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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#451

Post by sorahn »

freddyheppell wrote: post #34
jypepin wrote: post #18

This is directly competing with Tile[0] which you can buy 2 for 39.99. I guess the integration with Find My app would be pretty convenient but probably not worth the price difference? [0] https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/store/tiles/sticker

IMO the big advantage of AirTags will be that you can locate them if they're near anyone with an iPhone, but Tile is limited just to their own users. Anecdotally I don't know anyone who uses Tile but I know plenty of people with iPhones.

My motorcycle keys had a tile on them, and my dad was driving it around for an extended trip. I got 1 (singular) tile ping, his entire 6 week trip.

The fact that any iPhone (> 11) will ping home with the location of one of these is the croudsourced killer feature in the making for 2 years before release.

I'm in for a 4 pack.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#452

Post by ctdonath »

Nextgrid wrote: post #361
adrr wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are replaceable just not user replaceable though user's can change it if they buy $10 worth of tools. Just like my car's battery isn't user replaceable unless i buy tools to be able pull the battery out of the battery compartment.

Your car's battery isn't glued in place behind a cover held by screws with an intentionally obscure pattern. Not to mention, car manufacturers don't (yet?) use specialized batteries that only they can source legitimately nor use DRM to make the car reject a perfectly good battery just because it's not the original one that came with it.

My next car’s battery will be glued in place, permanently affixed to the frame. When it dies after a million+ miles, I’m sure both battery and steel body will be quite ready for recycling.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#453

Post by SilverRed »

crazygringo wrote: post #71

I thought one of the big use cases for this was to track stolen items, like a backpack or maybe even a bicycle. But the "anti-stalking" feature will notify someone if an AirTag they don't own appears to be traveling with them. Does this render it useless for anti-theft, then? Since it will just notify a thief that the bike they just stole is being tracked, and they can look for the AirTag and throw it in the nearest…

The future is having most items with built in tags. So yeah, your iphone tells you the bike you stole is tracking you but its not realistic to remove the tracker from it so you have to dump the bike.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#454

Post by vel0city »

Zircom wrote: post #398
bobthepanda wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was definitely a time when they had no product that had replaceable batteries in their line. I swore Tile off when I found out the hard way that the battery gives out a year from time of sale, not from when you activate it.

Do you have a source for that? My partner got a me some Tiles for my birthday 9 months ago and I still haven't gotten around to actually putting them on anything, would hate to find out they're only good for 3 more months

The battery is slowly discharging and dying sitting in the box. I got one as some vendor swag a few years ago at an event. I stuck it in a drawer for a couple of years and forgot about it. When I went to move, I tried using it. It was dead.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#456

Post by toddh »

duskwuff wrote: post #321
toddh wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately Whistle doesn't work in areas with poor coverage. And then there's the battery issues. A tag would at least be a good redundancy solution.

AirTags depends on other users with iOS devices to track devices out of range of your phone. If you're in an area with limited to no cell coverage, there probably aren't many people wandering around with iOS devices either -- especially not ones with cell connectivity to upload the locations where they spotted your tag.

That does get to an issue I was wondering about: how long does it remember and does it associate each ping with a geo tag?

We live the mountains with poor coverage and a dog who at one time was a wizard at escaping and getting lost.

Yet we do have people all around, so I think the iphone solution would work, even if it was delayed. At least I would have an idea of where to start searching. I bought every lower than professional level device and they all just didn't work here.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#458

Post by amelius »

gerry_shaw wrote: post #192
tyingq wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't expect user replaceable commodity batteries from Apple. That's nice.

It is ridiculous that something as basic as having a user replaceable battery is considered an unexpected nice feature.

Don't expect future models to have that feature, though.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#459

Post by SilverRed »

dariusj18 wrote: post #391
diebeforei485 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They mentioned this exact scenario on their website[1] > Of course, if you happen to be with a friend who has an AirTag, or on a train with a whole bunch of people with AirTag, don’t worry. These alerts are triggered only when an AirTag is separated from its owner. 1. https://www.apple.com/airtag/

So if my family has a single car and we share keys it's going to annoy each of us that isn't the owner of the tag.

Thats good, stops parents tracking their kids without notifying them

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#460

Post by zelly »

dippydipdips wrote: post #3

Interesting that I never knew the “Find My” network has all my devices participating in finding other people’s devices, but I’m not surprised. Another reason I leave Bluetooth off by default.

They already know where you are because of the GPS chip and mobile data. This is just the final step to find/fingerprint non-Apple and possibly non-internet connected devices.

Think of all the interesting things you could do with a worldwide bluetooth mesh network, and they choose to use it for surveillance. Lol.

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