Apple AirTags Review: Exactly what they say on the tin

By Alex Choros

Last updated 29 April 2021

Apple AirTag Review: The Verdict

Apple's AirTags are an elegant solution for the iPhone-touting absent-minded or anyone after a little extra peace of mind. They just work, they're part of a huge ecosystem that gives you a better shot of finding lost objects, and they're more affordable than you'd expect for an Apple product. The biggest issue is AirTags don't have an integrated mounting mechanism, so you may need to fork out for additional accessories to get the most out of your tracker - many of which cost as much as an AirTag, if not more.

What we love

Precision Finding is neat
Powerful ecosystem
Strong privacy features

What could be improved

No integrated mounting mechanism
No family sharing
No Android support

80/100

$45 for one, $150 for four

Bluetooth object trackers aren't exactly a new product category. Manufacturers like Tile and Chipolo have been making Bluetooth trackers for years, and for the most part, doing a pretty great job of it. Putting a Tile in your wallet is a great option if you're prone to leaving it in weird places around the house.

At the same time, these kinds of trackers aren't exactly mainstream. That doesn't matter if you're just looking for something you've misplaced at home, but it makes a difference if you've left something on the train, for example. In order to try and help you find an item you've lost, trackers like Tile tap into their userbase. If another Tile owner comes across it, you'll get an updated location. Of course, this could take quite some time if there aren't very many Tile users around.

AirTags, Apple's take on a Bluetooth tracker, tries to solve this with the sheer force of the Apple community. Instead of just relying on other AirTag owners to help you find a lost item, the vast majority of iPhones, iPads, and Macs can help locate an item. If someone with an iPhone (running iOS 13 or better) walks past your lost item, you'll get an update. Apple says over a billion devices feed into this network. That makes the odds of actually finding a lost item a whole lot better.

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Lost and found

Each AirTag is roughly the size of a 20 cent piece, but a bit thicker. It's not dissimilar to a building or gym fob. There's an internal speaker that sounds out when you're trying to find an object, IP67 water-resistance, and a removable battery inside. Apple says it should take about a year before you need to replace an AirTag's battery. The AirTag design itself is rather subtle, but I've found they scuff and scratch rather easily. Even after a few hours in my pocket, the AirTag attached to my keys was marked on both sides.

Setting up AirTags is pretty much identical to setting up AirPods. Put it next to your iPhone and follow the prompts. It should only take a minute or so. Once you've got your AirTag setup, there are a few different ways to find your device, depending on the situation.

If you're in range of it - say, you can't remember where you've put your keys at home - you can use the Find My app to make the paired AirTag play a shrill sound. Alternatively, you can ask Siri "where are my keys" to get the same outcome (although you'll need to ask Siri on your iPhone, it won't work if you ask Siri on your Apple Watch).

If you've got an iPhone 11 or iPhone 12, you can also use a feature called Precision Finding. When you're close to the AirTag, your iPhone can detect its real world location, show you the exact distance from it, and even point you in the right direction. You need to be within a few metres of your AirTag for an iPhone to be able to do this, however.

The combo of the two is rather helpful, even if the speaker is a tad quiet - especially outdoors. However, between playing sound on the AirTag and Precision Finding, finding the AirTag a colleague had hidden was a mostly simple affair once I got close enough to enable those features.

If you've genuinely left your AirTag (and the item it's attached to) somewhere, you're relying on entirely different tracking technology. To get a new read on where your AirTag is, someone with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac (with a recent enough software version, Bluetooth on, and Find My enabled) needs to walk past. Their device will detect your AirTag, and relay that information back to you.

This means you'll never necessarily get a real-time location update from an AirTag that's not in range of your phone. A colleague took an AirTag to a local café and it took about 20 minutes before I got updated with the new location. Naturally, this will entirely depend on the Apple-touting population density in that area. There's a good chance you'd get more up to date information about an item's whereabouts if you left in a CBD, for example.

It's for these reasons that AirTags won't necessarily be the best solution if you want to track a pet. While there's nothing stopping you from putting an AirTag on your dog's collar, the lack of real-time information could be problematic if they've run away and you're trying to find them. At the same time, it might still be better than nothing. For the most part, AirTags will be far more helpful when it comes to stationary objects.

You can also enable "lost mode" for items you've, well, lost. This lets you set a phone number and a custom message that will pop if anyone with an NFC capable phone taps your AirTag. You're very much relying on the kindness of strangers in this situation - after all, someone could just throw away the AirTag and take your stuff - but sometimes you gotta shoot your shot.

Sold separately

The biggest hurdle with AirTags is you'll probably need to splurge on an accessory, unless you just plan to shove one in your wallet, bag, or backpack. An AirTag doesn't have any attachment points for you to put it on your keyring or tie it to something. Official Apple AirTag accessories start at $45 for a polyurethane loop, which is the same price as an AirTag. A key ring holder will set you back $55. While $45 for an AirTag isn't unreasonable, the official accessories blow out of the cost. Fortunately, manufacturers like Belkin already have cheaper options available around $20, and we're likely to see plenty more options in the coming weeks and months.

One curious omission is a family sharing on AirTags. Each AirTag is linked to a single Apple ID, and its location can only be viewed on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac that's being used with that Apple ID. For example, your partner can't see the location of any of your AirTags, even if you'd like them too. While, on one hand, this makes sense from a privacy perspective, there are also several use cases where it could be beneficial. For example, if you've got an AirTag on your child's school bag, it would be useful for both parents to be able to see the location.

In the same vein, the AirTags have some rather thoughtful privacy features. You'll get a notification if you're carrying someone else's AirTag for an extended period of time if you've got an iPhone, or the AirTag will ring out for Android users. Removing the battery will then disable it. At present, this is set to a threshold of three days, but this is something Apple may adjust in the future. Either way, Apple is trying to ensure no one can use an AirTag to stalk another person.

As tends to be the norm with Apple products, AirTags are heavily integrated into its ecosystem. You can't set them up without an iPhone or iPad, so Android users should steer clear. You can also use the Find My app on Mac to keep tabs on your AirTags, but you can't use a Mac to set AirTags up.

Apple AirTags - Final Thoughts

AirTags are an unsurprisingly elegant addition to the Apple ecosystem. If you're prone to losing things around the house, or just want an extra bit of peace of mind when it comes to possessions like instruments or expensive camera gear, AirTags are a great, simple solution. They're naturally a no-go for Android owners and the expensive accessory situation is unfortunate, but none of this is unfamiliar territory for Apple.

While far from essential for most, AirTags bring the "it just works" mantra to a whole new product category, and do exactly what they say on the tin. Sometimes that's all you need.