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Apple Technology

Apple Announces $29 AirTag, a New Tile-like Item Tracker (theverge.com) 45

Apple has launched a Tile-like item tracker that will work with the company's software and services. From a report: Dubbed AirTag, the small circular tag will allow you to track items within Apple's "Find My" app on iOS. Much like Tile, Apple's AirTags will be useful for tracking items like keys or wallets, and you'll be provided with notifications when you're separated from your item. The AirTag itself is a small puck-like device that includes a built-in speaker, accelerometer, Bluetooth LE, and a user-replaceable battery. Apple says the tracker should last for a year of battery life, and you can use an NFC tap to activate a lost mode. AirTag will be available for $29 on April 30th, or $99 for a four-pack of the devices. Apple is also working with accessory makers to create luggage tag and keyring enclosures for the AirTag itself.
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Apple Announces $29 AirTag, a New Tile-like Item Tracker

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  • by phalse phace ( 454635 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @12:56PM (#61294566)

    An Apple device with a user-replaceable battery? How did they overlook that mistake?

    • An Apple device with a user-replaceable battery? How did they overlook that mistake?

      They were so excited to have created the perfectly rounded rectangle that they forgot to glue down the battery.

    • Yeah. I don't get it either. Whoever is responsible for that will surely be fired
      • by saloomy ( 2817221 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @01:33PM (#61294694)
        Charging electronics to manage a battery are complex and life of a LiPO battery is reduced by heat etc longer than those coin batteries which are designed for very low very long life, like watches. This is better than having to recharge it every 2-4 weeks. Those batteries are inexpensive and having a dozen around for the month when your tags start dying isnâ(TM)t going to be that much a PITA. A charger would have been better for convenience if the life was the same.
        • Whoosh. A real Apple engineer would make it as difficult as possible to replace the battery and require you to just buy a few more of these every year.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I guess even Apple wouldn't dare release something with only one year battery life that can't be replaced by the user.

      And if it says "up to one year" it's probably closer to six months.

      • And if it says "up to one year" it's probably closer to six months.

        The fine print on their product page reads: "Battery life based on an everyday use of four play sound events and one Precision Finding event per day." Followed by a generic disclaimer of "Battery life varies with usage, environment, etc."

        It actually seems like they're lowballing on their estimate, as locating a device 5 times per day seems like unrealistically high usage. I wouldn't be surprised to for it to live up to the 12 month estimate, but only time will tell.

        • It will also vary heavily depending on the brand of CR2032 battery installed in it. A good brand-name CR2032 costs around 3$ each, but then you go to the dollar store and you can get a pack of three no-name CR2032 for a 1$.

          Apple can't control which one you'll be using when you replace the what-I'm-hoping is a good brand-name of CR2032 pre-installed in their AirTag.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      An Apple device with a user-replaceable battery? How did they overlook that mistake?

      It is probably a custom battery that you can only order from Apple.

  • I would need a tile attached to my glasses, my phone, my watch, my wallet, my keys, my water bottle. Or I could just listen to my wife's advice and put things back in the same place every day.

    However how quickly do you think until these will be used by teenagers and hide one in their crushes backpack, or someplace else. Just so they can learn at an early age to be a creepy stoker. That age kids are learning new interactions and undoubtedly are going to be doing stupid stuff, as it is often very common fo

    • by brunes69 ( 86786 )

      These devices have been around for over a decade. All of the things you are raising, people can do already.

      The only difference I can see between this Apple device and the Trackr tags I have (which by the way only cost me $4 apiece at a local dollar store) is that the have a smiley face whereas Trackr has the Trackr logo.

    • by mister_hoberman_to_y ( 1120933 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @01:45PM (#61294738)

      They already thought of the potential for stalking. Your phone will notify you if it sees an AirTag traveling with you but that belongs to someone else who's not nearby. It'll even help you find it by chirping.

      That's a good anti-stalking measure, but it's not ideal for other use cases. I wanted to put these on my cargo trailer, boat trailer, and my four-wheeler because those kinds of things tend to get stolen a lot. If the tag is going to let the bad guys know they're being tracked then that's kinda besides the point.

    • I would need a tile attached to my glasses, my phone, my watch, my wallet, my keys, my water bottle. Or I could just listen to my wife's advice and put things back in the same place every day.

      I'm rather hopeful that Apple will expose AirTag location functionality into HomeKit. That way, we could script automations based on device location.

      If that happens, I'd put these in my cars, both to aid finding them in large parking lots and to script activities when vehicles leave or arrive home.

      Yaz

      • script activities when vehicles leave or arrive home

        Can't you already do that using your iPhones*?

        * I'm assuming you have iPhones if you're looking into AirTags and already using HomeKit.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Yaztromo ( 655250 )

          Can't you already do that using your iPhones*?

          I'm glad you brought that up. It's pretty easy to come up with common scenarios where using your phone presence for certain types of home automation breaks down badly. The problem with using your phone is that th automation becomes attached to your phone presence, and not necessarily the activity you want it attached to.

          Let's use an easy example that many people can likely sympathize with. Let's say I have a very simple phone presence automation whereby when my phone gets within 25m of home, the garage d

  • I give it 2 weeks before we start hearing news stories about people using as a stalking tool. A jealous partner could slip it into their partner's purse to track their movements for example.

    What could possibly go wrong...

    • Apple actually added a feature to prevent this. If you have an iPhone it is supposed to notice that you have an airtag traveling with you that isn't yours. It then alerts you and you can make it play a sound to help find it if needed. I suppose you could use an AirTag to stalk someone who doesn't have an iPhone.
      • by Strider- ( 39683 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @02:02PM (#61294808)

        Picturing what will happen on a flight, with a bunch of these in the hold... I currently use tiles, and I have one that I stash in a pocket on my suitcase to a) let me know it's coming out on the baggage carousel and b) often it lets me know that my bag made the connection.

    • by DrXym ( 126579 )
      As it's bluetooth LE, it would be useless for this purpose. About all it could do is tell you when the tag was *not* somewhere, i.e. out of range as opposed to where it was. So I suppose you could use it to test your partners car was parked in the garage or not and make inferences but not much else.

      Anyway if you wanted a GPS tracker then they sell them on Aliexpress for $5-10. As it happens they also sell Bluetooth LE proximity tags almost identical in purpose to these Airtags for a buck. So Apple saw the

      • by Strider- ( 39683 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @02:26PM (#61294892)

        It's more than that. It will report its position using any internet connected Apple Device, not just your own. The security around this is actually pretty clever, in so much that the relaying device has no way of knowing who owns a device it's reporting, but never the less, it's not just when it's within Bluetooth range of your own phone.

        • by DrXym ( 126579 )
          In other words, phone software is doing the heavy lifting (scrap some bluetooth devices, send data to Apple), not the hardware itself which is so cheap you can get similar tags for a dollar.
      • by willy_me ( 212994 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @03:28PM (#61295116)

        New in the Bluetooth 5.1 standard, from wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

        Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) which are used for locating and tracking of devices

        So it is a little more then just signal strength.

    • by Jeremi ( 14640 )

      Surely all those shenanigans have been possible using Tiles (or other similar tracking devices, such as cell phones) for years?

      I don't see how an Apple-provided solution makes the situation any more prone to abuse than it already was.

  • Do all Apple devices look for these things and then phone home with GPS/WiFi based location?

  • by Chewbacon ( 797801 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @02:05PM (#61294830)

    Apple made something with a user replaceable battery.

    • "Apple made a tracker that draws an arrow on the screen pointing out where it is!"

      "Fuh fuh fuh replaceable battery fuh fuh fuh."

      Ya'all are supposed to be geeks, not torches-and-pitchforks cosplayers.

  • Is it locked to whatever Apple account its associated with permanently? Can it be "reset" to factory mode or is it so permanently locked to an account that its essentially a brick if that account goes away.
     

    • by Major_Disorder ( 5019363 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @03:11PM (#61295038)

      Is it locked to whatever Apple account its associated with permanently? Can it be "reset" to factory mode or is it so permanently locked to an account that its essentially a brick if that account goes away.

      It's $30, does it really matter. Also most of the people who would buy this are already well invested in the Apple ecosystem, so the chance of their Apple account ever going away is slim.
      I accept that scrapping them rather than reuse is environmentally a bad idea. But realistically the people this is aimed at will buy it, and use it until it no longer works and then buy another.

    • Too small to be a brick. It's more of a Tile.

  • I'm sure people will use this to stalk their exes, but this is a nifty solution for my classic car that could be hotwired in 2 second flat if left parked in public. May buy one to stick under the seat. Could also be nice for bikes.

    Of course there is tile and other similar devices, but if these link to the iphone, then I always have the receiver end with me.

    • Actually not a bad idea for the classic car market. I would think about getting one for my ancient Fiat Spider, but it is not really necessary, because if someone stole it. I could just follow the trail left by the oil leaks to wherever it broke down. (My fat ass can always use a couple of block walk.) :)
  • It was getting expensive to put used iPhones in peoples cars and belongings to stalk them.
    This is way cheaper.

  • Just put this on every kids neck or shoes please going to school. So we have no more amber alert issues. Ok the kidnapper could throw away the device, but if we hide it properly, we could at least get a warning. I don't mind the 1984 overseer if we can protect the kids. Make this universal with temperature alert also. And no more kids will die of heat.

    People already put GPS in their car to lower their insurance bill. This is a low price to pay for your life's kid.

    Oh and it will also help me track my stuffs

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