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Hands-On With Apple's New AirTags
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People forget it’s still Bluetooth device and range is about 50ft for airtags. Stuffing it in a luggage with metal interference like conveyer belts. It won’t even be detected unless someone is 10-20ft away. Even inside the house with just walls you cut down Bluetooth radio by a lot. Inside the house your lucky to get 30ft range.
You’re right. Also, bananas aren’t meant to track stolen items either. I suggest you don’t buy either for that purpose.
I was hoping for 30', but really, 18' is the best I can do. So if I'm at one end of my living room, the air tag can't even find my keys at the other end of the room. But at least my keychain looks classy now.
Yep I keep reading how people forget their stuff at restaurants and lost luggage and whatever. This won’t help them track that stuff. Good luck. If it can find my keys in the house I consider it worthwhile.
You don’t think there will be plenty of people with iphones in restaurants and airports? You do know about the mesh network right?
If you leave an item in a restaurant and go home, you will likely be looking all over the house for it trying to remember where you put it. At least the tag will tell you that you did truly leave it in the restaurant and did not take it home and then lose it once you got home.
To retrieve the item, you will need to go back to the restaurant. Once there, you will need to start hunting around for it using your Iphone. Once you get within 20-30 feet of it you will see a connection notice in the Find My app and then you know you are getting close. And of course, before you do all that you would check with the front desk staff to see if they have a lost and found. But at least you know for sure you left the item at the restaurant and don’t waste hours looking all over your house trying to find it.
There was one person who purposely hid a tagged item inside a Target store. The person retrieving it was not able to locate it without assistance because the store was so big and they never got within 30 feet of it. So there are some technical limitations to the technology. But for around $25 a piece it’s still a pretty useful thing to have.
To retrieve the item, you will need to go back to the restaurant. Once there, you will need to start hunting around for it using your Iphone. Once you get within 20-30 feet of it you will see a connection notice in the Find My app and then you know you are getting close. And of course, before you do all that you would check with the front desk staff to see if they have a lost and found. But at least you know for sure you left the item at the restaurant and don’t waste hours looking all over your house trying to find it.
There was one person who purposely hid a tagged item inside a Target store. The person retrieving it was not able to locate it without assistance because the store was so big and they never got within 30 feet of it. So there are some technical limitations to the technology. But for around $25 a piece it’s still a pretty useful thing to have.
I think it would only beep if you report the airtag as lost. But not 100% sure on this.
Correct. Since the Air Tag is not moving, the anti-stalking feature is not activated an no alarm would go off. Of course if the valet starts taking your car out for a test drive, that’s a different story.
These probably would have been pretty useful when I was drinking. Should be interesting to see how people use these in ways that they are not intended to be used. Can Android phones detect 'unwanted airtags' via NFC?
So since 2020 was not a good year, how long would my battery last in 2020? Longer in 2021 I suppose, and even longer in 2022!
sorry I had to. 🤪
looking to get one and try it out next week if my local Apple Store still has them for pickup after the weekend.
The main disappointment I have is that you can't set it up so that you are alerted if you leave one behind. With geotagging so you aren't alerted if you leave them behind at say home but woudl be elsewhere.
I believe Tile can do this and I had a similar product maybe 6 or 7 years ago that would. Whilst I hope a future release will do this, they've had 2 years so I think it's unlikely.
I believe Tile can do this and I had a similar product maybe 6 or 7 years ago that would. Whilst I hope a future release will do this, they've had 2 years so I think it's unlikely.
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Yes, at present to get all features you'd need both. Am I right, Tile can alert if you leave one behind?
For me the two biggies are being able to find keys or wallet I've misplaced in my house, and being able to use the Apple network to locate if I did lose. That is potentially huge.
Also nice is the ability to display your name/number if lost.
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Or,even simpler, do that omitting the "remove the battery" step. Why is this a surprise to you?So basically, if you find one of these on a lost item it is very simple to disable the air tag by popping out the battery and throwing it away.
Maybe I'll purchase some AirTags too, but I need to know how they behave when you tag it on things that you do not move with you all the time. A child's toy for example. When that toy is (intentional) left at the grandparents will it start to beep after a couple of days if the item has moved around their house?
Or if you Airtag a personal item that you keep at the office; will it beep or start to appear on the phone of people at the office when you're away?
Or if your Airtag is at your apartment and you're on holiday for a few weeks; will it start to beep and appear on the neighbour's phone? And if so, will it show its name too? The latter would be great for thieves to find out what's in your home.
When you have kids, lots of stuff tend to get lost around or even outside the house. One of mine had thrown the AppleTV remote in the trash in another room, just because it did not make exciting sounds while pushing the buttons. Took me days to find out, after thrash already left the house.
Or if you Airtag a personal item that you keep at the office; will it beep or start to appear on the phone of people at the office when you're away?
Or if your Airtag is at your apartment and you're on holiday for a few weeks; will it start to beep and appear on the neighbour's phone? And if so, will it show its name too? The latter would be great for thieves to find out what's in your home.
When you have kids, lots of stuff tend to get lost around or even outside the house. One of mine had thrown the AppleTV remote in the trash in another room, just because it did not make exciting sounds while pushing the buttons. Took me days to find out, after thrash already left the house.
Only if the valet worker is driving your car around the city while you are gone. The air tag has to follow the person for considerable time. I am guessing the valet worker will be in your car for a matter of minutes and then leave it -- at which point the air tag is no longer following them. However, if the valet decides he likes your car and decides to make it his own while you are away for a week then it might just start letting him know that he is being tracked.
10 meters (about 30 feet) is possible, but when you live in a very dense populated neighbourhood you will likely have a lot of other radio transmitters around (several Wifi access points, cordless phones and other stuff that uses the 2,4GHz band) that will disturb bluetooth reception. Especially in bigger apartment buildings.
I got 4 4-packs. So 16 pcs. Works pretty good. Have put them inside my cars, luggage, bags and on my dogs. Used to use Tile, but hated that I had to buy new units or pay a subscription. Enough now with all these frickin subscriptions. Buy once, pay once.
Yep that's me. I expect these to save me a lot of time and sometimes worry (because I can't find, say my wallet and think I must have lost it rather than misplaced) and this will at least help there.
I do think lack of ability to alert you when you leave one behind is a missed opportunity though and something I think gives tile an edge but not for theft since not enough users. This might still work in teh first hour or two of theft.
but if you want to track a car or bike (or cat or dog) neither this nor tile is up to the job you need a GPS tracker