Alan Wynn]

These direct Apple executive choreographed interviews are pretty cringe.

This is an interview with people specifically to talk about this product. Seems like he asked questions about it and how it works. Not sure why it bothers you.

Why not ask them questions like: Why in the world would you put a white bezel on an iMac.

Well, the people with whom he was talking have nothing to do with those decisions.

Why would you release such a disgusting powder color pallet.

Lots of people like these colors, fortunately, you will not be forced to buy any of them.

What are you supposed to do with an iMac with 512 GB of storage?!?!?!?!?!

Plenty of storage for many use cases. It is really great that they offer both storage upgrades and the ability to use external or network based storage expansion.

Why do you still believe the Magic mouse should still exist?

Why do you think that those responsible for AirTags, would have any insight on this?

Who cares about a purple iPhone?

Probably all the people who will buy one. I know of at least 3 in my group of friends. Not my choice, but cannot understand why you would care one way or another.

Why isnt there a 27in iMac model?

There is a 27” iMac. There will be a larger size Apple Silicon based iMac released later this year. Just like last time, these products rollout in stages. First systems with no (or minimal) industrial design changes, then systems with the same processor and new design, finally machines with new processors and new design. Those will come at WWDC and maybe in the fall. No need to ask questions for which the answer is obvious.

 

[PowermacG5]

This is an interview with people specifically to talk about this product. Seems like he asked questions about it and how it works. Not sure why it bothers you.


Well, the people with whom he was talking have nothing to do with those decisions.

Lots of people like these colors, fortunately, you will not be forced to buy any of them.

Plenty of storage for many use cases. It is really great that they offer both storage upgrades and the ability to use external or network based storage expansion.

Why do you think that those responsible for AirTags, would have any insight on this?

Probably all the people who will buy one. I know of at least 3 in my group of friends. Not my choice, but cannot understand why you would care one way or another.

There is a 27” iMac. There will be a larger size Apple Silicon based iMac released later this year. Just like last time, these products rollout in stages. First systems with no (or minimal) industrial design changes, then systems with the same processor and new design, finally machines with new processors and new design. Those will come at WWDC and maybe in the fall. No need to ask questions for which the answer is obvious.

Apple Fan boy ramp. Touché my comments are unrelated to Air Tag video. You get the positivity trophy today. After my powerMacG5 iMac has been my machine over the years. Don't like my favorite Mac to be so hideous.