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So my child's AirTags was taken from school. It's reporting a location in a house. What would you do?

It's probably gone for good, but russell_314 has a good point to report it to the police to CYA...just so they don't turn it around and make you be the perpetrator.

Otherwise, if you want some chance of getting it back, perhaps you could mail a letter to the address where the AirTag shows up at (or leave a note)? I know you said it's a row of houses, so not sure how easy it would be to narrow down an address or two. You could say something along the lines of "Hi, a keychain with an AirTag has gone missing from my child's backpack at [school's name], and I see it's now at your house/this location. If you know anything about this, please have it returned to the Lost & Found at the school. I would much rather track my child's backpack instead of a stranger." This could be entirely anonymous as long as it's not a threatening letter.

Or depending on what type of neighborhood it is, make some sort of amusing lost/stolen ad to post around the block.

Lost/Stolen: Keychain with AirTag from [school's name]​
Last Currently Seen At: A house somewhere on this block​
If Found: Please return it to the Lost & Found at [school's name]​

Just a couple (crazy?) ideas without making a big fuss about it...
 
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These are good points.

russell_314 said:
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it but report it stolen to the police to CYA... I see people talking about reporting it in the sense to maybe recover it but I think that's a lost cause. The problem is if whoever has it decided to go to the police and say they found your AirTag in their car, in their kids backpack etc the police will trace it back to you and you'll likely be given a free Uber ride to the station with some very nice loaner jewelry. Sure you'll probably get it sorted out after spending money on a lawyer or perhaps getting some pity from the police but why put yourself in that position in the first place.
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UPDATE: So the plot thickens. Not really, but just being dramatic. The school was on break since last Thursday leading up to this Monday's holiday. So kids are back at school today. I mapped the AirTags when picking up my kids and the lost AirTag was also at school picking up their kid. Then 30 minutes or so later, it was back at the same address it's been sitting since the school break.

I tried to make it ring while at school but the amount of vehicles makes it impossible to be beside wherever it is. Find My app is telling me I'm not close enough even if I'm right where the map says it is.

It appears they don't have an iPhone as it did lose signal from the school and then resurfaced when back at their house. In which case it's riding on another person's iPhone whether in school or back in their area.

So clearly whoever child picked it up just let it be in their vehicle.

- This explains why the parent hasn't been wondering what that chirping sound might be if it were at home.
- And if there was a chirping sound in the vehicle, they probably think it's their vehicle OR might not even hear it if playing the radio.

It's really not about the value at this point. I'm just more curious now if I can actually retrieve it like a treasure hunt experience at least until the battery runs out. I plan to go earlier before dismissal time and see if the vehicle is also waiting or at least when it starts to appear to be in the area.

I want to see if I can narrow this down every time I go pick up my kids.
 
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LeonPro said:
UPDATE: So the plot thickens. Not really, but just being dramatic. The school was on break since last Thursday leading up to this Monday's holiday. So kids are back at school today. I mapped the AirTags when picking up my kids and the lost AirTag was also at school picking up their kid. Then 30 minutes or so later, it was back at the same address it's been sitting since the school break.

I tried to make it ring while at school but the amount of vehicles makes it impossible to be beside wherever it is. Find My app is telling me I'm not close enough even if I'm right where the map says it is.

It appears they don't have an iPhone as it did lose signal from the school and then resurfaced when back at their house. In which case it's riding on another person's iPhone whether in school or back in their area.

So clearly whoever child picked it up just let it be in their vehicle.

- This explains why the parent hasn't been wondering what that chirping sound might be if it were at home.
- And if there was a chirping sound in the vehicle, they probably think it's their vehicle OR might not even hear it if playing the radio.

It's really not about the value at this point. I'm just more curious now if I can actually retrieve it like a treasure hunt experience at least until the battery runs out. I plan to go earlier before dismissal time and see if the vehicle is also waiting or at least when it starts to appear to be in the area.

I want to see if I can narrow this down every time I go pick up my kids.
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IDK, at this point, it does kind of appear that you are stalking someone, even if you are not.
 
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Hi, yeah I just let it go in terms of wanting to retrieving it.

- It’s still locked to me though.
- It never moved from the location any longer. Map location is current.
- Battery status is still over 2/3.

I don’t think the family has an iphone or it would have alerted them. Its probably stored in a toy bin and forgotten. Forever chirping until it eventually dies out.

If I get a phone call one day, I’ll update. Hopeless at this point.
 
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Yeah, I wish I have a better story or update to tell. Nothing interesting at this point any longer. It's just a lost cause. But it would be great to see if I can get reunited with it just to prove its usefulness.

Here's the status as of this writing. I removed the location address for the privacy of the individual where the AirTags is purported to be.

Notice how far away it is from where I live. So close, yet so far away...

IMG_0876.jpeg
 
LeonPro said:
Forever chirping until it eventually dies out.
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I've stalked family members (more so just gave them an item to hold that had an airtag in it, they knew it was there) across states with an AirTag before, and we noticed it only likes to chirp when it detects motion. At least, that's the only time we noticed it.

It's... actually kind of cute? I think so anyways. Crying out for its parents, the AirTag is just sad and alone.

As for why the AirTag doesn't seem to update much, it's totally possible it's only pinging every so often from a neighbor's iPhone. I live in an apartment, so the residences are closer than an American/Canadian suburbia style housing tract, but when I leave the house my AirTags at home constantly update location off of neighbors' iPhones. Nobody else in my household has an iPhone.
 
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If you could track down the person who has the AirTag, you could go over to their house and knock on the door and ask, and if you know the person you could call them or email them.
 
PowerPCFan said:
If you could track down the person who has the AirTag, you could go over to their house and knock on the door and ask, and if you know the person you could call them or email them.
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Yeah, I wish it was that easy for me. I actually know a couple and thought it was them because they live on the same street. I asked them and realised they live a couple of blocks away from where it was being mapped. They don't know the people living within the AirTag block. I don't like to knock on people's doors and ask them to look through their house for an item of this value.

It is a nice treasure hunt for me. Not for them. One day, I'll probably get that phone call - accusing me of stalking them. lol
 
LeonPro said:
for an item of this value.
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Exactly.

People have to keep this in mind. This isn't an iPhone or Mac, but an AirTag with a throwaway price.

I personally wouldn't knock on doors, get the school involved, definitely not the police, for $30. Currently the price of an AirTag is $22.25 each for the 4-pack on Amazon.

It wouldn't be worth the effort and hassle.

Plus, you may look like you are accusing someone of stealing, when they could have just found the AirTag, making a tiny problem into a big one.

It sucks you lost the AirTag, but I would just consider it that, a loss. This doesn't mean you can't keep an eye on it, see if something changes, but I would just leave it at that.

BTW for the people saying to contact the police, I am unsure of what the police are like in your area, but everywhere I go, they are way too busy to deal with stolen iPhones, let alone something that costs as much as a few coffees from Starbucks.
 
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mikedop said:
A few? How cheap is your Starbucks?
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Ordered a venti iced caramel latte today, it costs $6.42 in my area.

$22.25 / $6.42 = less than four venti iced caramel lattes

My kids like Frappuccinos, and they can be well over $7.00 where I live.

The cost of an overpriced coffee aside, the point is that some of the suggestions in the thread to get the school and especially the police involved is extreme given the relative low cost of the AirTags.
 
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