Hacker News Reader

Comment by colinmhayes | Hacker News Reader

Maybe you don't lose stuff as much as other people? My brother was always complaining about losing his wallet, his keys, anything you can think of. I got him a tile, but their product wasn't very accurate. Got him airtags and the problem is solved. Not only are air tags useful, but I'm sure that there are people who would be willing to switch to iOS solely to get access to airtags. That seems pretty valuable to apple.

View on HN

They’re a lifesaver for me with unmedicated adult ADHD. I’ve been substantially more on-time to events, appointments, etc. since I put an air tag on my keys and wallet. Several of my friends have commented on it. Tile trackers were horribly inaccurate and either had non-replacable batteries or would eat a battery a month. Airtags have been lightyears better.

Perhaps removing them from the Find My network and only operating locally would be a better option, but I just can’t see them going back on it at this point.

The later Tiles did have replaceable batteries. But they did still suck at being located when lost. Once I tried marking my tile as lost and carried it with me in Barcelona including on busy subways and it took 1 month to get a ping :)

They just didn't have the reach that Apple has, by far.

> Maybe you don't lose stuff as much as other people?

I relate to it and respect it, but it's doubtful anyone would switch to iPhone because of AirTags. Samsung and others also make trackers, and you don't need the Find My network if you lost your keys inside your house, any tracker will do.

> Not only are air tags useful, but I'm sure that there are people who would be willing to switch to iOS surely to get access to airtags.

After a Google search, I can't find a single anecdote of this from reddit or elsewhere. I doubt it's even a blip on Apple's balance sheet.

I don't know how common this is, but I bought AirTags as a way to keep track of checked bags when traveling. That is a use-case that specifically benefits from being able to keep track of something outside of my phone's range where full GPS/cell connectivity would be overkill.

From the sound of things the airtags have been legitimately life changing for him. I know that sounds hard to believe, I certainly didn't at first but never losing stuff really seems like a weight off his mind. You're right, there's probably no evidence of people switching to apple for airtags, but that might be because they're such a new and relatively unknown product.

My mom likes her iPhone for other reasons but she loves her air tags. She can find her keys in her house, her purse at a party, and her car in a parking lot. She's never leaving the apple ecosystem now.

How much and how hard does your mom party?

Before I left my house this afternoon, I had misplaced my keys. Unfortunately I tend to be a little absent minded. I used my AirTags to find them in 30 seconds. I commented to my friend as I was walking out how these AirTags have save me hours during the week, because I would often 20+ dozens minutes searching for my wallet, keys, or e reader.

I am so happy that these exist.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com