How to update AirTag Location

I have been in contact with Apple about this issue. Apple support just explains how the Airtag 'should' work: 'The location is only updated when there is an iPhone nearby. Once close to it the App will guide you towards it'. But, when I walk to the last reported location WITH MY IPHONE the 'Last seen' timestamp is not updated, you are not guided towards it and you get the 'Airtag not reachable, move around to connect' error when trying to play a sound. We also asked a couple of other iPhone users to walk around the last reported location and the neighborhood but that did not help. Most of the time the last reported location is near where we live (within 100 meters, hopping around within a radius of 10 meters), but what is a bit odd that sometimes the last reported location is near the entrance of a nearby shopping mall (and perhaps other odd locations as well, we do not watch the location all the time). Perhaps there is a delay reporting the location of the Airtag to Apple, and when reported it uses the current GPS location of the iPhone instead of the GPS location when the Airtag was seen?

Hello

it can sometimes take a full 30 seconds or more to get an initial location for an Air tag from another room. And it is possible to get inaccurate locations foiled by obstructions and walls due to Bluetooth. The UI Precision Tracking is helpful to get around that

How to Fix AirTag Not Working Issue on iPhone or iPad?

1. Turn Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Cellular Off and On. ... 
2. Ensure Find My App Is Enabled. ... 
3. Re-Enable Location Services. ... 
4. Reset Network Settings. ... 
5. Update Device Software. ... 
6. Remove and Re-Add AirTag. ... 
7. Reset AirTag. ... 
8. Clean the AirTag.

When I leave the AirTag at home and I have my iPad nearby, the location updates every 15-30 minutes, which is how it’s supposed to work. Sometimes I encounter a bug with the iPad that the location does not update unless you select “Notify when found”, but can be fixed by restarting the iPad. I do think that turning on “Notify when Found” will tell nearby device to update the location faster, since I used that during the testing that rely on stranger’s devices for location updates. I’m not sure if the updates are as effective as not turning “Notify when Found” on, since I haven’t done enough testing. So, if you are in need for a location update for the AirTag, try using “Notify when Found”, and there maybe is a greater chance that the location would update.

AirTags are not real-time trackers and are certainly not designed to track people.

The Apple tag is not a GPS device. It’s supposed to be used with things that are within Bluetooth range from your iPhone. I.e. keys, luggage etc.

Actually, you’d just mark it as lost https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph1b451b75f/ios

Not really. They pretty much work as advertised. They are not real-time trackers and they are not intended for tracking kids or pets; just static objects

No. AirTags are not real-time trackers.

They work as intended. AirTags are not real-time trackers.

Hi. I've got the exact same problem (Sweden), the only time my Airtag updates it's location is when my phone is within reach. I've tried resetting Airtag several times, testing pairing with another phone, other appleID etc - nothing changes. I live in a very crowded area and the possibility that an Airtag moving in my area wouldn't meet a supported appleproduct within a couple of minutes is not likely. I've put the Airtag in my son's backpack trying to locate him when he moved around outside in the neighborhood for an hour, tried putting it on my cat leaving it on for a whole day - still only updates location when close to my device. Something must be wrong hardware-wise on this and others airtags posted in this thread. Any news from Apple support? Tried googling, haven't found much. Thank you in advance.

I’m sorry, but you are incorrect. Per the product description on Apple’s website , the Airtag is supposed to link to any Apple device on the Find My network and report its location. It is not supposed to be limited to “your iPhone” or only devices logged on to your iCloud account. The exact verbiage from their website says “…hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices around the world — helps track down your AirTag.”

1. I tried to tap and hold my iphone X to the white side of the airtag. No message popped up. (A message would pop up if I did the same with my iphone pro max)
2. I turned off the bluetooth of pro max which the airtag was registered to. Put my iphone X (bluetooth on) together with my airtag in my backpack and walked in the street. The location of airtag did not update on FindMy.
3. Repeated the above step 2 with iphone 6. The same.
4. Repeated the above step 2 with a iphone 12 borrowed from my friend. The location updated regularly.

That's your opinion, but that's not how it works. If you could get a frequent location update from the same iPhone about your AirTag accompanying that iPhone, you would be able to stalk anyone by planting an AirTag on them or their possessions and then placing your AirTag in Lost Mode. This is obviously not the case. Apple intentionally enabled anti-stalking measures in the AirTag, so if the iPhone detects that someone's AirTag in its proximity moves int he same pattern as the iPhone itself, the iPhone will stop updating its location for the AirTag's owner to see the location of the AirTag to prevent being stalked by the AirTag.

Putting the AirTag in Lost Mode does two things:

1. Your iPhone is supposed to notify you when the AirTag is detected by someone else's iPhone when you place your AirTag in Lost Mode.
2. The person who finds your AirTag could read a message you leave by scanning the AirTag with their phone's NFC - be it iPhone or Android. Then, they would be able to reach out to you to return your item.

I wish placing the AirTag in Lost Mode would make it sound an alarm when it encounters someone else's iPhone, but, unfortunately, Apple didn't implement this feature. Therefore, the AirTag can only sound an alarm when the iPhone it's registered to is in the Bluetooth proximity of the AirTag.

Agreed. A-greed. The technical problem is battery life. They don’t update as often to conserve battery life. Also, to prevent stalking. And lastly because of the availability or unavailable communications. That said, Apple could and must do better.