I hate that this eventual e-waste wasn't standardized across vendors. It makes perfect sense for every phone to be a potential node, but the network is bifurcated (and possibly more bifurcations within Android due to Google's privacy-first approach...).
Probably one of the best products apple has made of late: relatively affordable, good ux, user replaceable batteries. Glad to see this iteration hasn't made it worse.
Stupid form factor, though. Need to buy extra accessories to be able to actually mount it to anything, but I guess that's the Apple way. Why not have a hole to put a rope or anything through?
> The new AirTag is designed with the environment in mind, with 85 percent recycled plastic in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards. The paper packaging is 100 percent fiber-based and can be easily recycled.
I'm no material scientist, but this seems pretty impressive to me that Apple's economy of scale can pull this off, and upgrade the device capabilities, for less than $30 USD.
> They are then combined with scrap from select manufacturing sites and, for the first time, cobalt recovered through this process is now being used to make brand-new Apple batteries — a true closed loop for this precious material.
Do they disclose who the manufacturers are and what standards do they adhere to when recovering cobalt from scrapped batteries?
Is this demonstrably better that just... the devices already in your bag? My backpack would be a primary use case... and in it are my AirPods, iPad, and MacBook Air. I think any of these can use Find My already?
I read they are popular with drug distributors. They ship their merch world wide using various hidden channels and couriers and this helps keep track of the merch.
I have ADHD – which is hardly uncommon in this economy – and the improvements to finding AirPods Pro with Find My have been a godsend. I use it almost every day. I've lost so many airpods in the past. I hope we see the same improvements to air tags.
ps, Apple is driving me nuts with their branding. With is AirPods one word and Find My two words?
my parents live in Russia and my grandma has alzheimer's, so as a present "for her" I bought an airtag - so in case my mom loses grandma in a crowd she can be found.
Little did I know, GPS jammers around the city make my grandma appear 50km away.
Apple AirTag is one of those interesting products that you don’t think you need until you use it. An Apple thing that just works as advertised and is cheap enough that you can keep picking them up at Airports, without the guilty feeling that usually comes with buying high-priced Apple products, such as the Polishing Cloth. And when you order it online, the nice engravings are fun for my daughters. They like it when it is pinged, finding their toys and bags, and it is worth the price tag.
I had to put in a few of my daughter’s pencil pouches and some toys; they are cheaper than the AirTags and, financially, make no sense to lose an AirTag that costs more than the items being tracked. But hey, daughter is happy, and that covers up for the cost.
I was really hoping for a new form factor or new killer features. Its too bad that the general public can't behave themselves with simple tech like this
does this update also enable precision finding from the watch? would this start working with the previous generation of airtags as well (currently you can use precision finding from your iphone, but not from the watch)
AirTags have always been "meh" about "finding" anything in motion. And by that I mean the up close "locate this device". I ASSUME it has to do with the fact that its trying to create a multiple point triangulation using only a single device (eg the phone you are on).
Even an airtag moving a little bit, will give you warnings in find my.
Not that you asked, but re: this conversation, I looked at AirTags for cat use and ultimately settled on the TabCat tracker instead. It's pricier, but built for the purpose- the device that goes on the collar is very lightweight and small, and the tracker will guide you via sound right to the cat without the need for relay from other devices like an AirTag. Months of battery life, too.
I had this experience too. They beep like this if they're not near an updated iDevice logged into your account.
You'll have the same problem if you do something like: set the AirTag up on an iPad, but then carry around with an Android phone on you or just any phone not logged into your Apple Account. The beeping is the anti-stalking feature since it thinks it's separated from its owner.
"With its updated internal design, the new AirTag is 50 percent louder than the previous generation, enabling users to hear their AirTag from up to 2x farther than before."
Curious about getting 2x the distance from 1.5x the "loudness", I would have thought the inverse? Maybe there is nuance to this though.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 97.9 ms ] threadI'm no material scientist, but this seems pretty impressive to me that Apple's economy of scale can pull this off, and upgrade the device capabilities, for less than $30 USD.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/apple-expands-global-...
Do they disclose who the manufacturers are and what standards do they adhere to when recovering cobalt from scrapped batteries?
Attaching these things to anything is their major flaw.
/picard facepalm
ps, Apple is driving me nuts with their branding. With is AirPods one word and Find My two words?
Little did I know, GPS jammers around the city make my grandma appear 50km away.
Not Apple's fault of course.
If only it were usable with an Android phone :(
https://www.amazon.com/Tracker-Locator-Android-Bluetooth-Fin...
I had to put in a few of my daughter’s pencil pouches and some toys; they are cheaper than the AirTags and, financially, make no sense to lose an AirTag that costs more than the items being tracked. But hey, daughter is happy, and that covers up for the cost.
It's been, what, six years now? The media would pay hand over fist for an airtags stalking story and how many have there actually been?
Interesting to call out that it’s not designed for pets. I know several people with AirTags on their pet collars.
Even an airtag moving a little bit, will give you warnings in find my.
You'll have the same problem if you do something like: set the AirTag up on an iPad, but then carry around with an Android phone on you or just any phone not logged into your Apple Account. The beeping is the anti-stalking feature since it thinks it's separated from its owner.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/01/apple-introduc...
Curious about getting 2x the distance from 1.5x the "loudness", I would have thought the inverse? Maybe there is nuance to this though.