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Is there a device that works just like the AirTags, but the other way around?

skaertus

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,265
1,418
Brazil
I would need a device that works just like the AirTags, but the other way around.

My mother constantly loses her smartphone. She never knows where she left the smartphone, be in the car, in the kitchen, or in the bedroom. I would like to give her some sort of wearable device that she could use to press a button and find the smartphone wherever it is.

The AirTags (or any equivalent) would not work as it requires a smartphone to find it through a dedicated app, and the purpose of the device would be precisely to find the smartphone.

I offered her a smartwatch, but she refuses to wear one. She likes wearing a traditional watch, with zero features, as she finds any smartwatch too complicated.

So I would need a very small device, similar to the AirTags, which could be simply attached to the traditional watch or to the wrist, and that could, by pressing a button (yes, pressing an analog button, without any touchscreen and especially without any navigation through different screens), find the smartphone (or another device connected to the smartphone).

Does anybody know if there is any device like this available? Thanks.
 
elvisimprsntr said:
Find My. Just need a second device or login to https://iCloud.com

www.apple.com

iCloud+ - Find My

Easily locate your Apple devices, items with an AirTag, compatible third-party products, and friends and family — all with the Find My app.
www.apple.com

Otherwise, it will be a bulky device you have to attach to the phone
Click to expand...
Yep. That is the problem. It cannot be a "second device". Not even a login on iCloud, which would require access to a second device. It should be a simple button, as analog as possible, to be carried around and to be pushed to make the smartphone, or any device attached to it, start buzzing so it can be found.
 
chipolo.net

Find Your Everything - Chipolo

Always looking for your keys, your wallet, or your phone? Stop looking and start finding! Chipolo item finders help you locate your missing things with loud rings, location tracking, and many other searching features. Available for the Chipolo app, Apple Find My app, and Google’s Find My Device app.
chipolo.net chipolo.net
 
JahBoolean said:
chipolo.net

Find Your Everything - Chipolo

Always looking for your keys, your wallet, or your phone? Stop looking and start finding! Chipolo item finders help you locate your missing things with loud rings, location tracking, and many other searching features. Available for the Chipolo app, Apple Find My app, and Google’s Find My Device app.
chipolo.net chipolo.net
Click to expand...
Well, yes, and that's the problem. The OP's mother loses her iPhone. How can she use an app to find the tracker, when the iPhone is lost?
 
DeltaMac said:
Well, yes, and that's the problem. The OP's mother loses her iPhone. How can she use an app to find the tracker, when the iPhone is lost?
Click to expand...
You can press on the trackers and trigger an alarm on the phone ...

Very similar to tile's offering.
 
hmm... My wife has found her phone slipped between the cushions on one of our couches. No way to hear a triggered alarm on her phone, even from a few feet away. An app, from another device, would "home" in on the location, but there's apparently no other device for the OP's mother.
 
If she has a land line, there's an app where you dial a 7 digit PIN into the land line phone, and it'll make her smart phone start ringing.
 
Last edited:
OCS12 said:
If she has a land line, there's an app where you dial a 7 digit PIN into the land line phone, and it'll make her smart phone start ringing.
Click to expand...
CLEC's in the US still let you dial just the local 7-digit exchange, without the area code? Interesting.

For the OP - I think the Tile suggestion is likely the only thing you'll find that will do what you're after. Even then, it's not wearable. You could suggest that she wear an Apple Watch around her ankle? Kinda appropriate as someone so stubborn about how she's to use technology should be in tech purgatory. :D

Me, I'd get her an iPhone 7 to use as a finder device. :) (Again, not wearable, unless she gets a holster or something)
 
Just tell her to call you when she can’t find her iPhone. As long as she shares her location with you, it should be traceable by you when using the Find My app. My mother calls me whenever she can’t find her iPhone, iPad, or forgets a password (I keep all of her passwords on my iPhone).
 
fischersd said:
CLEC's in the US still let you dial just the local 7-digit exchange, without the area code? Interesting.

For the OP - I think the Tile suggestion is likely the only thing you'll find that will do what you're after. Even then, it's not wearable. You could suggest that she wear an Apple Watch around her ankle? Kinda appropriate as someone so stubborn about how she's to use technology should be in tech purgatory. :D

Me, I'd get her an iPhone 7 to use as a finder device. :) (Again, not wearable, unless she gets a holster or something)
Click to expand...
What do you get to find the finder device...
 
skaertus said:
I would need a device that works just like the AirTags, but the other way around.

My mother constantly loses her smartphone. She never knows where she left the smartphone, be in the car, in the kitchen, or in the bedroom. I would like to give her some sort of wearable device that she could use to press a button and find the smartphone wherever it is.

The AirTags (or any equivalent) would not work as it requires a smartphone to find it through a dedicated app, and the purpose of the device would be precisely to find the smartphone.

I offered her a smartwatch, but she refuses to wear one. She likes wearing a traditional watch, with zero features, as she finds any smartwatch too complicated.

So I would need a very small device, similar to the AirTags, which could be simply attached to the traditional watch or to the wrist, and that could, by pressing a button (yes, pressing an analog button, without any touchscreen and especially without any navigation through different screens), find the smartphone (or another device connected to the smartphone).

Does anybody know if there is any device like this available? Thanks.
Click to expand...
It sounds like she typically loses her phone in or around the home (you mentioned the car, kitchen, bedroom).

I would recommend getting a landline, and programming and clearly labeling two buttons on a landline phone to call:
  1. Her phone
  2. You
Next I would configure her cell phone to loudly play a special ring tone, and exempt that number from DND/Focus.

If she is unable to find the phone on her own, you could log into her iCloud account, use the ”find my” feature, and continually ping her phone as she walks around to find it. This even works if she has her phone set to silent.

If you get her a wireless landline phone, you could even talk to her while she walks around trying to find the pinging sound. Of course, this introduces the risk her losing the landline wireless handset. ?

/Jim
 
Just get her a HomePod. You can say to HomePod "find my iPhone" and her iPhone will start ringing, even if on silent. She can also ping it using an Apple Watch. Alternatively, you can login to iCloud.com to ping it and locate it through the Find My app.
 
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