I guess I don't get it. For the price of an AirTag, you can buy a more capable tracker with GPS and mobile data. And it won't be notifying the trackee that it's there. The AirTag seems like a downgrade.
If the item has its own mobile network, i'm expecting an extra $20/mo for a phone plan (at which point, comparing to a fixed cost of an AirTag isnt valid.)
If it doesnt have a mobile network and relies on the mesh, then, is there any mesh available? Apple's mesh is global and pervasive.
And if it provides neither mobile support nor mesh, it isnt useful for anything except lost keys in a house.
The AirTags are awesome because ANY phone creates a mesh for them to broadcast.
UPDATE: per sister comment, see https://www.hologram.io/pricing/flexible-data
I'm sure you can get prepaid/IOT plans for less, eg. https://www.hologram.io/pricing/flexible-data
Some phone plans will give you additional data only sim card and only charge you the cost of the bandwidth (Google Fi does this). You can also get data only plans that are intended to used with Vending Machines and IoT devices (I guess a tracking device on the Internet is a IoT device).
Genuinely asking, I would love to find a better solution.
I highly doubt there's (much of) a market looking to buy AirTags without already owning the pre-requisite Apple hardware.
Mind you, I only ever use it to locate my wayward cat, so perhaps my use case isn't the most common. I don't seem to find any other need for it, though perhaps I should attach one to my keys.
A legitimate point is that the battery life isn't great. But that's not too hard to solve, if you tolerate a little more space for a bigger battery.
I'm sure there are even better options out there, that's just what I could come up with in under a minute. For anybody with more than idle curiosity, I imagine there are some pretty clever solutions available.
A big difference is that these GPS trackers broadcast their position continuously, wherever there is cell coverage. The AirTags only update their position when an Apple device (made after 2015) is within the relatively short bluetooth range of the tag.
Luckily the "only" is pretty good. There are Apple devices almost everywhere i'd need to track a lost bike/car/schoolbag.
The point is valid, though. AirTags do not enable something which wasn't already trivial to accomplish. At best it just makes it more visible to the general public, but stalkers have known how to use inexpensive GPS trackers for many years.
What's dishonest is the media pretending that this is some new capability that didn't already exist.
Tile is inferior to an AirTag if you seriously want to stalk someone. The network is orders of magnitude smaller. Don’t know why anyone who owns an Apple device would bother with it at this point
I have a Tile attached to a generator at my house. Since I've disabled Tile on my phone in favor of AirTag, my generator hasn't been detected in over 31 days. Even with neighbors walking past my house constantly.
This describes how 99% of these "AirTags Used In Stalking Incident" stories come about.
But I expect someone familiar with returned items will say "Oh, someone forgot to remove their AirTag again. Throw it in the garbage." So hopefully no knocks at my door.
https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/law-enforcement-guidelin...
For government and law enforcement information requests, Apple complies with the laws pertaining to global entities that control our data and we provide details as legally required.
L. AirTag and Find My Network Accessory Program
To add AirTag or supported third-party products to the Items tab in the Find My app, customers must have an Apple ID, be signed into their iCloud account with Find My enabled, and register their AirTag or supported third-party products to their Apple ID.
With a serial number, Apple may be able to provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or greater legal process.
>Apple may be able to provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or greater legal process
Source of them actually doing this?
That story alone is horrifying and a reason by itself this thing should be illegal. Also, what you are doing is not ok.
I really don't know what you expect me to do. I did this by accident. I thought it was funny.
You seem to insist that you forgot to take the AirTag off, and that leaving it on was an accident. Well, you now know that you didn't and, since you don't plan to retrieve it, shouldn't surveil it for your idle whimsey. If you sold your home and forgot to remove a few of your indoor cameras, is it okay for you to continue to monitoring the home? The answer is obviously no. What you're doing is not different.
Just because feds aren't knocking at your door doesn't mean what you're doing is not gross. I definitely wouldn't call it funny.