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Rigby

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 5, 2008
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San Jose, CA
Can we have a thread to ponder why this function doesn't exist in the Find My app? Tile has such a function, and I'd much rather be warned right away when I'm about to walk away from my item than trying to track it down later.
 
Can we have a thread to ponder why this function doesn't exist in the Find My app? Tile has such a function, and I'd much rather be warned right away when I'm about to walk away from my item than trying to track it down later.

It could be irritating if you are simply leaving your desk to say, visit the washroom. Say you go to the toilet 5 times in day during work. Do you want to receive that many notifications for being out of range of the airtag in your bag? Multiply this by the number of belongings you have tagged.
 
Should be able to be setup with a distance geofence. Then the bathroom warning thing isn’t an issue.
something like an item shouldn’t be listed as missing if located at X.

could integrate with calendar too so when you’re on a trip and the hotel location is in your calendar, you don’t get a notification that your luggage is lost.
 
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It could be irritating if you are simply leaving your desk to say, visit the washroom. Say you go to the toilet 5 times in day during work. Do you want to receive that many notifications for being out of range of the airtag in your bag? Multiply this by the number of belongings you have tagged.
It should obviously have an option to turn it off. ;) The Tile app even has some fancy geofencing options (i.e. it will only alert you if you are not in a certain location like the work place or home).
 
Can we have a thread to ponder why this function doesn't exist in the Find My app? Tile has such a function, and I'd much rather be warned right away when I'm about to walk away from my item than trying to track it down later.
The AirTag currently has a 15-30min detection time. So this would require the AirTag to constantly be maintaining its connection to your device and destroy battery life.


IF someone really needs this feature then it should start between Watch/iPhone/iPad/Mac because at least those have larger batteries and can handle a constant connection. (Personally, I wouldnt use it.)
 
The AirTag currently has a 15-30min detection time. So this would require the AirTag to constantly be maintaining its connection to your device and destroy battery life.
15-30 minutes? How did you measure that? Seems unlikely. BLE consumes very little energy. It would probably be enough if it sent a "ping" every 30 seconds or so.

The Tile does it, and has similar battery life as the Airtags.
 
It should obviously have an option to turn it off. ;) The Tile app even has some fancy geofencing options (i.e. it will only alert you if you are not in a certain location like the work place or home).
Maybe this is something Apple could implement in a future software update, but my experience with functionality that can be turned off and on is that it's never quite off or on when I need it to be. Either I turn it off at the start because it's annoying, only to have the feature not alert me when I need it the most (you won't know when you are might accidentally leave your bag behind one day, and so can't have the foresight to toggle it on right before). Or you leave it on, never end up losing your stuff, while having to deal with being harassed by a never-ending barrage of notifications.

It's probably easier to just disable it for everyone by default.
 
Meh. Tried a few of these over the years - they were all buggy.

We really shouldn't have to buy an app for the "leash" feature - should have been baked in before S1 came out.
PB has been consistent for me. The app has been much improved over the last 2 years.

I agree with you but, Apple isn't gong to do it. They don't even give us full powered stock apps. We have to reply on third party for most everything.
 
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Maybe this is something Apple could implement in a future software update, but my experience with functionality that can be turned off and on is that it's never quite off or on when I need it to be. Either I turn it off at the start because it's annoying, only to have the feature not alert me when I need it the most (you won't know when you are might accidentally leave your bag behind one day, and so can't have the foresight to toggle it on right before). Or you leave it on, never end up losing your stuff, while having to deal with being harassed by a never-ending barrage of notifications.

It's probably easier to just disable it for everyone by default.
Nobody said it should be on by default. Just something that should be available.
 
PB has been consistent for me. The app has been much improved over the last 2 years.

I agree with you but, Apple isn't gong to do it. They don't even give us full powered stock apps. We have to reply on third party for most everything.
Does it actually integrate, that you don't have to launch the app to have the functionality? (I'm guessing not)

That's part of the problem - you shouldn't have to launch an app to get the reminder to not forget your phone. :) May as well just stick the phone in your pocket instead of launching the app. :)
 
Nobody said it should be on by default. Just something that should be available.
I think that simplicity is far harder than complexity. It's easy to add in a million buttons, toggles, switches, and features. What's hard is doing that in a dead-simple manner that is logical, coherent, and easy to use. And personally, I like it when a company goes the extra mile to try and second guess what I as a customer might want and then implement it into the design of their product, rather than leaving it to me to customise it however I wish.

Until Apple finds a way to address the issues I raised, they may never implement it. Or they may never implement it at all because they don't think it's an issue, or an intended use of said product. Apple is the kind of company that would ditch something so users have less choice, but possibly (in their opinion) a better experience. That is what makes Apple so polarising and so annoying at times. They aim for product experience often times at the sacrifice of user choice. And if their idea of what you want in a product matches yours, then it is full of secret magic and delight. And if not, it can be frustration, like jogging through quicksand.

It is what it is.
 
Have you ever considered maybe remembering? You do still have a brain. Just because there is a new technology doesn’t mean you need to replace normal behaviors and habits. If everyone wasn’t so busy multitasking and staring at their phones to tell them what to do then maybe you wouldn’t lose things as much. Wake up.
 
I think that simplicity is far harder than complexity. It's easy to add in a million buttons, toggles, switches, and features. What's hard is doing that in a dead-simple manner that is logical, coherent, and easy to use. And personally, I like it when a company goes the extra mile to try and second guess what I as a customer might want and then implement it into the design of their product, rather than leaving it to me to customise it however I wish.
Sorry, but if a small startup can do it, Apple can too.
 
Does it actually integrate, that you don't have to launch the app to have the functionality? (I'm guessing not)

That's part of the problem - you shouldn't have to launch an app to get the reminder to not forget your phone. :) May as well just stick the phone in your pocket instead of launching the app. :)
I have the app on my watch face and all is good.
 
The geofencing would be smart or maybe if you could turn it on or off for specific AirTags, I have one on my backpack and one on my keys, if I'm running to the store real quick I might not take my backpack, it would be annoying to get an alert for that every time, or sometimes I take a different car. Maybe it would be nice if it could tell if you had at least a set of keys on you. seems difficult.
 
The geofencing would be smart or maybe if you could turn it on or off for specific AirTags, I have one on my backpack and one on my keys, if I'm running to the store real quick I might not take my backpack, it would be annoying to get an alert for that every time, or sometimes I take a different car. Maybe it would be nice if it could tell if you had at least a set of keys on you. seems difficult.
It's not as simple as on/off :) but, it's not super-complicated either. Much of the behaviour could be based on your usage patterns (as well as the system understanding where home and work are). You wouldn't turn "leash" on by default - you're only going to do this for devices you think are prone to be left behind that are often with you.

If people are willing to compromise a little privacy and say "what" is being tracked, that could help with behaviour. They could do this in advanced settings - initially with a drop-down list of the most common items. Having an "Other" list item, with a text dialog box to enter a description will help this get smarter.

What's going to be considerably more complicated is everything to do with family sharing.
 
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Heh...we've been asking for this ever since the first Apple Watch came out. :D (to warn us when we've left our phones behind). Not holding my breath. :(
Well, basically you can tell if there is a red phone with a slash on it. That’s how I tell if I’ve left my phone lol.
 
Sorry, but if a small startup can do it, Apple can too.

The tile and the AirTag are similar but not identical, and frankly the world is not watching Tile waiting for it to fail. Apple is operating on a much larger scale and it makes sense to roll out the functions slowly as they stress test the system.
 
Have you ever considered maybe remembering? You do still have a brain. Just because there is a new technology doesn’t mean you need to replace normal behaviors and habits. If everyone wasn’t so busy multitasking and staring at their phones to tell them what to do then maybe you wouldn’t lose things as much. Wake up.
You could bring the “Sign of the Cross” mnemonic, “ Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet, Watch “ up to date to reflect current norms.
 
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