AirTags Said to Be 'Completely Waterproof' and Use Magnetic Charging Like Apple Watch

[FelixDerKater]

Can you stack them and charge?

 

[Karllake]

Yeah, I meant that as a joke towards almost all of their other products. The CR2032's in our Tiles don't quite last a year, but unless there is some unique or new feature I don't see us switching.

im a long time tile user and will be switching day 1, at almost any price 1) not having to agree to tile privacy settings, 2) increased accuracy 3) AR support for ease of location 4) massive iOS user base 5) re charging (I think tile might have this now but my old ones don’t)

I really liked tile initially but the data policy and gouging of the uk market means I’m now indeffferent to them disappearing.
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Battery life is the only thing I really care...... i hope it works at least 2 weeks once fully charged.....

I’d expect 6 months minimum but probably 1 year, battery charging is only to make them non disposable which the early tiles were (1 year and they’re done)

 

[CarlJ]

Annoyingly, it only works if you have Siri Hands-Free or Carplay (the latter of which only if you bothered to plug it in).

I don’t have either Siri Hands-Free or CarPlay (just plain Bluetooth in a Prius), and Maps makes a point of telling me where I parked. I halfway suspect they have a lookup table of car manufacturer’s Bluetooth system names (or maybe just OUI’s), and simply decide you're in a car (getting out of a car), if you were connected to one of these recognized OUI's and then the connection ended.

 

[Rainshadow]

But if it's the same charger as Apple Watch, that would imply it wouldn't charge from standard Qi chargers which would be a mistake. No one wants to purchase and carry around a charger that literally costs more than the device they are charging. Apple Watch needs to be charged every day but these tags will need to be charged so rarely, it's hardly worth it. Qi chargers are cheaper, ubiquitous and already work for all iPhones from the past few years so that standard makes much more sense for something like this.

Those of us who want the Apple Watch charger are more concerned with size - not compatibility with Qi. If it’s qi compatible, they will likely be larger... so yes, once every (hopefully) 6 months or more - toss them on an Apple Watch charger - perfect.

 

[nicho]

Sounds great for finding a stolen bike, but what's to prevent a stalker from hiding an air tile on someones car? Or drop it in their purse? The police could as well. No need for costly gps systems with batteries that need to be replaced after a couple weeks. Just wait for someone with an iPhone to walk by.

I was thinking about this recently.

Cleverest solution I could come up with would be to reveal 1/24th of the necessary information to any local iOS device it is transmitting location to, changing the pieces every 2 hours. If someone puts a tracker on you and you're carrying it around - eventually it will be revealed to you and a file generated about the originator that you could send off to police to investigate.

 

[russell_314]

Nope. I have multiple car bluetooth standalone and have older cars with integrated Bluetooth and they've never worked. There's an Apple whitelist. None of what you said disproves this.

On the other hand, new setups with Siri Eyes Free and Carplay always work, so it's not a settings issue.

Where are you getting this whitelist idea? Please link the Apple site or wherever you got this idea.

 

[konqerror]

Where are you getting this whitelist idea? Please link the Apple site or wherever you got this idea.

How do you think the phone tells the difference between a car and a non car Bluetooth speaker? Computer vision? A human who checks the device name in real-time?

Explain how this happens without some kind of list or set of rules.

 

[nicho]

How do you think the phone tells the difference between a car and a non car Bluetooth speaker? Computer vision? A human who checks the device name in real-time?

Explain how this happens without some kind of list or set of rules.

I'm not sure why you're so set on it being filtered by the phone rather than a feature of the bluetooth device (and you having a history of owning crappy ones without said feature).

Best Bluetooth Adapter for Cars: Must Read - Trim That Weed

Wireless Bluetooth adapters are amazing devices that can solve all your ‘on the go hands-free’ demands.

www.carsymphony.com

There are fundamental differences between (not crappy) car bluetooth devices, and non car bluetooth speakers.

 

[konqerror]

I'm not sure why you're so set on it being filtered by the phone rather than a feature of the bluetooth device (and you having a history of owning crappy ones without said feature).

Best Bluetooth Adapter for Cars: Must Read - Trim That Weed

Wireless Bluetooth adapters are amazing devices that can solve all your ‘on the go hands-free’ demands.

www.carsymphony.com

There are fundamental differences between (not crappy) car bluetooth devices, and non car bluetooth speakers.

You put words in my mouth. Carplay and Siri Eyes Free devices always work. The phone figures senses these features. For older cars and external devices, some work and some don't. There's rules and or a whitelist the phone uses.

It's a simple fact that you can't rely on it working 100% on older devices, nor can you override detection. I don't know why you think that statement is incorrect.

 

[frifra]

Will it see the light together with AirPower or cease to exist?

 

[russell_314]

How do you think the phone tells the difference between a car and a non car Bluetooth speaker? Computer vision? A human who checks the device name in real-time?

Explain how this happens without some kind of list or set of rules.

So you just came up with this whitelist idea by yourself 🤦‍♂️

 

[nicho]

You put words in my mouth. Carplay and Siri Eyes Free devices always work. The phone figures senses these features. For older cars and external devices, some work and some don't. There's rules and or a whitelist the phone uses.

It's a simple fact that you can't rely on it working 100% on older devices, nor can you override detection. I don't know why you think that statement is incorrect.

I'll humour you on the idea of "putting words in your mouth" and instead quote you directly and point out how you're (retroactively) trying to put words in your own mouth and look less wrong. Emphasis added to help you.

Annoyingly, it only works if you have Siri Hands-Free or Carplay (the latter of which only if you bothered to plug it in).

No it doesn't. Apple only whitelists approved car Bluetooth devices, which, as I said, are compatible with Siri Hands-Free.

It's Siri Eyes Free by the way, and it [edit for clarity: the parked car feature] works with cars I've driven without it [edit for clarity: siri eyes free]. Ergo your earlier blanket statement that it doesn't work without those features is wrong. Others have said as much.

I never though your new statement, "It's a simple fact that you can't rely on it working 100% on older devices, nor can you override detection." to be incorrect by mere virtue of the fact you haven't actually said that thus far.

You can't rely on it working with older devices. I'm also quite sure that you still don't understand why this is the case.

Carplay and Siri Eyes Free devices always work because by design they have to work a certain way. This is not exclusive to Carplay and Siri Eyes Free devices, other bluetooth car setups can work also. It's nothing to do with whitelisting.

What you're suggesting is the equivalent of Disney having a whitelist for the whole population on who can ride on Space Mountain, when it's actually determined by a feature of the rider (height).

 

[nylonsteel]

would be cool if the disks were more flat than the mock ups predicted
shaped like a half dollar coin

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I didn’t realize these would be rechargeable at all (maybe I missed that in a previous report). That seems like a game changer vs Tile.

On new tiles, you can swap batteries.

 

[skys15]

Qi seems more easy, intuitive, and Apple-esque.
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What's the expected range? Don't Tiles work over only a few feet? Seems like at that range locating your bike should be easy.

My tile claims 300 feet.
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why not in the shape of an apple? 🤣

 

[skys15]

I’ll buy enough for my each of my kids to have an AirTag necklace.

 

[konqerror]

Carplay and Siri Eyes Free devices always work because by design they have to work a certain way. This is not exclusive to Carplay and Siri Eyes Free devices, other bluetooth car setups can work also. It's nothing to do with whitelisting.

Again, if there aren't rules or a whitelist, then how does it detect whether its a car or not? Explain please.

 

[DoctorTech]

Sounds great for finding a stolen bike, but what's to prevent a stalker from hiding an air tile on someones car? Or drop it in their purse? The police could as well. No need for costly gps systems with batteries that need to be replaced after a couple weeks. Just wait for someone with an iPhone to walk by.

I am really interested to see how Apple address that potential abuse of their product. I am sure they have put a lot of thought into how to prevent it (to the degree you can) but I don't know how they will do it. There may be some sort of "lost mode" where the device doesn't automatically report its location until someone is actively looking for it or there may be some type of registration process where if someone finds an AirTag where it doesn't belong (i.e. slipped into their purse or backpack) that the police could trace it to whoever the device is registered to - I am sure there will be some sort of safeguards to minimize the risk of illicit use.
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Battery life is the only thing I really care...... i hope it works at least 2 weeks once fully charged.....

I think it is going to have to be a couple of months at a bare minimum to be a viable. Tile claims a 3 year battery life with their built in batteries.

 

[wigby]

Those of us who want the Apple Watch charger are more concerned with size - not compatibility with Qi. If it’s qi compatible, they will likely be larger... so yes, once every (hopefully) 6 months or more - toss them on an Apple Watch charger - perfect.

You’re concerned with the size but not the fact that you also need a cable, AC adapter and an outlet with AC power? There are many Qi chargers that are battery powered and still smaller than the Apple Watch charger.
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It's very likely they'll include a charger with the tags.


I don't think the tags are going to cost less than $29. I mean, it's Apple we're talking about here. I highly doubt they're going to price a tracker with sophisticated tech for less than what they are charging for a watch power cable. Samsung's already charging $99 for their own tracker. Granted, Samsung's tracker uses LTE but I don't expect Apple to price their trackers anywhere near $20-30.

Not only will they be less than $30, I’ll bet you they will include one with certain models of new iPhones.

 

[Tech198]

They better be "water-proof" as users will defiantly put that to the test ,no doubt.

This could be +1 positive over the TrackR, nor others which may not be as x.proof"

 

[HandITOVER]

You are going to need AirCharger to charge it.

 

[andreamb]

In a report touching on several topics today, Japanese site Mac Otakara claims that Apple's Tile-like "AirTags" item trackers will be "completely waterproof" and use similar magnetic wireless charging to that seen on the Apple Watch.

AirTag image found in iOS 13 build​

Evidence of AirTags has been found in builds of iOS 13 since last summer, and it appears the small item trackers will show up in the Find My app and enable users to locate misplaced items. With ultra wideband support found in the iPhone 11 lineup and augmented reality, it looks like AirTags could offer high precision and direct the user straight to an item, even pinpointing it within a room.

We're not sure when to expect AirTags to launch, but it looks like it may not be imminent yet, as noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said just last week that production isn't expected to ramp up until the second or third quarter, and today's report from Mac Otakara claims an announcement in the fall of this year, which would likely be alongside new iPhones in September.

Article Link: AirTags Said to Be 'Completely Waterproof' and Use Magnetic Charging Like Apple Watch

Up to now I have no evidence of what frequency airtag will use but sound reasonable that on top of Bluetooth Apple should use some more efficient way and frequency to deliver signals. If Airtag want to became another great success and overwhelm Tile like competitor we may expect they use also some UWB ISM frequency as Lora or similar toys are using. One of the limit Bluetooth solution has is related to gave detailed info usable for accurate geolocation, Airtag seems using other frequency and protocol permitting not only to calculate approximate distance but also the angle of coming communication. Feature like that will permit new iPhones starting the ones sold this year with UWB chip inside being capable of a greater level of service. As low UWB frequency will be farther the signal will go.I think owner of 2019 and future coming 2020 iphones may expect 2 different level of service compared the owner of older phones not having UWB capability on board. Another game changer feature will be the capability to proxy to Apple signals coming from Airtag we are not owning permitting due massive iPhone presence everywhere to deliver great accurate position of our ones. I truly believe that Tile like competitor will have a huge gap in term of technology and featuring and only a massive adoption of a similar technology by Android phones producer, today too much fragmented and low cooperatively may compete seriously all that. Well played Airtag may be a greater success than AirPods where hardware, subscription and featuring will jump Apple again miles away other smartphone producer.

 

[s1m]

If truly waterproof these will in my son's school jumper and it will never be lost again!

 

[Henry S]

So, how long will a charge last? Even though the Tile batteries aren’t replaceable, they last over a year.

 

[CarlJ]

So, how long will a charge last? Even though the Tile batteries aren’t replaceable, they last over a year.

That is one of the $64 questions. We won't know until they're released (or a few days beforehand when there's a leak with real specs, or, cynically, or months after release when the batteries start running out).