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AirTags: disappointing performance

I found these to be all but useless as well, one on the dog, one our keys and one in the car, basically they will only work when in very close proximity, 3mtrs, and if I walk away, they drop out at 10mtrs, and no we don't have faulty iPhone 12 Pro Max's or 4 faulty Airtags, they are just plain silly, was expecting at least 25 to 35mtrs range from my phone, even when I leave the wife's phone right near the Airtag and track with mine, still drops out at 10mtrs, so either there is a major flaw with the network at the moment and it requires some work from Apple still, or these are just snake oil.

Again, phones and tags are not faulty, phones are on the latest IOS, Wifi is great, internet is great, 4G is great, Airtag range range is very underwhelming.
 
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Kung-Foo-Kamel said:
I found these to be all but useless as well, one on the dog, one our keys and one in the car, basically they will only work when in very close proximity, 3mtrs, and if I walk away, they drop out at 10mtrs, and no we don't have faulty iPhone 12 Pro Max's or 4 faulty Airtags, they are just plain silly, was expecting at least 25 to 35mtrs range from my phone, even when I leave the wife's phone right near the Airtag and track with mine, still drops out at 10mtrs, so either there is a major flaw with the network at the moment and it requires some work from Apple still, or these are just snake oil.

Again, phones and tags are not faulty, phones are on the latest IOS, Wifi is great, internet is great, 4G is great, Airtag range range is very underwhelming.
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Thanks! That’s close to what I experienced. Find My network is good, but it’s not good for precision tracking. Basically it’s only suitable for very small items that may hide behind or under something inside your home. For bigger items, by the time you get the signal from the AirTag you can see the thing in front of you.
 
It works pretty well for me. But I live in a dense populated city. I would imagine it being next to useless in the suburbs or rural area, unless you lose something within your home.
 
haruhiko said:
Thanks! That’s close to what I experienced. Find My network is good, but it’s not good for precision tracking. Basically it’s only suitable for very small items that may hide behind or under something inside your home. For bigger items, by the time you get the signal from the AirTag you can see the thing in front of you.
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That is exactly right, and frankly what I expected.

Precision finding makes no sense if the findmy network already tells me the item is IN my house, and I can just have the thing ping. Unless it is jammed 6 feet deep in my couch under sound-proof tiles, the precision location is kindof useless.

The only place I think the precision function could be useful is if say I was playing with the kids in a local park, and lost my keys. Then I suppose the findmy network would show they are in the park and give me a general area. I could then do a grid search while pinging them and trying to activate precision finding. Together these two functions should let me find my object in under 20min.
 
lordhamster said:
That is exactly right, and frankly what I expected.

Precision finding makes no sense if the findmy network already tells me the item is IN my house, and I can just have the thing ping. Unless it is jammed 6 feet deep in my couch under sound-proof tiles, the precision location is kindof useless.

The only place I think the precision function could be useful is if say I was playing with the kids in a local park, and lost my keys. Then I suppose the findmy network would show they are in the park and give me a general area. I could then do a grid search while pinging them and trying to activate precision finding. Together these two functions should let me find my object in under 20min.
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This is exactly what Apple designed the AirTags for. Drop your keys? Yes. Leave a suitcase/backpack/purse someplace? Yes.

People tagging their dogs, kids, cars, motorcycles, etc., are going way outside the design of these things. Might it work? Maybe. If it does, great, but people complaining they can't get directional signals to their car from a quarter mile away in a giant parking lot or structure (or that it'll find their stolen vehicle) and concluding that AirTags are useless are way off base.

People are wanting these to be high-precision long-distance GPS trackers (for $29, of course) and that's just not going to happen -- nor were they designed to be.
 
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For me, tracking the dog works best, its the finding the keys at home that's crap, I cant activate the sound from the next room, I use this feature from my Apple watch to find my iPhone sometimes, saves me looking in every room, I hit the sound, the phone pings, I pretty much know where it is.

I want the local close proximity tracking to have better range, I would like to activate the sound from 5mtrs through a wall, lets say from a room away, or from a hall way, but this is where it fails for me.

And to be honest, I have 4 Apple TV's and I use Homekit and I have some Bluetooth Mesh gear, so there is no excuse for the tag not give me better tracking at home, as all these apple devices should really be assisting in relaying data, but obviously they don't, maybe with some software updates we might see this happen, I feel that adding other apple devices, specially ones in homes like Apple TV's and iPads, Macs, they can help reinforce the network.

I got my wife to take the dog for a walk and I got updated location data, it wasn't fast, but it does work, and best of all, if someone finds the dog, they can scan the tag and get my contact information, its actually a really good use for the tag.
 
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Kung-Foo-Kamel said:
For me, tracking the dog works best, its the finding the keys at home that's crap, I cant activate the sound from the next room, I use this feature from my Apple watch to find my iPhone sometimes, saves me looking in every room, I hit the sound, the phone pings, I pretty much know where it is.

I want the local close proximity tracking to have better range, I would like to activate the sound from 5mtrs through a wall, lets say from a room away, or from a hall way, but this is where it fails for me.

And to be honest, I have 4 Apple TV's and I use Homekit and I have some Bluetooth Mesh gear, so there is no excuse for the tag not give me better tracking at home, as all these apple devices should really be assisting in relaying data, but obviously they don't, maybe with some software updates we might see this happen, I feel that adding other apple devices, specially ones in homes like Apple TV's and iPads, Macs, they can help reinforce the network.

I got my wife to take the dog for a walk and I got updated location data, it wasn't fast, but it does work, and best of all, if someone finds the dog, they can scan the tag and get my contact information, its actually a really good use for the tag.
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See I think there are far better alternatives for a dog. If the dog gets out and wanders into a field or the woods you’re out of luck. No network.
 
No woods or fields anywhere near me, I'm in the suburbs, so dog tracking is a perfect task for it, if I did live further out, then it would be GPS and LTE for sure.
 
Find my network is great in comparison. The AirTag on my car updates its location every 10-15 minutes when I’m out, showing the sheer abundance of iOS devices roaming around the city.
 
I currently have 3 of these deployed (SUV and 2 sets of keys). Absolutely no issues with performance (but I also work in technology, so my expectations are likely different than some).

People should try to keep in mind that the range of BT devices can be severely compromised by RF interference with other devices. The 2.4GHz spectrum is EXTREMELY congested!

So:
- other BT devices
- Wifi
- Satellite Radio
- Some Microwave ovens

For my SUV, it's under the hood, about 1 foot behind the grill, just ahead of the drivers side wheel well (there's a brace member there that I gorilla glued the silicon pouch to).

Heh - I think there's a lot more android users than iPhone users in my building - it only gets updated in the parking garage about a half dozen times a day or so.

3D9463DD-6CCE-487C-A188-A9366EC7FA3D_1_102_o.jpeg
 
boswald said:
Would a metal wallet like Ridge effect the signal of these if placed on top of it (i.e. cash strap)?
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I have a Ridge wallet and the tile slim. I put the Slim inside it and it barely worked when in the same room. After that I glued it to the outside of the Ridge and it works much better.
 
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