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is this like tile where you can press a button on the airtag and it will ring your phone??
 
Your cell need be within bluetooth range to work? Ok...so it will help you in your home find your keys. Otherwise it depends on someone else tapping on it to say they found it? Real World expectations...whatever item valuable enough to have this on it will depend on someone having an iPhone and being honest to work. Unless I am not seeing something, this exact same result could be achieved by simply putting your name and number on an item or on a piece of paper in a wallet or something like that. An honest person, with any phone, would then call you. Otherwise...I dont see the draw for it. It isnt like a low jack that will tell you where something that was stolen is...i.e. a backpack from GCS...once it is out of Bluetooth range, well, too bad. Again, unless I am missing something. Limited use might explain low price too.
 
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Your cell need be within bluetooth range to work? Ok...so it will help you in your home find your keys. Otherwise it depends on someone else tapping on it to say they found it? Real World expectations...whatever item valuable enough to have this on it will depend on someone having an iPhone and being honest to work. Unless I am not seeing something, this exact same result could be achieved by simply putting your name and number on an item or on a piece of paper in a wallet or something like that. An honest person, with any phone, would then call you. Otherwise...I dont see the draw for it. It isnt like a low jack that will tell you where something that was stolen is...i.e. a backpack from GCS...once it is out of Bluetooth range, well, too bad. Again, unless I am missing something. Limited use might explain low price too.
It needs to be in range of an apple device. Not just your phone. It will relay it's location to you. A person doesn't have to find it for that location to be relayed to you. It just needs to come within range of another apple device.
If you choose to you can enable it so that they'll get your contact info and can then get a hold of you. But you don't have to do that.
 
I wonder if it will alert you when battery is getting low. Nothing more frustrating than my wife saying she lost her keys, I go pull up Tile app and it says last know location was two months ago -- because the battery died.

Also, I want airtag or something like it built into my glasses frame. That's what I'm always misplacing more than anything....
 
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It needs to be in range of an apple device.
I found a 2 year old article speculating that the range for U1 would be about 900 feet. It seems likely that someone has done some real world tests to find the actual distance, but I can't find anything. Anyone know any real world range stats?

This is very relevant to me since I will be using it to locate my dog which occasionally wanders off in my extremely rural, hilly and tree covered area.
 
I found a 2 year old article speculating that the range for U1 would be about 900 feet. It seems likely that someone has done some real world tests to find the actual distance, but I can't find anything. Anyone know any real world range stats?

This is very relevant to me since I will be using it to locate my dog which occasionally wanders off in my extremely rural, hilly and tree covered area.
I'm right there with you. I want it for my dogs when we're camping where we'd have to rely entirely on the ultrawide band chip for distance and positioning.
 
OP has a point though. Per Apple's article:
"AirTag is also designed with a set of proactive features that discourage unwanted tracking, an industry first. Bluetooth signal identifiers transmitted by AirTag rotate frequently to prevent unwanted location tracking. iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time. And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it. If a user detects an unknown AirTag, they can tap it with their iPhone or NFC-capable device and instructions will guide them to disable the unknown AirTag."

Seems counter productive in the case of a stolen item no?
I can see why they would add this. But the beauty of this device would be in tracking stolen items. We've had key trackers for ages, but this would revolutionize anti-theft devices. People would have to think twice about stealing anything anymore if they knew it may have a tracker. But this feature prevents that.
 
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Hmm, found this tidbit from an Apple Insider article about U1:
"The regulator-mandated low power levels for broadcast combined with the more fragile nature of higher-band transmissions means the general utility range isn't far, typically up to 30 feet away"

They were talking about transmitting data, so that may not apply to AirTags.
 
The reason it took so long was because they had to get the emoji's just right.

All jokes aside, that's a fair price.
 
Hmm, found this tidbit from an Apple Insider article about U1:
"The regulator-mandated low power levels for broadcast combined with the more fragile nature of higher-band transmissions means the general utility range isn't far, typically up to 30 feet away"

They were talking about transmitting data, so that may not apply to AirTags.
Remember that it's not using ONLY U1, but Bluetooth LE as well. It really seems to me that most of the communication is done over Bluetotth, and U1 is only used for the precision locating feature.
 
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Definitely bummed they don't have a way to just attach them to a keyring without an accessory. The Tile Pro has this already. But also, no mention of a rechargeable battery. Is this going to be disposable tech?
user-replaceable battery, I use rechargeable 2032's in my Tile Pro's already. You can get a holder for $1 shipped from Aliexpress within a few days of launch I'm sure.
 
Lets say you forget your bag in another country and it's airtaged.

Can you find it? What is the range limit?
 
You could find it on Mars, if someone with an iPhone walked near it.

But he would have to have Bluetooth enabled right?

To be honest i really thought the Air Tags would be a GPS signal. I see now that it is an entirely different animal.
 
I want an opt out of the airtag network. I don't need all the airtags out there pinging my phone using up my battery just so they can report where they are.
 
Remember that it's not using ONLY U1, but Bluetooth LE as well. It really seems to me that most of the communication is done over Bluetotth, and U1 is only used for the precision locating feature.
Which has a max range of about 330 feet, in the real world probably less.
 
Our daughter's cat likes to sit out on our deck. We leave the door cracked and check on her periodically. TODAY, I closed the door. Instead of running off, she came to the door and started meowing. Daughter doesn't know... I will now get one of these!
Yah we have a dog that’s quiet. We never know if she’s in the house or not sometime do we get paranoid. Getting one for her too. She’s the one who got scared a bolted during July 4th when there was an opening and got hit. surgeries later she’s back to normal.
 
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