Why do my AirTags (and other Find My devices) give so many false warnings?

[blw777]

Some (not all) of my AirTags sometimes to frequently yield lots of false warnings. The worst offender is the one on my keyring. Pretty much every time I leave the house and go further than maybe 3-4 miles (= 5-6 min), my watch turns up a complaint that my keys have not been seen. Considering that I'm driving and I *know* *for sure* that my keys are less than 1m from the watch and phone, it's pretty obvious that it's a false alert.

If I am going somewhere with my MBP, there's a decent chance (35%?) that I get a warning on it too. I am a creature of habit, and if in fact that laptop is traveling with me, 99.99% chance it's in my shoulder bag, which also has an AirTag. Yet the chances of that AirTag throwing a warning are probably 5%, not 35%, despite the fact that that very likely the MBP is less than 1cm from that AirTag.

Everything (iPhone, watch, MBP) is running current releases, and this has been going on for months. AirTag batteries are of course up to date.

 

[TokyoKiller]

Some (not all) of my AirTags sometimes to frequently yield lots of false warnings. The worst offender is the one on my keyring. Pretty much every time I leave the house and go further than maybe 3-4 miles (= 5-6 min), my watch turns up a complaint that my keys have not been seen. Considering that I'm driving and I *know* *for sure* that my keys are less than 1m from the watch and phone, it's pretty obvious that it's a false alert.

If I am going somewhere with my MBP, there's a decent chance (35%?) that I get a warning on it too. I am a creature of habit, and if in fact that laptop is traveling with me, 99.99% chance it's in my shoulder bag, which also has an AirTag. Yet the chances of that AirTag throwing a warning are probably 5%, not 35%, despite the fact that that very likely the MBP is less than 1cm from that AirTag.

Everything (iPhone, watch, MBP) is running current releases, and this has been going on for months. AirTag batteries are of course up to date.

Curious, what are your devices in more specifics? ie. iPhone 15 Pro, Apple Watch Series 7/8/9, etc.

 

[blw777]

iPhone 12 Pro, Apple Watch 6, MBP M1 Max 14" are the main ones. Why would their specifics be relevant? Surely even if they have the old wideband chip (U1?) at a distance significantly less than 1m they should still be able to work properly?

 

[EVPAT]

If you have a Mac at home that you use for FindMy, it could be that which is alerting you. The alert is going to your iPhone which in turn alerts your watch.

 

[waw74]

the location notifications don't use UWB, they use GPS of the phone, and last location of the device from apple's servers. I have AirTags at work, and am usually a couple floors away from them and as long as I'm in the building or surrounding sidewalks it's fine. If I leave, I get notifications when I'm a block or so away. Plus the UWB being powered up that much would use too much battery on the airtag.

the AirTags send out a ping, that ping is picked up by your phone, and the phone reports the ping and the phone's location to apple's servers.

Macs now send out the same ping, that requires an iphone to hear it and report back to apple, since if the Mac is in your bag in the car, it more than likely does not have a network connection.

try rebooting your phone, there has been some weirdness in the current versions of iOS, and I've had to do a manual reboot after the reboot that happens automatically with the iOS upgrade.

devices don't really know if another is close, they know where they are, and they get the other devices locations from apple, not directly from the other device.

 

[blw777]

If you have a Mac at home that you use for FindMy, it could be that which is alerting you. The alert is going to your iPhone which in turn alerts your watch.

I do have a Studio at home, but if this is the problem, why don't the other things traveling with me also alert? My AirPod Pros NEVER give false indications, they are often in the same pocket as the keys. Am I missing something here?

the location notifications don't use UWB, they use GPS of the phone, and last location of the device from apple's servers. I have AirTags at work, and am usually a couple floors away from them and as long as I'm in the building or surrounding sidewalks it's fine. If I leave, I get notifications when I'm a block or so away. Plus the UWB being powered up that much would use too much battery on the airtag.

the AirTags send out a ping, that ping is picked up by your phone, and the phone reports the ping and the phone's location to apple's servers.

Macs now send out the same ping, that requires an iphone to hear it and report back to apple, since if the Mac is in your bag in the car, it more than likely does not have a network connection.

try rebooting your phone, there has been some weirdness in the current versions of iOS, and I've had to do a manual reboot after the reboot that happens automatically with the iOS upgrade.

devices don't really know if another is close, they know where they are, and they get the other devices locations from apple, not directly from the other device.

This seems to make sense. The MBP in this situation is sleeping, so wouldn't have a network connection. I think the implication here is that if I left the MBP at home and just left with the keys, watch and phone, things would work as I expect? Heh... or I could put the MBP in a Faraday cage? (Laughs)

This has been going on months, the phone must have rebooted at least five or six times in that period.

 

[BigBlur]

Few things to note...

• AirTags are not paired to your phone via Bluetooth or the U1 chip. They're only paired to your Apple Account. The only time the U1 chip is used is when using the precision finding feature (where the iPhone points to the AirTag).
• All AirTags do is send out a Bluetooth beacon/signal every few seconds. Apple devices nearby (even those you don't own) pick up the signal and report their location to Apple. Only devices opted into the Find My network will do this.
• AirTags don't have GPS, so this location will be the location of the phone/device that reports the information back to Apple.
• These types of alerts are based on where Apple knows the AirTags to be based on location reports...not by some wireless pairing to your device.

With that in mind, is the AirTag on your keyring in some sort of case that could be blocking the signal? Or perhaps other keys hanging in front of the AirTag are messing with it. Is the Find My network enabled on your iPhone? (Yes, it's possible to use AirTags with this setting disabled. You'd be reliant on other people's devices picking up the signal and reporting their location.) Next time when this happens, quickly look at the map to see where the devices are shown. Are they with you, or at an old location that hasn't updated yet?

As for your AirPods, do they have trusted locations set up, so that you don't receive alerts when leaving home, work, or some other trusted location? Also, unlike AirTags, AirPods do connect to your phone via Bluetooth, so it could be doing the separation alerts that way (when they disconnect from your phone).

 

[macphoto861]

I encounter this problem fairly regularly. I'll sometimes leave my house (or another location), and will be told that my wallet was left behind. My assumption is that there is a delay that sometimes occurs with the updating of the AirTag's location, which is triggering the alert.