Does this app have a tracker more accurate than AirTags? I got lost at a big event with more than 5K cars and my AirTags could not locate the exact spot of my car. Luckily my iPad was in my car and it found the exact spot so a better tracker than the cheaper AirTags. My sense of direction is super bad so the next time I do something like this I need a better option. How do I use the tracker and it can’t rely on cell towers. Thanks…
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Compass app
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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In the future, I would use Apple Maps with your phone.
support.apple.com
Use Maps on your iPhone to find your parked car's location - Apple Support
On an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 10 or later, Maps can drop a parked car marker when you disconnect your iPhone from your car’s Bluetooth or CarPlay system.
I did! The question was about the compass app.In the future, I would use Apple Maps with your phone.
Use Maps on your iPhone to find your parked car's location - Apple Support
On an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 10 or later, Maps can drop a parked car marker when you disconnect your iPhone from your car’s Bluetooth or CarPlay system.
Your post didn’t mention the Compass app at all. Instead, you talked about using Find My app to locate the AirTag, which is different than what I posted about not to mention the Compass app is not the same thing as using ‘Find My.’ What I posted works.
You're taking about the Compass app on AW? It has a backtrack feature, which must be useful. But your challenge seems to be the "final 20 yards". For me, when I'm away from my car for a long period, I take photographs and make notes of the exact location. If it's a proper parking lot it will have level numbers and parking spot numbers. If it's a field event then it's tricker, but knowing the cars around you (though some may be gone) can provide a good point of reference.
You didn’t provide relevant information to determine which sort of scenario this is.
AirTags rely on the Find My network, which relies on iPhone users. Compass relies on magnet north and I believe GPS.
If it's a Wifi Airpad it's likely not more accurate than AirTag, though the sampling frequency may make one appear more accurate than another. So next time you might find the AirTag is closer than the iPad. Though with an iPad with Cellular I imagine that's the best solution. But not for me.
All the same, I think that making notes and/or photos of where you park is your best bet. AirTag/iPad as secondary.
I do use the Compass app regularly on hikes, but obviously I'm never heading back to 5,000 parked cars.
Next time you’re out in a similar situation then set a waypoint on the compass app for your car. Try to navigate back without using the waypoint, and see which is better. You’ll see that it depends on the environment. Multistory parking lots are much different to open fields.
You didn’t provide relevant information to determine which sort of scenario this is.
AirTags rely on the Find My network, which relies on iPhone users. Compass relies on magnet north and I believe GPS.
If it's a Wifi Airpad it's likely not more accurate than AirTag, though the sampling frequency may make one appear more accurate than another. So next time you might find the AirTag is closer than the iPad. Though with an iPad with Cellular I imagine that's the best solution. But not for me.
All the same, I think that making notes and/or photos of where you park is your best bet. AirTag/iPad as secondary.
I do use the Compass app regularly on hikes, but obviously I'm never heading back to 5,000 parked cars.
Next time you’re out in a similar situation then set a waypoint on the compass app for your car. Try to navigate back without using the waypoint, and see which is better. You’ll see that it depends on the environment. Multistory parking lots are much different to open fields.
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Yes I was very stupid today. Took no photos and only relied on the AirTags and WIFI iPad Mini. Was out in the rain for an hour and finally had to ask the police for help. It was at a large field with no markings and multiple levels up and down the hill. 5,000 or more cars I would say as it was jam packed. Everyone else seemed to have no issues but they all had families as I am single. Sense of direction has never been too hot and I imagine you dont want to hear my horror stories of driving before GPS when I only had paper maps. Later a Palm Pilot which did help a little with getting directions over the air but not much. Those were the bad days….
I was at the event for over an hour. Would the compass app on the watch have gotten me back easily? Yes next time I am at this event I better take lots of photos.
Yep, one hour with compass app will be no problem I’m sure. Multi hour hikes the compass app runs with no problem. Half a day and I think you’d want the ultra.
But you can, I’m sure, set a way point for your car and just close the compass app. In fact I think it would set a way point automatically if you use Apple Maps. But if not, open the compass app and set it. Then close the app. The coming back to the car you can open the app if you’re lost, and that would have minimal impact on the battery.
But you can, I’m sure, set a way point for your car and just close the compass app. In fact I think it would set a way point automatically if you use Apple Maps. But if not, open the compass app and set it. Then close the app. The coming back to the car you can open the app if you’re lost, and that would have minimal impact on the battery.
Yeah, manually dropping a pin is going to get you within a few metres — but you have to know that you need to do that it before you walk away in the first instance. AirTag has no GPS so that's not going to reliably help.
It was way off today. It was the iPad that helped the Police officer and me find my car. The AirTag for some reason was not all that reliable.
iPhone GPS with clear view of the sky will get you a pin in the map within 5 metres or so, navigating back to that pin might add another 5 m, in my experience much better than this. As I said the AirTag has no GPS so the best it can do is report the location of a passing iPhone user 15 minutes ago somewhere within Bluetooth range of that user. Your AirTag was exactly as reliable as it was meant to be.
It seems you’re mixing up a few things.
1. The compass app (and the Maps app) can show your ‘Parked Car’. It knows where you have parked your car based on movement patterns, Bluetooth and I do not know what. This is GPS based and does work everywhere you can receive GPS signals.
2. AirTags work by combining GPS information with Bluetooth from your and other people’s iPhones. The last ‘pinged’ location is than ‘tagged’ and shown to you in the ‘Find my…’ app. When you search for an AirTag, you are first directed based on GPS, followed by active ‘pinging’ via Bluetooth. If your AirTag is in an enclosed metal environment (like a car) the AirTag will have trouble actively pinging because of the Faraday cage effect.
3. Your iPad mini works similar to an AirTag, but can (probably) use a stronger Bluetooth signal (bigger battery, bigger antenna?).
Next time simply mark your car in the compass app and use backtracking to find your car again. See YouTube for actual instructions (although it’s rather easy).
Note: none of this will work in a carpark below ground, because of no GPS and short Bluetooth range.
It notes when you disconnect from your car's bluetooth (whether with CarPlay or even just a plain old bluetooth audio connection). As soon as you turn off your car, it pins its location in that spot according to the phone's GPS. Works incredibly well. I don't think you need to have been naviating using Maps either -- just does it automatically.
I'm not sure the OP had been connected to his car's bluetooth prior to getting out, but if so it's actually entirely possible that the location of the car was pinned in Apple Maps the whole time he was using Find My to try to get the location of the AirTag and iPad. Find My doesn't actually pull in that pinned parked car location from Maps. I just looked at mine and my car is not there even though it is pinned in Maps.
I suspect the OP's issue came from the AirTag not having updated itself when he got out of the car. The iPad perhaps had updated its location (off the OP's iPhone, probably) more recently, hence the more accurate location it had sent back to the Find My system.
Again, if it's a car you're looking for, check Maps first and if you were connected to that car's bluetooth, you'll probably see an accurate pin there (or, at least as accurate as your iPhone).
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Thing is, if you were connected to your car's bluetooth, the location of your car is probably already pinned in Apple Maps without your having to do anything at all. Not sure where that shows up in Apple Watch, but I bet it's there somewhere.
This isn't complicated. Pin your parking spot in Apple Maps. The end.
the AirTags reported position is based on the last location known to the the FindMy network. The transaction between OPs iPhone and AirTag when he left it behind would have been superseded by the hundreds of people walking past afterwards.
Only if it got a good connection to those passing phones. Do AirTags do well with range through a closed car? Genuinely curious about this because I've thought of tossing one into my own car but I've been unclear on how well it would do.
During a work day my car is in a moderately quiet car park but there is pedestrian and car traffic through there from time to time. I don't check very often but I can see positional updates in FindMy that are typically no more than 15–20 minutes old. The AirTag is under the floorboard, next to the spare, in the rear of an SUV. I should find a better place. (In the time it's taken me to write this the position has been reported three times, so at least three passers by with FindMy enabled, and the location reported has been 10 meters away)
Not bad! Ok, I might toss one into my car just for peace of mind. It's a 7 year old Accord with a toddler-trashed interior but you never know...