Apple AirTag - The £25 Car tracker with no subscription!

[Terminator X]

One in the wife's handbag

TX.

[jhoneyball]

"If she loses her bag with her phone in it…she is screwed. "

So she logs into www.icloud.com with her apple credentials, and locates her phone.

[joropug]

This new update on iOS15 made me laugh!



Named after one of TV's greats - "Can I borrow your van?", "Yeah you can borrow the Merc mate"

[Mr Miata]

These Airtags are quite basic compared to a genuine tracker. And only work if they’re in range of an Apple phone.

With a real tracker, they’ll have a control centre manned 24/7 that’ll be notified if your car is moved anywhere, even with ignition off if the car gets towed away. It’ll give them a live GPS feed or a GPS track history that they can pass onto the police. And then the tracker will have a RF beacon the feds can use to home-in on the car at a closer range, such as which lockup it’s being hidden inside.

The more expensive trackers also double up as another immobiliser. I think some can be remotely triggered.

As a victim of attempted car theft. I’m not bothered about getting the car back in one piece, I just want to lead the police to these thieves so they can be prosecuted or their criminal enterprise shutdown. I don’t want the scum to get away with it easily.

[C2Red]

gotoPzero said:

IIRC you only get the "air tag warning" if you are near / in your own home.

Other wise the likes of DPD and Royal Mail staff would be getting inundated with warnings.

They chime on your own phone if you turn off find my phone. Found that slightly odd.

[Spare tyre]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yup, now got one concealed in my expensive trailer, if it gets pinched there’s a good chance I’ll know roughly where it’s gone and might be able to get it back. Or if it ends up in certain location i definitely don’t want it back. For 25 quid, no subscription or power requirements it’s excellent

[rxe]

joropug said:

They aren't really cheaper - I just had a look at the website, looks like they with the same principals but rely on the 'Tile network' rather than the Apple network.

I know one person who has bought a Tile and therefore will have the app on their phone, versus probably 50% of the people I know have an iPhone.

iPads, Macs etc all pick up the signal too.

Tile density seems to be OK. It works well enough - I can track stuff in London easily, almost in real time, and it doesn't beep when it is moving with someone else. I was recently trying to remember if I'd left some keys in the car in Spain - sure enough, tracked at Malaga airport a few hours before I looked.

Airtags would be brilliant if they were not crippled by the beeping. As it is, they are largely useless.

[CLX]

Spare tyre said:

For 25 quid, no subscription or power requirements it’s excellent

It needs a battery, doesn't it?

[thebraketester]

CLX said:

Spare tyre said:

For 25 quid, no subscription or power requirements it’s excellent

It needs a battery, doesn't it?

Yes but should last 12 months on the battery. I think that's what he mean by "no power req"

[595Heaven]

This new iOS feature won’t help those using AirTags as a tracker…

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/09/ios-15-2-airt...

[anxious_ant]

595Heaven said:

This new iOS feature won’t help those using AirTags as a tracker…

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/09/ios-15-2-airt...

Looks like Apple trying to cover their arse. Majority will use this as a tracker/anti theft device.
I have no issue with informing someone that there is a tracker present, but completely disabling it is just not a good idea.

Luckily I held off buying the pack on black friday sale.

[MrBig]

595Heaven said:

This new iOS feature won’t help those using AirTags as a tracker…

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/09/ios-15-2-airt...

Well that's just rendered an otherwise great product utterly fking useless!!

[Dingu]

MrBig said:

595Heaven said:

This new iOS feature won’t help those using AirTags as a tracker…

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/09/ios-15-2-airt...

Well that's just rendered an otherwise great product utterly fking useless!!

Not for it’s intended use case.

A company like Apple were never going to risk stories of ex’s being stalked etc without offering a solution

[_Al_]

Surely this is a good thing..? Now it’s a potential deterrent to thieves rather than something that tells you when the car has gone?

[595Heaven]

Oh dear, seems like car thieves are using AirTags too…

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/03/airtag-linked...

I remember a post on here a few years ago about someone finding a tracker on their car after attending an event (Fast Ford Show or something), but an AirTag is tiny and thus much easier to hide

[mcflurry]

595Heaven said:

Oh dear, seems like car thieves are using AirTags too…

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/03/airtag-linked...

I remember a post on here a few years ago about someone finding a tracker on their car after attending an event (Fast Ford Show or something), but an AirTag is tiny and thus much easier to hide

They should have reattached it to an FSO Polonez or something equally exotic

[LeadFarmer]

I quite fancy one of these.

joropug said:

-If you put it in someone else's car without their permission, if it connected to their phone and not yours it will sound a chime so that the driver is aware they are being tracked. If you're with them, it won't do so.

Apple website said:

AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s travelling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.
Of course, if you happen to be with a friend who has an AirTag, or on a train with other passengers who have AirTag, don’t worry. These alerts are triggered only when an AirTag is separated from its owner.

Does this mean that ...

If it's in your car and someone else in your family (with an iPhone) uses the car, will it keep sounding a chime all the time whilst they are driving?
Every time they get into the car will they get a notification on their iPhone that they have detected an AirTag?

If so then this could be annoying or them

Edited by LeadFarmer on Wednesday 2nd February 20:04

[joropug]

LeadFarmer said:

Does this mean that ...

If it's in your car and someone else in your family (with an iPhone) uses the car, will it keep sounding a chime all the time whilst they are driving?
Every time they get into the car will they get a notification on their iPhone that they have detected an AirTag?

If so then this could be annoying or them

Edited by LeadFarmer on Wednesday 2nd February 20:04

Yes I think so - my mum took my dads keys to the shop and she was getting notifications saying she was being tracked. I don’t think the tag will chime though unless you ask it to

[LeadFarmer]

joropug said:

Yes I think so - my mum took my dads keys to the shop and she was getting notifications saying she was being tracked. I don’t think the tag will chime though unless you ask it to

That's a shame, I imagine my family would soon get annoyed at constantly getting notifications if they are in the car when I'm not.

[The Rotrex Kid]

We use AirTags at work to track trade plates. You’ll be amazed how often then go missing.

They’re all linked to my phone so I can see where they are. I haven’t had anyone say that they’ve been pinged by the AirTag yet.