“Last Seen” … How?

[Scott-n-Houston]

I was on the road and a set of keys with an AirTag were in the house. Nobody was home, and our house is rather large with the keys being closer to the rear of the house away from the street/sidewalk, etc. out front.

The next day in FindMy, I see that the AirTag at home was “Last Seen at 3:41 am”. 😳😳

There is no iPhone in the house and if there was, it would have been ‘seen’ more recently than 3:41 am right?
No burglars and my cameras show nothing…

How does that happen?

Are iPhones the only things that can “find” these? Can it be the wifi? Or maybe a MacBook in the house (although it’s not on a very recent version of MacOS so doubt it).

 

[fischersd]

AirTags only have Ultrawideband and Bluetooth radios. My guess is, your neighbour behind your house has an iPhone that picked up the tag. Under ideal conditions, sometimes the range of bluetooth is pretty impressive - but I wouldn't count on always having such good availability in the 2.4GHz spectrum.

 

[waw74]

iPads and Macs will also see the pings.

but I think they need software from the past couple months.

homepods have the hardware to do it, but never seen it mentioned that they do.

 

[fischersd]

iPads and Macs will also see the pings.

but I think they need software from the past couple months.

Actually, the code for AirTags in Find My has likely been out there for quite some time, so, they don't need to have very recent code updates.

Hmm. I wonder why they aren't including the Apple TV's in this - time they add a Find My app to TV OS as well.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

Thanks for the replies. My back yard is even bigger and neighbors behind are definitely too far away.
I have an older MacBook and an ATV in the house, but the ATV is very close, so if it picked it up, it would do it much more frequently.
I don’t own a HomePod and there are no iPads in the house while away.

 

[matrix07]

Someone with iPhone had passed by your house. Maybe a cop 😳

 

[waw74]

Someone with iPhone had passed by your house. Maybe a cop 😳

but the airtag was at the back of the house, I'm sure their range isn't too amazing, much less through several walls, including one exterior.

OP, do you have cameras?
not sure how what your surroundings are like, is it possible someone cut through your back yard?

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

but the airtag was at the back of the house, I'm sure their range isn't too amazing, much less through several walls, including one exterior.

OP, do you have cameras?
not sure how what your surroundings are like, is it possible someone cut through your back yard?

I do have cameras and nothing is shown on them.
It’s very strange.
I guess it’s “possible” that somehow it got to a neighbor’s phone but that would be remarkable range… thinking maybe late at night less interference or something??
who knows.

 

[jhollington]

Apple doesn't specify what version of Bluetooth the AirTag is using, but if it's Bluetooth 5.0, which seems likely, it could achieve distances of several hundred feet under ideal conditions.

Plus, at 3:41 a.m. the normal amount of RF interference is probably at its lowest, which would allow the 2.4GHz signal to carry much further than it normally would. The AirTag on my bike at the back of my garage regularly gets picked up by people walking by.

I did some specific testing when AirTags first came out, and what I do know is that a device needs to be running iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, or macOS 11.3 to pick up and report the location of an AirTag. This also excludes the Apple TV, Apple Watch, and HomePod, as these don't run iOS, iPadOS, or macOS.

Further, older MacBooks seem to be less reliable at reporting the location of an AirTag, even if they're running macOS 11.3. I suspect this is caused by older Bluetooth hardware.

While the iOS 14.5 requirement seems a bit odd, considering that Apple introduce the Find My network in iOS 14.3 and code for AirTags has been in there for years, I suspect the iOS 14.5 requirement is to ensure that the anti-stalking features are fully operational. If older iOS versions could report the location of an AirTag without having the ability to notify you that an unknown one has been detected following you around, that would be a pretty big security hole.