Maximum amount of AirTags

I’m pretty sure he has removed his watch as well with no success. He will be returning to school this weekend, there’s an Apple store nearby, he plans to go there to inquire.

thanks for the suggestion!

It may be worth persevering, to learn the skills of using airTags expertly.

(Seems registering each airTag with your Apple ID is necessary.)

Set up your AirTag using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210973

Add an AirTag in Find My on iPhone

https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/iphone/iphf666e9559/ios

How to reset your AirTag

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212251

All the best :-)

Also having this issue. Been trying to google this for a few weeks so glad to find your thread. I have 14 and on trying to add the 15th I get this exact same error.

I called Apple support but the lower tier techs just kind of gave me the usual run around after confirming that the limit is 16-- mostly a waste of a couple of hours. What I was hoping for was for them to just submit my ticket to higher tier support who could get back with me if they needed to see some logs or something. However, I was just never able to make that tech support break through.

I troubleshoot I removed my 14th AirTag and tried to add it back and it wouldn't let me. It wouldn't let me add a brand new one either. Frustrating. After waiting a week, I tried adding the original 14th AirTag and it worked....but still running into the error on the 15th.

I haven't seen many people with this problem unfortunately. Considering how well these work and how many Apple must be selling, I am surprised that more people haven't been having this issue. Reddit and Macrumors responses are mostly "why do you need so many??".

I suspect (with no evidence) that this could be quickly solved by looking at some logs. I also suspect this might be a server-side limit that might be being imposed based on some flags that Apple might be detecting.

I just purchase 6 of these air tags and I tried on my old Iphone 11 and my new iphone 13 today and I cant get not even one to work. I just get the same error message as everyone else is seeing. Very frustrating!

I purchased 8 AirTags. I installed 3 and now I am getting the message that my apple ID can not add another Air Tag. How do I fix this. I am no where near 16 installed. I only have 3 installed and 5 that will not install.

From Apple's Support article: Add an AirTag in Find My on iPhone

Add an AirTag

1. Go to the Home Screen on your iPhone.
2. Remove the battery tab from the AirTag (if applicable), then hold it near your iPhone.
3. Tap Connect on the screen of your iPhone.
4. Choose a name from the list or choose Custom Name to type a name and select an emoji, then tap Continue.
5. Tap Continue to register the item to your Apple ID, then tap Finish.

NB: SECOND METHOD

You can also register an AirTag in the Find My app. Do either of the following:

• Tap , then choose Add AirTag.
• Tap Items at the bottom of the screen, scroll to the bottom of the Items list, tap Add New Item, then tap Add AirTag.
• 
  

If the item is registered to someone else’s Apple ID, they need to remove it before you can add it.

See Remove an AirTag or other item from Find My on iPhone.

Complete article: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/iphone/iphf666e9559/ios

Currently having the same issue. Just bought 2 AirTags today and they are not connecting to my phone. Error pops up on screen saying "remove an AirTag" prompt but I have none installed yet. No word from Apple about any updates.

Just to confirm, they had you log off (sign off) on your iPhone and sign back on? Just iPhone and not other devices you might have? I've since upgraded my phone and still have this issue. I'm reluctant to sign off my iPhone because turning it back on will initiate resync of everything on the phone and that takes days. I may get around to trying this but unable too right now.

I was able to find a solution online for being stuck at 14 airtags. I have my airpod pros connected to my account and available in Find My. Apparently the airtag limit counts the two airpod pro buds as two airtags IF added before a maximum of 16 airtags have been added to your account. Unpairing the airpod pros allowed me to add my two remaining airtags making my total connected equal 16. After successfully pairing the airtags I was able to pair the airpod pros with no issue and they appear to have the same Find My functionality as before.

thanks! i have been stuck on this issue for weeks. apple support and the half dozen people i contacted there were totally incompetent on the question and i became quite disappointed. i returned the 4 last airtags i bought but now will buy them again and try connecting after temporarily disabling the 3 airpods i have. i also noticed that 2 airtags i left with my mother (who only has an "old" ipad) did not update their firmware and was led to think this could be the solution but the procedure depicted here makes more sense... it remains disappointing that apple produced such a flaw in a new device launch

We’ll, I bought one and it was stolen from my car, so I put it on Lost Mode. I can see where it is but it’s not worth the hassle to confront the person, (assuming I could even know for sure which specific person was the actual thief…) So I put that one in lost mode and bought 4 more Now the Find My app won’t let me activate even ONE of the four new ones because it gives me this same error, that I have to remove one before I can activate this new one. So we’re not talking 14-16 additions, just one! Please let me know if anyone finds a solution, otherwise these are useless to me. When they work, they are amazing, and amazingly accurate.

I’ve fought removing the original/stolen one because it constantly shows me where it is- but I guess I will have to go ahead to be able to add on the new one (s)…bummer. I know where it is and can’t get it!

I can't see a way to edit my previous post. I see AAGism posted the same workaround, with more detail earlier (and someone expanded on it Dec. 7). That has been my experience exactly. Apple support people need to become aware of this workaround (I talked to several senior support people and none had a workaround that worked), and Apple Engineering needs to fix the obvious problem, of course. Meantime, however, if you don't have AirPods I'd recommend trying other devices you have paired though I have a number of non-AirPod devices paired and none of them interfered with the AirTags pairing activities.

Trying to setup my son’s AirTag, we have tried ALL of these options (not removed the watch). The error we get is “Maximum Items Added” but he only has 3 items connected to his Apple ID (watch, AirPod Pros, iPad)! I removed Bluetooth connections (non-Apple laptop & AirPod Pros), rebooted phone and still get same error… his Tag will connect to my phone just fine! Any other possibilities to try?

I have removed AirPods and tried. That didn’t work. I have taken the new AirTag far away from the other connected AirTags in case they were interfering. That didn’t work. I did a hard reset on iPhone. That didn’t work. I turned off Bluetooth. That didn’t work. I am running latest iOS on an iPhone 13 Pro Max. Nothing has worked.