Apple Launches AirTags Tracking Devices
Apple has launched the AirTag. A tiny Bluetooth tracking device that helps you find attached items.
Introduced as an expansion to the Find My ecosystem, AirTags are an accessory designed to help you locate items within the Bluetooth range of your iPhone. This could mean keys, handbags, backpacks, and suitcases.
An AirTag is initially set up by holding it next to your iPhone – running iOS 14.5 or above – and using the Find My app.
Each AirTag can be labeled, making it easy to identify when making Siri requests, such as:
Hey Siri, where are my keys?
Hey Siri, find my bike.
When your item is found, the AirTag will play a sound using a tiny built-in speaker. Then, the Find My app on your iPhone will give you directions using a combination of haptics and visual feedback.
If you lose an AirTag, or it’s outside Bluetooth range, the Find My Network comes to the rescue. It uses other Apple devices to detect signals from the misplaced AirTag and transmit the location back to the owner.
Additionally, you can set an AirTag to Lost Mode. If another user finds it, they can hold it near to their iPhone and be directed to a website showing your contact number if you’ve supplied one.
Small and lightweight by design, each AirTag “features precision-etched polished stainless steel and is IP67 water- and dust-resistant”.
It can be placed inside a bag or pocket or tied with a loop accessory for secure fastening.
The battery is expected to last around a year and is replaceable.
Apple also offers personalization options, such as free text and emoji engraving.
Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, says: “We’re excited to bring this incredible new capability to iPhone users with the introduction of AirTag, leveraging the vast Find My network to help them keep track of and find the important items in their lives.”
Privacy and security
Apple says:
AirTag is designed from the ground up to keep location data private and secure. No location data or location history is physically stored inside AirTag. Communication with the Find My network is end-to-end encrypted so that only the owner of a device has access to its location data, and no one, including Apple, knows the identity or location of any device that helped find it.
AirTags will be available to order from April 23rd, 2021, and are expected to start shipping at the end of April.
