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Does anyone else find these of limited use? I would love to use it on my bike, scooter, laptop, or other valuable object that is likely to get stolen. However, the size and shape of the airtag makes it infeasible to attach to these objects securely. Should I tape it or glue it to my laptop?

In addition, any educated thief will quickly spot the airtag and toss it aside, rendering it useless.

It seems mostly useful for people who misplace items frequently. Not so useful as a theft deterrent.

I would love to hide it inside my Vespa scooter. I just need to know if it starts beeping after three days of me not being close to it. And I will stick one under the saddle or maybe under the down tube of my bike.
 
How would that work though? Does the airtag know which country it’s in?
I just don't think this is accurate. Apple won't enable UWB in devices that are sold in those countries, just like they wouldn't sell a device with a cell signal transmitting at a frequency that's not assigned to the same use there. But I don't think this is possible, that the UWB would just stop working in a country where it's not a standard.

The only way I can see this could work is, as you say, if the tracking device (iPhone) used GPS to determine if one is in the country and disabled the app, the same way that you can't sign in to SkyTV from the US, unless you use a VPN.
 
So here is Apple's actual statement about UWB pertaining to precision location.
>Ultra Wideband is available on iPhone 11 models and iPhone 12 models. Ultra Wideband isn't available in all countries or regions and is subject to international regulatory requirements that require it to be turned off in certain locations.

This doesn't specifically say that the DEVICE will turn off UWB, but that it's required to not use it in certain locations. Seems more like it's up to the user to disable it, though it's possible Apple restricts use based on your IP address location or your tower pings.
 
Feet! I just love screenshots showing these cranky old units of measurement. Metric is just so much easier.

In the UK we're mostly metric, thank God, including short distances like millimetres and metres, and weights like kilograms.

We still drive in miles per hour, though, and road signs indicate distances in miles. Thankfully, Apple devices let me show distance units in metric form. So, CarPlay tells me how many metres it is to the next exit, and how many kilometres to go until my journey is over. Now, just to convince a few hundred Americans that metric is the way to go!

You can't talk too much when you're still driving in the wrong side of the road ;)
 
Apple's devices sold in those countries don't have A1 chips enabled, but does Apple have the OS turn OFF a chip depending on GPS location data? Seems really unlikely.
Nope, that is exactly what is happening. When the first iPhone with UWB came out, some people noticed that the phone was accessing location services even if location services where switched off (under the Privacy settings). This was because the iPhone is required to check its location to ensure that UWB is only enabled where it is allowed to. When you drill down deep enough, you can disable UWB by disabling location access to a subsystem.
 
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My question, can AirTags be used to find items faster, such as when having to go through baggage claims at the airport? Will they notify others that my suitcase is being transported?
 
How is it that UWB communication between an UWB device (your iPhone) and another device (your AirTag) via precision finder won't work in countries where the A1 standard isn't supported?
What's the "A1 standard"?
If the frequencies are used for other communications, then sure the device finding won't work because of other signals on the frequencies.
More importantly, it could interfere with other services that operate on the same frequencies. That's why wireless spectrum is regulated and Apple can't use it in countries that haven't approved UWB.
 
My question, can AirTags be used to find items faster, such as when having to go through baggage claims at the airport? Will they notify others that my suitcase is being transported?
I think the answer is yes especially if the bag is close enough for your phone to pick up a very accurate location.

However, if the bag is not close to you, maybe still being unloaded and you try to find it, does the tag start beeping? If baggage handlers have iPhones, do they suddenly get inundated with notifications of nearby AirTags? Could I set up an AirTag to not do those things? Seems like the prevention of unwanted tracking means AirTags can have some behavior that is not good for the checked bag scenario, or in general, items that you know are going to leave your possession for some time. I need to read some real world experiences.
 
Seems like Apple doesn't like countries with an A in one of the last two positions.

  • Argentina
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Indonesia
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Paraguay
  • Russia
  • Solomon Islands
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Ukraine
  • Uzbekistan
 
If I put a $29 iTag on my checked luggage, if my luggage got stolen or lost, the most expensive thing I will have lost is my $29 iTag. :)
 
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I think the answer is yes especially if the bag is close enough for your phone to pick up a very accurate location.

However, if the bag is not close to you, maybe still being unloaded and you try to find it, does the tag start beeping? If baggage handlers have iPhones, do they suddenly get inundated with notifications of nearby AirTags? Could I set up an AirTag to not do those things? Seems like the prevention of unwanted tracking means AirTags can have some behavior that is not good for the checked bag scenario, or in general, items that you know are going to leave your possession for some time. I need to read some real world experiences.
Why would they start beeping? There’s very rarely a flight that takes a full three day. And I am pretty sure a baggage handler carrying a bag for a couple of minutes won’t trigger the anti-stalking feature; that probably won’t start for at least an hour. Apple isn’t stupid enough to not having considered such scenarios.
 
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I just ordered a 4-pack with engraving, and I have to wonder... when I try to find one, will the engraving I ordered appear on the AirTag image in the Find My app...?

I think it would help confirm for me it was my specific tag... although I guess there are other ways to identify them in the app now. 🤷‍♂️
Maybe you can use emoticons when assigning the name, hopefully.
I was actually quite surprised how the emoticon keyboard is mainstream everywhere now... I got surprised, on Final Cut Pro for example, instead of trying to put an image of an emoticon, you can just put a text layer and “write” an emoticon instead.
When pushing to git repositories I now adorn the comments with an emoji symbol at the very beginning to signal a bit the intention and it works on any platform and browser.

More importantly, if I only travel with one bag and the other three big suitcases are at home will the home AirTags start beeping until I am back home?
Only when the AirTags move is when they beep I believe.
 
I would love to hide it inside my Vespa scooter. I just need to know if it starts beeping after three days of me not being close to it. And I will stick one under the saddle or maybe under the down tube of my bike.
What news article made you think it would start beeping after three days?
 
This is interesting… But it only applies to iPhones sold in Kazakhstan. I live in Kazakhstan but my iPhone comes from the US. Many many people who live here have iPhones that come from abroad. So it won’t be as effective out in public… but it would work just fine to find my remote control or my keys somewhere in my house.
 
This is interesting… But it only applies to iPhones sold in Kazakhstan. I live in Kazakhstan but my iPhone comes from the US. Many many people who live here have iPhones that come from abroad.
Maybe, but the restrictions go a bit wider than just this list of countries. There are also some prohibitions around astronomy sites in Australia (radio telescopes). It is thus possible that akin to no-fly zones for drones, even outside these countries the system needs to check whether the phone might be in an exclusion zone and thus all iPhones sold globally have the same software checking whether they can use UWB in their current location. And thus regardless of where a phone was bought, it might not use UWB in the listed countries.
 
Am I the only one who hasn't lost anything in over 30 years?
Nope. Not by a long shot.

I just don’t see any use case for this product that would apply to me. I’ve always had certain routines in place so the things I need to find (keys, phone, wallet, checkbook, remote controls, etc.) are always where I expect them to be. Not saying I sometimes can’t find an item I rarely use quickly, but I’m not about to attach a $30 tag to an infrequently used item anyway.

The “travel” use cases some are touting here also seem of limited value. Knowing where your misrouted luggage is (assuming all the technical requirements to be able to ascertain that accurately are met) is of little value. It won’t reunite you with you items any quicker. if someone intended to steal your items, having the tag hidden in your bag will only help you retrieve the empty bag, and possibly the tag itself.
 
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