AirTags: Helping you find your items

Using your iPhone together with the ‘Find My’ app, you can make the AirTag emit a sound. If it’s close by, you can follow the sound. If you have a 2nd generation AirTag, the sound will be 50% louder that the sound that the 1st generation emits.

If playing a sound doesn’t do the trick, you can use the ‘Find’ feature to get directions to it using Precision Finding, providing your phone is in Bluetooth range of the AirTag.

Precision Finding only works on the iPhone 11 or later (not including iPhone SE 2nd and 3rd generations).

If using a 2nd generation AirTag and have an iPhone 15 or newer (including the iPhone Air but not including the iPhone 16E), you can take advantage of improved Precision Finding (a 1.5x greater range). The 2nd generation AirTag also supports Precision Finding on the Apple Watch. If you have an Apple Watch Series 9 or later, or Ultra 2 or later, running WatchOS 26.2.1, you’ll be able to use it to find your AirTag through Precision Finding.

If you’re not in Bluetooth range of your AirTag, you can get directions to its location, or last known location, using the Maps app, but this won’t get you to its exact location.

If you don’t want to use the ‘Find My’ app, you can ask Siri to locate your item, for example you can ask Siri to ‘find my handbag’. If a connection is established, Siri will tell you it’s nearby and the AirTag will emit a sound.

If the connection with your AirTag cannot be made, Siri will inform you of its last known general location, and when it was last seen. You can then use the Find My app for more detailed information about its last known location.

If your AirTag has moved from its last known location and is not in range of your iPhone, you can enable ‘notify when found’ using the ‘Find My’ app. If someone with an iPhone walks past your AirTag, it will anonymously let Apple know. Then Apple will tell you its location, via a ‘Find My’ notification.

Also, you have the option to receive a notification if you move away from your AirTag’s location and leave it behind. This feature could be incredibly useful if you’re prone to forgetting your essentials!

If you lose your AirTag, you can enable lost mode, and programme in a contact number or email address. If someone finds your AirTag and has an iPhone, or even an Android phone, they can connect to it, which will let them know the AirTag is lost, together with the contact number and/or email address that you programmed in when you reported it lost. You can then arrange to get your items back.

As the AirTag is compatible with the Find My app and network, there is no need to install external apps onto your device. The pairing process will automatically start as soon as your iPhone comes into contact with an AirTag (providing you’ve removed the cover and hear the audible tone), so you do not need to initiate any pairing processes manually, making the process efficient and hassle free.

AirTags send out a secure Bluetooth signal to nearby iPhone, iPad and Mac devices on the Find My network. These devices can send the location of your AirTag to iCloud, so you can go to the Find My app on your phone and see where your AirTag is on a map. This means that even when you’re out of Bluetooth range of your AirTag so can’t use features such as Precision Finding and Play Sound, you can still see the location of your AirTag.

As there are a billion devices on the Find My Network, your AirTag’s location can update regularly. People don’t need AirTags for their devices to send your AirTag their location.

You can use Precision Finding to locate your AirTag, providing it’s within Bluetooth range of your device (expand the Find My section above for information on 1st generation and 2nd generation Precision Finding compatibility). This will guide you to the exact location using directions (which VoiceOver can speak out loud), haptic feedback and visual cues on-screen.

Do you commonly misplace your phone and spend a long time trying to find it? You can press a button on the Tile which will sound your phone if it’s in Bluetooth range.

Tiles have a keychain attachment built in. Apple AirTags do not.

If you want to attach your AirTag to an item such as your keys, you will need to purchase additional accessories.

The AirTag feels like a smooth button, just over 3cm across, making it sometimes difficult to handle.

A solution to make handling one easier is to place an elastic band around it. The smooth texture may also make it difficult for you to replace the battery.

The Tile has a rough texture so is easier to handle without needing to customise it.