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"Left Behind" Distance
- Thread starter Crowbot
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It's hit and miss. Anyone's guess as to what threshold Apple is using for a weak / lost bluetooth signal prior to issuing the alert. It's inconsistent. (but will hopefully improve in time).
I usually get about halfway to chipotle before it tells me I left my messenger bag in my office, so I’d say the distance is about a half burrito.
Inside the app select the object. When you tap on "Notify When Left Behind" and then under "Notify Me, Except At," you can add a new location and then set the size for the geofence. Then delete the previous zone.
Well I left my iPhone and bag with an Airtag in it on one end of a soccer field. By the time I moseyed on down to the other end of the pitch (a little under 350 ft) I got a warning on my watch that I had left my phone and bag behind.
That doesn't make sense. You're saying to set a shorter distance before being notified, you have to modify every location you are at?
I think what the original question meant, was to customize the normal (not the Except At) separation distance before being notified. I agree with him as I have found that while walking (say from my car to a restaurant) the amount of time before I get a notification is a few minutes, but if I were driving, I could be miles away, on the highway by then. Not convenient.
Secondly, there should be an option for an alarm to go off or something more than just a notification that, to be honest, I get so many that they don't get my immediate attention. I used an app called Phone Buddy that would have some loud, annoying alarm sounds that DO get your attention. That's the whole point of this, right? To be alerted you are leaving something behind before you leave the area? It's only half-useful right now.
Are we sure it is a distance and not a time? I get that the geofence is location based for the airtag. But the "left behind" distance implementation for leaving behind the iphone seems to be time based (4 minutes?), not distance. I haven't studied the airtag alerts, as to when they happen and where, but it seems like if you walk slowing away from the airtag vs run away fast, the alert may come based on time and not the distance traveled.
I have a weird condition… I set a “Left Behind” exception for the air tag I have attached to my car keys - except when at home. The problem is that if I am at home (with my iPhone) and my daughter drives my car (taking the keys and air tag with her) I never get a notification while I am at home.
I don’t think that is how it’s supposed to work… that if any of my devices/items walk away from my house while I am at home, that I won’t want to know?
I expected that to mean that if I leave one of my devices/items at home then Find My shouldn’t bother alerting me.
I don’t think that is how it’s supposed to work… that if any of my devices/items walk away from my house while I am at home, that I won’t want to know?
I expected that to mean that if I leave one of my devices/items at home then Find My shouldn’t bother alerting me.
What bothers me is that Apple has not released a document explaining all of this stuff in detail. I always do better when I know the rules.
My Phone keeps telling me that I left my iPad behind, but it is right here with me, It is getting so annoying. I don't want to turn off the alert, in case I actually DO leave it behind. I know this isn't an AirTag, but not sure where else to mention.
![IMG_BC90D5131E41-1.jpeg]( "IMG_BC90D5131E41-1.jpeg")
I would pop the battery out of the tag and then re-pair just to see if that helps.
Popping the battery out of the AirTag doesn't remove the pairing. All of the logic for when notifications are sent are in the app and what Apple stores in their server-side database in the cloud.
Un-pairing and re-pairing it may help with the notifications, but it could be a corner-case that @mikecwest is hitting.
Everyone that's running into issues should be using the feedback app (if they're running beta iOS) or Apple's feedback site (https://www.apple.com/feedback/airtag/) to report these issues to Apple - it's the only way that they'll get fixed.
You're right that unpairing first might help. I was thinking that the tag signal may be dropping in and out.
I bought the Four Pack when these came out in March. These "Left behind" notices are a joke. I park in the same spot every day at work, and I work in the same spot. Sometimes it takes 3 minutes before a notice appears on my screen, other times it takes 9 minutes. I actually started noting the time that I exit my car and note the time I get the notification, and it's not consistent.Everything else is, so why aren't the notifications? Seriously, 9 minutes later, if this was in the city, it would probably be too late.
I've also timed it when I park my car and go into Starbucks. Same parking spot (in rear of building) and it varies between 2 and 8 minutes. What if I had driven off? I'd be back at my work place then. Why isn't it instantaneous? Also the range for where my iPhone can ping and locate these is very short. These devices seem more like a gimmick than a tool.
I've also timed it when I park my car and go into Starbucks. Same parking spot (in rear of building) and it varies between 2 and 8 minutes. What if I had driven off? I'd be back at my work place then. Why isn't it instantaneous? Also the range for where my iPhone can ping and locate these is very short. These devices seem more like a gimmick than a tool.
That's strange. I purchased an Air Tag last week and fitted it to my folding bike. I have " notify when left behind " enabled but don't receive any notifications. For example, I went into town yesterday, a distance of about three miles. My bike was left at home and have never received any notifications.
Yes, I think that's the default "except at..." setting, though you can disable it (for instance, I disabled it for my wallet, which I do want to be notified of if I leave it at home).
I get the same for my iPad Mini, AirPods Pro, and on occasion my iPhone. The times that it seems to have worked is when leaving my AirPods Pro in the car while I walk in a store. It doesn't seem to be triggered by distance, but time.
Last week I was in a car with my Sister and I received a notification that someone's AirPods Pro was moving with me. I couldn't clear the notification for several hours.
It's configurable (but, you likely don't want it prodding you when you leave your home but aren't taking the bike that day?)
Click on the "Notify When Left Behind" option in the settings for that AirTag - Home is a common location to not receive notifications on. You can select similar behaviour for other locations that make sense (eg - Work).
Yes, I've noticed much variation too. Sometimes I'll, for instance, park at a store (with my bag left in the car) and will get a notification literally as I'm still walking through the parking lot, while other times the notification doesn't come until 5+ minutes later. Some consistency (and maybe even some configurability – like a "sensitivity" setting, though that's not Apple's way) would be welcome.