Apple's AirTags Rumored for October Launch: Here's What to Expect

[Abazigal]

What's "impressive" about it?

How everything is coming together to enable Apple Glasses. Sign-in with Apple, Apple-branded QR codes, instant apps, now airtags. A burgeoning wearables ecosystem consisting of the Apple Watch, AirPods and (soon) Apple glasses, all made possible by Apple having aggregated the best customers thanks to the iPhone.

The Apple ecosystem is picking up steam and it doesn't seem like the competition can do anything about it.

 

[DeepIn2U]

What you're really saying is: "I don't see any use for this, so no one else has any use for it".

Open your mind, accept that other people may have other needs and solutions than you. Just move on. It's that easy.

no I meant exactly what I said. I have a very open mind and before you shorted my opinion when you quoted me, I narrowed down the reasons for my opinions of AirTags - NOT that I was saying nobody else has any value for it. Pleas refrain from putting words in anyone else’s mouths - that is a very closed minded ideal/action.

I also stated there are other products in the market that is very well entrenched and it’s not a problem Apple would need to fix really, nor improve upon using their software.

Tile is already integrated into the HP DragonFly v2 laptop - something Apple should’ve had via the hardware level since 2018 in MBP and the MacMini OG the same year since bothhave the TP2 chip to handle hardware security including boot processe. Imagine locking down your Mac like your iPhone were immediately upon boot you cannot DFU or restore from internet or local external USB disk CDs to erase and restore as brand new. This protects your investment. I see thishappen with ASi based macs though.

keycahins, rags to place in cars, bags etc have already been done by many companies and teachable.

the real question is what is Apple really improving upon that’s out there? What is unique that Apple can bring to the table?

 

[JosephAW]

I think these will be thin and can be adhered to anything via sticky sided tape or on slugs for keychains. You will be able to adhere these things to anything and everything from books, shoes, clothes, pet collars, keychains, computers, television sets, cars, anything that it can stick to.
They won't have any batteries but are powered by various radio waves. Remember the AM radio with no batteries yet you could listen to it with a bud and was powered by radio waves?
Same thing but emits U1 pulse after it builds a small charge from radio waves and any and all devices that listen for these pulses will eventually get back to the owners iPhone where a ping has been detected. Possibly some day even low orbiting satellites will be able to hear them and know where they are so never loose a pet or person.
The technology is here today to do this and a small U1 chip requires very little power and a small antenna coil will be in the sticker. And they will be cheap to manufacture with a low cost.
Your doing it now with your Tap Credit Card by a radio wave activating a chip to emit a signal with no batteries.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Developers:

whats your view or concern or action regarding your existing apps to be made already available for Macs on Apple Silicon(ASi) as purchases (free) natively with no modifications?

are you ok with that?
Do you feel that takes away potential revenue and will choose to make apps catalyst compatible as refined for a new cost?
or will you disallow your existing iOS/iPadOS app for MacOS Big Sur and choose to make an entirely new Mac for Big Sur and future MacOS builds?

 

[44267547]

I really like Apples sub-compact array of products that have launched over the last five years with the Apple Watch, the HomePod, the AirPods, and now the Apple tags. It’s these types of products that are stimulating growth for Apple in so many ways, because they don’t just offer the ‘convenience’ factor, it’s how they all integrate with each other. I don’t think this product will catch on immediately, but give it time, as I think it will have lots of purposes with massive potential.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I’m an Apple fan too, and I work in IT. I don’t agree with everything Apple does - and you can see that within the last 7 comments I’ve made today where even @matrix07 pages me regarding AppleTags which I personally think as a product is ridiculous (from a product and market sense for Apple to peruse). The page was absolutely correctly placed and I found it humorous and honorable someone remembered me. Absolutely no hard feelings taken by Matrix07 so I hope you and the other person you disagree with can find some fun or allow disagreement within being too critical of motives.

I’m sure it’s a complete misunderstanding by both and not something. Heated nor to be concerned about. I duly understand you appreciate more in-depth dialog while others may not. That’s all good. So all cool (I hope)

So what about those AppleTags huh? Hehehe. (Inside joke).

 

[insomniac86]

Because Apple took away functionality that they had provided previously, and now they are using that functionality privately.

What? Elaborate your functionality.

 

[7149041]

Well if you are smart you would find a good way to hide them. By the time they find it, you have already reported it to the police. It most likely will track where it has been so even if they find it and take it off security camera can find them along the path. Having insurance is good but finding your original stuff gives you a better chance with a tagged item.

These things don't have a GPS or cellular connectivity - the moment your phone is out of range they are useless for tracking stolen items.

The use case for these things is making the device beep when you can't find your wallet in your apartment or alert you when you leave home without your keys.

Apple would need to get very creative with some sort of "all iPhones can track all AirTags" fature so that your AirTag can report back to Apple piggybacking on someone elses connection and location data. Shady idea at best.

 

[7149041]

What? Elaborate your functionality.

Apple refuses Tile to get background Bluetooth access (which, AFAIK, they used to have up until a point), which means live tracking of your Tiles is only possible when the app is actually open.

Meaning you won't get alerted once a Tile goes out of range (if you are a paid user).

That gives future Apple solution a competitive edge, as it will have better access to these APIs.

 

[Exxhara]

Do I presume these will be cross platform so Android phone users will also be able to buy Apple's tags to secure their items from getting lost?
No reason to make them Apple only is there?

Actually there is. Apple wants to sell you an iPhone so I'm pretty sure this will be ecosystem only.

 

[insomniac86]

Never heard of an app called Reminder?

They use similar batteries to a tile pro's and they last a year. Plus it will notify you when its running low.
You can't fix stupid.
[automerge]1599188149[/automerge]

Apple refuses Tile to get background Bluetooth access (which, AFAIK, they used to have up until a point), which means live tracking of your Tiles is only possible when the app is actually open.

Meaning you won't get alerted once a Tile goes out of range (if you are a paid user).

That gives future Apple solution a competitive edge, as it will have better access to these APIs.

Apple have opened "Find My" for 3rd parties with iOS 14.
They will have access to background bluetooth.

 

[insomniac86]

These things don't have a GPS or cellular connectivity - the moment your phone is out of range they are useless for tracking stolen items.

The use case for these things is making the device beep when you can't find your wallet in your apartment or alert you when you leave home without your keys.

Apple would need to get very creative with some sort of "all iPhones can track all AirTags" fature so that your AirTag can report back to Apple piggybacking on someone elses connection and location data. Shady idea at best.

I have news for you mate...
You seem to have missed the updated tracking in iOS 13 and Catalina.

iPhone and Macbook can be tracked via Find My when it's marked as Lost even when your devices are out of range and they are "offline".

It uses a bluetooth beacon to notify other peoples iOS 13 and Catalina devices of its location.

 

[7149041]

I have news for you mate...
You seem to have missed the updated tracking in iOS 13 and Catalina.

iPhone and Macbook can be tracked via Find My when it's marked as Lost even when your devices are out of range and they are "offline".

It uses a bluetooth beacon to notify other peoples iOS 13 and Catalina devices of its location.

That's more or less what I meant. The question is, are they able to transplant the idea to a much smaller device with only one type of antenna and much smaller battery.

I still find it a lousy way of securing yourself from thieves, if all they need to do is put their phone in airplane mode and avoid other people until the safeties are removed or run out of battery It will work for lost devices and assuming the person who found it wants to give it back.

 

[canned_tuna_og]

no I meant exactly what I said. I have a very open mind and before you shorted my opinion when you quoted me, I narrowed down the reasons for my opinions of AirTags - NOT that I was saying nobody else has any value for it. Pleas refrain from putting words in anyone else’s mouths - that is a very closed minded ideal/action.

I also stated there are other products in the market that is very well entrenched and it’s not a problem Apple would need to fix really, nor improve upon using their software.

Tile is already integrated into the HP DragonFly v2 laptop - something Apple should’ve had via the hardware level since 2018 in MBP and the MacMini OG the same year since bothhave the TP2 chip to handle hardware security including boot processe. Imagine locking down your Mac like your iPhone were immediately upon boot you cannot DFU or restore from internet or local external USB disk CDs to erase and restore as brand new. This protects your investment. I see thishappen with ASi based macs though.

keycahins, rags to place in cars, bags etc have already been done by many companies and teachable.

the real question is what is Apple really improving upon that’s out there? What is unique that Apple can bring to the table?

Well said. Apple became Apple because it did one thing really, really well: simplified our lives. Consumer value was off the charts, thus, Apple could validate their pricing index. Now, with Cook at the helm - the sales & marketing guy - he wants to do many things sub-par. Case in point: niche product offerings, cheapening hardware, buggy software, mediocre product debuts, rebranding retired models, ditching risk & innovation for safe & predictable subscription services, unjustifiable pricing while at the same time harvesting our data, etc. That's not Apple. That's shareholder 101.

 

[7149041]

They will have access to background bluetooth.

I doubt that, but we'll see soon enough

 

[farewelwilliams]

Ever heard of Tile???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, classic Apple.

AirPods wasn't the first truly wireless audio device. Yet here we are.

 

[insomniac86]

That's more or less what I meant. The question is, are they able to transplant the idea to a much smaller device with only one type of antenna and much smaller battery.

I still find it a lousy way of securing yourself from thieves, if all they need to do is put their phone in airplane mode and avoid other people until the safeties are removed or run out of battery It will work for lost devices and assuming the person who found it wants to give it back.

Ah ok. I'd very much hope AirTags provide the "Find My" offline stuff introduced last year.
Otherwise UWB with AR is kinda cool, but.... meh?

You raised a long time hate of mine in regards to just turning the device off/Aeroplane mode.
Being able to turn the phone off or simply put it in Aeroplane mode to hide it from theft is such an easy loophole.
I should be able to request a PIN for turning the device off and setting aeroplane mode. I assume there's legal reasons why you can't pin code a device to kill power or turn off a radio.

The only way around that would be to have a seperate passive tracker built-in that still broadcasts it's identity to other devices even when off. Other devices then use their location data to report an approximate of where they saw the device. Think Long Range NFC tags.

Maybe we just sacrifice half the battery real-estate for some TNT. Then I can remotely detonate the device if someone steals it 😎

 

[insomniac86]

I doubt that, but we'll see soon enough

It was officially announced during WWDC man.
A 3rd party can use Apples Find My solution.
The GOTCHA is that they can't both use Apples solution and their own.

So in other words, if Title wanted to add support for Find My, it couldn't use their Tile network and assist Android users.

 

[Abazigal]

Ever heard of Tile???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, classic Apple.

I did, and bought a few to test out.

They sucked.

 

[incoherent_1]

I am also hoping that this will at least have a small hole, but I could also see Apple using this as an opportunity to sell us a ton of silicone/leather/woven accessories that these would slip into (similar to Apple Watch bands), for $30 a piece. And I have to admit (being a tile user), I will buy all of it. Apple is going to sell millions of these.

Came here to say this. They intentionally left out a hole so they can sell you holders (for key rings, dog collars, wristbands for husbands bad at navigation, etc.).

 

[satchmo]

$9.99 or two for $15

Can see people dropping much more for this.

 

[rmanbike]

Will AirTags help me find my dog?

 

[4jasontv]

Apple refuses Tile to get background Bluetooth access (which, AFAIK, they used to have up until a point), which means live tracking of your Tiles is only possible when the app is actually open.

Meaning you won't get alerted once a Tile goes out of range (if you are a paid user).

That gives future Apple solution a competitive edge, as it will have better access to these APIs.

And? Why would Apple need to give Tile hardware access?

 

[matrix07]

Will AirTags help me find my dog?

Why yes. Just put it on a collar.

 

[ruddyman]

I'd rather have airpods tracking that was more functional. Half the time my phone can't find the airpods even if they're in bluetooth range.