Can I use AirTags to track remote items? (help an older relative)

[wox_]

I have an older relative who is occasionally misplacing some important items.

She lives miles away, but is there a scenario where I can set up an AirTag to help her find stuff remotely (attached to her keys, but connected to my iCloud account, or both my and her accounts), or would it constantly alert her iPhone that she's being tracked?

 

[fischersd]

They can't be shared by different Apple ID's - only connected to one. And, yes, if it's separated from the owning Apple ID it will start chirping to be found after a few hours and notify her that she's being tracked.

 

[ftaok]

I have an older relative who is occasionally misplacing some important items.

She lives miles away, but is there a scenario where I can set up an AirTag to help her find stuff remotely (attached to her keys, but connected to my iCloud account, or both my and her accounts), or would it constantly alert her iPhone that she's being tracked?

If she has an iPhone, why wouldn't she just link the AirTag to her phone? Why involve you at all? I understand that some of our seniors have a more difficult time with technology, I think setting up an AirTag would be one of the easier things to do ... at least from what I've seen.

 

[cynics]

I have an older relative who is occasionally misplacing some important items.

She lives miles away, but is there a scenario where I can set up an AirTag to help her find stuff remotely (attached to her keys, but connected to my iCloud account, or both my and her accounts), or would it constantly alert her iPhone that she's being tracked?

If she is older and doesn't care about technology yes.

Keep it (or them) sync'd to your iCloud. Attach them to the items that get lost and label them in your app. When she calls you because she lost that item again you can just play a sound from your iPhone and she can follow the sound to its location (and then tell you its not there 50 times until you drive over there just for her to find it 1 second before you walk in, turns out it was there)......

 

[MacTiki]

There are numerous low tech devices that will locate lost keys, wallets, etc around the house.

Search for “key finder” on the G.

 

[Loyola]

They can't be shared by different Apple ID's - only connected to one. And, yes, if it's separated from the owning Apple ID it will start chirping to be found after a few hours and notify her that she's being tracked.

I was thinking about getting AirTags for my mother in law because she has lost multiple sets of keys over the last few months. The sets of keys have still not been found. She doesn't have an iPhone or an Apple ID. I was going to link them to my iPhone and Apple ID but it sounds like that might not be possible.

 

[deeddawg]

I was thinking about getting AirTags for my mother in law because she has lost multiple sets of keys over the last few months. The sets of keys have still not been found. She doesn't have an iPhone or an Apple ID. I was going to link them to my iPhone and Apple ID but it sounds like that might not be possible.

AirTag isn't the best solution for this situation.

Something like a Tile or Chipolo would likely be a better fit, particularly if she has a non-Apple smartphone and can use their app to help her find her stuff.

 

[Loyola]

AirTag isn't the best solution for this situation.

Something like a Tile or Chipolo would likely be a better fit, particularly if she has a non-Apple smartphone and can use their app to help her find her stuff.

She has a flip phone. I will checkout the others you suggested.

 

[deeddawg]

She has a flip phone. I will checkout the others you suggested.

Then you probably don’t want any sort of app based finder.

I’d suggest following the suggestion in post #5