Tracking in the wild

[kart]

I have tested one of my airtags with giving it to a friend (who also has an iPhone) whilst I am 15km or so away.
However it only seems to update location every 15-20mins when you log into find my app.
Is there anyway to get live locations? I have exited app, tried refreshing etc.
Anyone else had similar issues?

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

I have tested one of my airtags with giving it to a friend (who also has an iPhone) whilst I am 15km or so away.
However it only seems to update location every 15-20mins when you log into find my app.
Is there anyway to get live locations? I have exited app, tried refreshing etc.
Anyone else had similar issues?

I don’t think that’s an issue. It’s not designed to stalk people. An update every 15-20 mins seems good enough to me if someone has my keys or wallet. They will eventually get home and then boom, I can call the cops!

 

[Sigvard]

I don’t think that’s an issue. It’s not designed to stalk people. An update every 15-20 mins seems good enough to me if someone has my keys or wallet. They will eventually get home and then boom, I can call the cops!

Exactly this. It’s not meant as a live tracker but rather as a beacon that has periodic pings.

 

[kart]

I don’t think that’s an issue. It’s not designed to stalk people. An update every 15-20 mins seems good enough to me if someone has my keys or wallet. They will eventually get home and then boom, I can call the cops!

I guess I just thought it would work similarly to find my with iPhone/Mac/iPad how it is live and you can refresh and get an exact location then and there.

 

[haruhiko]

15-20 mins is good enough already. I put one in my car parked in the underground parking lot of my apartment. It updates like every 12 hours or so since there is nearly nobody walking by nor is there any cell reception.

 

[The Mad Kiwi]

I guess I just thought it would work similarly to find my with iPhone/Mac/iPad how it is live and you can refresh and get an exact location then and there.

If it did that, the tiny battery would be drained in minutes.

 

[haruhiko]

I guess I just thought it would work similarly to find my with iPhone/Mac/iPad how it is live and you can refresh and get an exact location then and there.

It’s just a Bluetooth and UWB tag.
All the tracking stuff is done by the iPhone.
But for a Bluetooth and UWB tag, its range is also really short.

 

[Marli]

It’s just a beacon. 15 minutes seems to be the cadence.. Find my iPhone when on GPS is a different thing.. but if an iPhone has no signal, it will revert to the same system as the airtag, and will update using other peoples devices, like the Airtag.