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I just imagine what‘ll happen when I‘m on vacation… multiple tags will beep and annoy all my neighbors?
Exactly. Right now I only have one AirTag and it travels with me on my car keys. But I was thinking of getting another one for a backpack that I use occasionally. I did not expect that it would beep if I left it at home, untouched, based on Apple's description of how AirTags work (which I have no reason to doubt other than what I have read in this thread). But if it beeps when my phone is away, that would be a show stopper for me. It would drive our pets up the wall unless I buried the AirTag in a blanket or pile of linens.
 
In that circumstance you actually should have been notified that you left the bag behind (unless you've disabled that notification) :)

(my watch normally notifies me just as I leave the lobby if I've left my iPhone behind) :)
There is no such notification option for Airtags.
 
That doesn't make any sense to me. If I leave an AirTag at home it is not necessarily by accident and I will find it when I return home. The AirTag may be attached to things I don't always take with me, such as a backpack that I use for day trips on weekends. I would not want it to beep every weekday while I was away at work, that would drive others in the household crazy. In any event, Apple says the tag has to move before it starts beeping. Which is why the OP's post got my attention. I guess that will have to test it out for myself.
You're limiting the entire point. Forget about leaving stuff at home. People leave important things at the coffee house, a restaurant, a meeting, a gathering. The possibilities are limitless.
 
I just imagine what‘ll happen when I‘m on vacation… multiple tags will beep and annoy all my neighbors?
Really? Seriously? People can barely hear them as it is from a different room in the house. If your neighbors can hear the Airtags beep from inside your house enough to annoy them then you've got the PRO version of Airtags that nobody else has. 🙄
 
You're limiting the entire point. Forget about leaving stuff at home. People leave important things at the coffee house, a restaurant, a meeting, a gathering. The possibilities are limitless.
Understood, but what you and the OP are saying conflicts with Apple's support page that says the tag must move before it starts beeping. If it works as you say then Apple's support page is incorrect, and I will have to figure out who is correct before I buy more of these things.
 
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Understood, but what you and the OP are saying conflicts with Apple's support page that says the tag must move before it starts beeping. If it works as you say then Apple's support page is incorrect, and I will have to figure out who is correct before I buy more of these things.
Yes I see what you’re saying. Perhaps it’s best to contact Apple for complete clarification before buying. This doesn’t affect my usage for Airtag but since it does affect you I recommend you reach out to Apple.
 
How did Apple mess this up so badly? Did they do it on purpose when Tile started to complain? Probably the crappiest product they've released since the Mighty Mouse. Inferior to Tile in all ways - and I thought Tile was so-so.
 
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How did Apple mess this up so badly? Did they do it on purpose when Tile started to complain? Probably the crappiest product they've released since the Mighty Mouse. Inferior to Tile in all ways - and I thought Tile was so-so.
Yes, this makes me so sad. I was ready to dump Tile for the AirTags as I assumed Apple would do it much better. Sadly that didn't turn out to be the case. At least they are finally adding "left behind" in iOS 15. I recall arguing with Tile how this very useful feature was missing from their products and their competitors already had it. They finally released it as a beta and then a paid premium feature. UGH
 
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Hmm, I thought they only did that if they were IN MOVEMENT and away from your iPhone. But according to this article, they'll "beep if they are away from their owner's iPhone - at a random time between eight and 24 hours - to alert people nearby."


Makes no sense to me. How could a stationary AirTag be used to stalk anyone?
Someone puts an airtag in stalkees bag.
When the stalkee is home, the bag remains stationary. Stalkee is unaware they are being stalked.
Airtag beeps to notify stalkee.
 
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The OP's Airtag is working as intended. It works this way for two reasons.

1) Once it's separated from the owner (outside of the bluetooth range) after several hours it's supposed to beep to alert someone nearby (especially if it's a co-worker) so they'll know that owner lost or left their stuff behind.

Huh? Why would you want a lost device to draw attention to itself? I thought the whole point was that YOU can track it yourself using the Find My network if you've lost something.

Not sure why anyone here thinks it should only beep when the Airtag is mobile? How would that make any sense? That would suggest that Apple designed these for anti-theft.

No, that's precisely what Apple says it should do because it's designed to prevent unwanted tracking (not theft).

Screen Shot 2021-09-16 at 2.34.13 PM.png


The beeping only occurs AFTER it has been traveling with someone/something while away from you. The OP is simply leaving something behind (intentionally) and it is NOT traveling (in movement) while away from him.


2) The other reason for the beep is to protect people from being stalked. There should be no reason for Apple to allow customers to turn off the beep otherwise they could stalk people. Doesn't matter if the OP is not trying to stalk anyone, plenty of others would attempt to use them for that reason.

See above. His AirTag isn't in movement and thus cannot possibly be used to stalk anyone.

So, in summary, according to Apple, the only time the AirTag is designed to emit a sound is when you ping it yourself or if the AirTag detects it's potentially being used to stalk someone.
 
Someone puts an airtag in stalkees bag.
When the stalkee is home, the bag remains stationary. Stalkee is unaware they are being stalked.
Airtag beeps to notify talkee.

But that's not what's happening in the OP's case. The AirTag isn't moving while away from his iPhone. If the AirTag never moves from where the OP last left it, then obviously it's impossible for it to be stalking anyone.
 
Well sorry for you. This is not new news. Your required needs fall under the categories of anti-theft and stalking which are not supported. Also we’re just having a discussion. Your tone is unnecessary. 🙄
What about loss? Take the OP, his bag is usually in two locations, home and office. But say he lost it somewhere else. He wants it to be ready to go not have to trigger it on and off each time he takes it somewhere.
 
What about loss? Take the OP, his bag is usually in two locations, home and office. But say he lost it somewhere else. He wants it to be ready to go not have to trigger it on and off each time he takes it somewhere.
You’re making up a scenario for the OP. He was talking about leaving his stuff at home. 🙄
 
Having not got an Airtag yet I’d be interested to hear what your findings are, as I too would intend to leave airtags at home quite frequently!

having to set it up again etc would somewhat ruin the benefits.
 
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Huh? Why would you want a lost device to draw attention to itself? I thought the whole point was that YOU can track it yourself using the Find My network if you've lost something.



No, that's precisely what Apple says it should do because it's designed to prevent unwanted tracking (not theft).

View attachment 1833120

The beeping only occurs AFTER it has been traveling with someone/something while away from you. The OP is simply leaving something behind (intentionally) and it is NOT traveling (in movement) while away from him.




See above. His AirTag isn't in movement and thus cannot possibly be used to stalk anyone.

So, in summary, according to Apple, the only time the AirTag is designed to emit a sound is when you ping it yourself or if the AirTag detects it's potentially being used to stalk someone.
Actually, Apple intends that lost devices draw attention to themselves - so they become found. It's also why when the airtag is in lost mode, if you tap it with any device that supports NFC, you will get the owners contact information. This is the primary use case for AirTags - finding lost things.

Original behaviour of the airtag (as written on the Apple website) is certainly changing - you can't count on the marketing information on the website to keep pace with these changes - there will be disparity.

Lastly - "If the AirTag never moves from where the OP last left it, then obviously it's impossible for it to be stalking anyone." You're REALLY giving a lot of credit for a tiny little device that doesn't have any GPS built into it. There's lots of scenarios where the airtag won't detect any movement, but is actually in motion.
 
Actually, Apple intends that lost devices draw attention to themselves - so they become found. It's also why when the airtag is in lost mode, if you tap it with any device that supports NFC, you will get the owners contact information. This is the primary use case for AirTags - finding lost things.

Original behaviour of the airtag (as written on the Apple website) is certainly changing - you can't count on the marketing information on the website to keep pace with these changes - there will be disparity.

Lastly - "If the AirTag never moves from where the OP last left it, then obviously it's impossible for it to be stalking anyone." You're REALLY giving a lot of credit for a tiny little device that doesn't have any GPS built into it. There's lots of scenarios where the airtag won't detect any movement, but is actually in motion.
It has an accelerometer to detect motion. https://www.ifixit.com/News/50145/airtag-teardown-part-one-yeah-this-tracks

And I'm not relying on marketing info - I'm looking at the support page. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227
 
Actually, Apple intends that lost devices draw attention to themselves - so they become found. It's also why when the airtag is in lost mode, if you tap it with any device that supports NFC, you will get the owners contact information. This is the primary use case for AirTags - finding lost things.

To me, they might as well have it say out loud, "Hey, please steal me!" I understand that it will send an alert and start beeping eventually if it's in movement away from its owner (because they have to be concerned about stalking), but I'm talking about stationary objects.

Lost Mode has to be activated by the user - which means obviously they already know they lost it. And the NFC contact info is an optional message the user specifies when they activate Lost Mode.

Original behaviour of the airtag (as written on the Apple website) is certainly changing - you can't count on the marketing information on the website to keep pace with these changes - there will be disparity.

Do you have a link to current, "proper" documentation then that described the intended behavior as you have? I've looked at Apple's support documentation and can't find anything that says a stationary AirTag is supposed to start beeping. If that's what they intend, then it's not well thought-out at all. For instance, let's say someone rotates using 3 different purses/bags etc. throughout the week and has an AirTag in all 3. So you're saying it's Apple's intended operation for the two AirTags in the bags/etc. they leave at home (that haven't been moved at all) to start beeping non-stop until someone removes the batteries? You'd think they'd at least let you specify "safe" locations to disable such behavior (e.g. Home, Office, etc.) if that's the case.

There's lots of scenarios where the airtag won't detect any movement, but is actually in motion.

Source? I mean, I guess if someone picks up an AirTag in the middle of the desert or otherwise rural areas with no other devices around, that's true, but I can't imagine that being the case in any populated area.
 
To me, they might as well have it say out loud, "Hey, please steal me!" I understand that it will send an alert and start beeping eventually if it's in movement away from its owner (because they have to be concerned about stalking), but I'm talking about stationary objects.

Lost Mode has to be activated by the user - which means obviously they already know they lost it. And the NFC contact info is an optional message the user specifies when they activate Lost Mode.



Do you have a link to current, "proper" documentation then that described the intended behavior as you have? I've looked at Apple's support documentation and can't find anything that says a stationary AirTag is supposed to start beeping. If that's what they intend, then it's not well thought-out at all. For instance, let's say someone rotates using 3 different purses/bags etc. throughout the week and has an AirTag in all 3. So you're saying it's Apple's intended operation for the two AirTags in the bags/etc. they leave at home (that haven't been moved at all) to start beeping non-stop until someone removes the batteries? You'd think they'd at least let you specify "safe" locations to disable such behavior (e.g. Home, Office, etc.) if that's the case.



Source? I mean, I guess if someone picks up an AirTag in the middle of the desert or otherwise rural areas with no other devices around, that's true, but I can't imagine that being the case in any populated area.
Honestly (I'm sure @Maconplasma likely had the same thought) - already answered your questions - you still don't get it, it's not my responsibility to guide you to the answers.
 
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Honestly (I'm sure @Maconplasma likely had the same thought) - already answered your questions - you still don't get it, it's not my responsibility to guide you to the answers.

That's clearly a cop-out. I've already told you I've looked for this information on Apple's website, and can't find anything that states that AirTags are intended to behave in the manner you describe. If it's there and I'm somehow not seeing it, it should be very easy for you to post a link to it. I'm more than willing to admit I'm wrong about what Apple intends, but not based on what random people on a forum assert, but based on what Apple themselves have said/published.

Even if you don't want to back up your claims, surely you can at least agree that my bag/purse example would be non-ideal at best and highly annoying at worst? Surely you don't think it's reasonable to have to carry every AirTag'd item you own with you at all times in order to prevent them from beeping.

EDIT: all I hear are crickets . . . shocker. "We have no answer to what he said, so let's just post passive-aggressive LMAO reactions instead" :rolleyes:
 
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The accelerometer won't do anything for you when you're not experiencing acceleration. Gee, anyone moving at a constant speed?
The accelerometer will detect motion when the tag is picked up or rotated or moved. Just like picking up an iPhone will wake it up.
 
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That's clearly a cop-out. I've already told you I've looked for this information on Apple's website, and can't find anything that states that AirTags are intended to behave in the manner you describe. If it's there and I'm somehow not seeing it, it should be very easy for you to post a link to it. I'm more than willing to admit I'm wrong about what Apple intends, but not based on what random people on a forum assert, but based on what Apple themselves have said/published.

Even if you don't want to back up your claims, surely you can at least agree that my bag/purse example would be non-ideal at best and highly annoying at worst? Surely you don't think it's reasonable to have to carry every AirTag'd item you own with you at all times in order to prevent them from beeping.
I agree with you. There is no support for the claim that the tag should start beeping even if it never moves from the last time it was in contact with the owner's device. If it has never been moved then it is not stalking. I can understand that it would make a sound after it has been moved (consistent with Apple's description), but not before it has been moved.

I only have one AirTag right now but I guess I will have to test it for myself to see who is right, Apple or the internet.
 
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