AirTags Family Luggage Strategy

[schalliol]

If you have AirTags for luggage and are traveling as family, how would you do it? I thought we’d put one in each of the kids bags (2 have iPhones & 1 has Apple Watch Cellular only). I’d like at least the older kids to be able to track their own bag in case they’re traveling without us, but the younger one probably we can just track. I’d prefer to be able to share the tag, but maybe that’s something Tile does better.

I’m curious how it would work with family possessions like this where maybe I take the bags with me or a checked bag where it’s being transported by others. Are these bags always going to be squawking?

It seems like maybe Apple could add a sharing function or a travel mode where you know your bag is going to be transported by another person or will simply be out of your possession for awhile.

 

[minnemike]

They only make noise when you activate lost mode and are near by? I think it gives you 3 days separation before it will start to notify other phones near by as well unless you activate lost mode.

 

[schalliol]

Oh, that's interesting. I think the idea is that if my kid's bag is with me and their phone is not that I will be notified that there's a tag with me. This would be strange.

I guess I need to pair the tags with the kids' account and not mine. That means I couldn't track my kid's lost bag. I hope they can add shared devices.

 

[duervo]

Oh, that's interesting. I think the idea is that if my kid's bag is with me and their phone is not that I will be notified that there's a tag with me. This would be strange.

I guess I need to pair the tags with the kids' account and not mine. That means I couldn't track my kid's lost bag. I hope they can add shared devices.

Maybe AirTags work differently, but I have my boy’s iPad showing up under his name on the Find My app. I created a “Family” in my Apple account, and added him to it as my child. This resulted in him getting his own section in Find My, while I’m logged into it with my Apple ID.

 

[KeithJenner]

Oh, that's interesting. I think the idea is that if my kid's bag is with me and their phone is not that I will be notified that there's a tag with me. This would be strange.

I guess I need to pair the tags with the kids' account and not mine. That means I couldn't track my kid's lost bag. I hope they can add shared devices.

From the support document:

1. If the AirTag is attached to an item you're borrowing, you can tap Pause Safety Alerts to turn off "AirTag Detected" notifications for one day. If you're borrowing an AirTag from a member of your Family Sharing group, you can turn off Safety Alerts for one day or indefinitely.

 

[schalliol]

Interesting. But can you actually borrow a tag to use? I think they’re just saying if you have a tag with you that you won’t actually use to locate. It would be great to have say, a communal bag that you could have everyone look at or at least transfer easily from person to person depending on when they use it.

 

[KeithJenner]

I have just found a review which suggests that you can't track family members airtags.

If that is correct then it does present some issues in cases like this. I could certainly see my family using them for different things at different times (i.e. when travelling). Hopefully it is relatively easy to transfer them between accounts (disable from one and add to another).

I can't see any particular reason why we shouldn't be able to share locations though, so hopefully they will change this in the future if that review is correct.

 

[mrklaw]

It’s strange - with family sharing I can see where my kids iPads are, and they’re way more valuable and contain more private information than a bunch of keys or a backpack with some school books in it. So why wouldn’t we also be able to choose to share location for airtags? I hope this is incorrect as it’s an important use case for me and likely others

 

[schalliol]

I think that’s the case for now, but hopefully they’ll make it a software update

 

[KeithJenner]

I would just point out that someone in another thread correctly (as far as I am aware) stated that reviewers wouldn't be able to check this, so the review that I found may not be correct.

Perhaps they asked Apple for clarification, but they may have made assumptions.

We shall see on Friday I suppose.

 

[darthbane2k]

I would just point out that someone in another thread correctly (as far as I am aware) stated that reviewers wouldn't be able to check this, so the review that I found may not be correct.

Perhaps they asked Apple for clarification, but they may have made assumptions.

We shall see on Friday I suppose.

I asked apple support this online and they stated that no, you won't be able to track family members air tags. With enough demand Apple could easily change this via a software update.