Maximum items added won’t let me connect my air tag

I had this same issue. Fixed it this way:

• Find My (iPhone) → Devices, removed old Macs, AirPods, AirPods Pro.
• Restart iPhone
• Add AirTag - worked!

I initially just tried removing old Macs from Find My, but I couldn't add an AirTag until I removed AirPods.

Solution: Temporarily remove AirPods, beats, watch etc that have Find my enabled from under Devices in Find My. They count toward your 16. Reboot iPhone. Add new AirTags. Add Airpods, beats, watch back in. All works.

SO if you have 12 AirTags connected and 2 Airpods, 1 Beats, 1 Apple Watch that - 16 and you can't add any more AirTags as 16 is the limit. If you want to add 1 AirTag, remove 1 of the AirPods for example, reboot iphone, add AirTag then re-add Airpod - it's a stupid workaround, but it works!!

After reviewing other replies, this one seemed to solve the issue and I was able to successfully add a new AirTag by removing my AirPod Pros from my devices and then added them back after the new AirTag setup.

1. Initiate new AirTag setup.
   1. Received error alert about reaching maximum limit of items (even though I only have 6 items: MacBooks, iPads, AirPod Pros, iPhone, and another AirTag.
2. I removed only the AirPod Pros from my devices.
3. Try to add the new AirTag, go through the setup and it was successful!
4. I re-added AirPod Pros after the second AirTag setup was complete.

Other replies stated that restarting phone may work, which it did get me further in the new AirTag Setup, but it errored out upon naming the device and then displayed the maximum limit alert again.

Another reply stated removing all devices including AirPods, but I only had to remove the AirPod Pros in order to get it to work. I was glad I didn't have to remove and add all of my other devices again.

After trying everything, a helpful Apple support member suggested all of the usual fixes, but this is what helped: 1) Remove Airpods from pairing and Find My….. 2) Re-pair a set of the Airpods 3) Remove the Airpods again! 4) Add the Airtag via the Find My app. After everything else failed, this worked for me.

Heres my theory:

Every device counts as a find my item. I have 9 airtags in find my, and 7 (including both AirPods) which is 16, the stated max for AirTags. What I think they failed to mention is that the limit of 16 is for all find my devices and items.

for those who can’t add the AirTag and don’t have 16 items/ devices it’s recommended to remove all AirPods from find my and Bluetooth and that usually works. If that doesn’t work you can turn off find my and try again or do a combo of the two options.

That usually fixes it but I talked to support and went all the way up to the engineers and they still couldn’t give me an answer and just said “wait for the next update to see if it fixes it” which isn’t helpful now.

I had the same problem. I was able to get it connected with the help of Apple Support chat. First we did this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212251

But that didn't work so we did this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209463

BUT, before I did step 7 and reconnected the Airpods I tried to connect the airtag. It worked. After that I reconnected the airpods.

All is good now.

If you still having this issues the best solution will be to sign out your iPhone from your iCloud and sign back in this will solve the maximum item issue.

Thanks for the tips!

I was able to remove just the AirPod Pros from my devices and was able to successfully set up a new AirTag.

I removed old items from my find my list with no success. I removed my airpods from my bluetooth list and was able to add to airtags easily. I then added my airpods back and all is well.

I had the same problem and followed all the steps I was told through support and it didn’t work. But, I then tried to pair through my iPad and it totally worked. So if nothing has worked for you so far I would try it out. ( On iPadOS 14.6)

What worked for me was a combination of things but I have to tell you that I was basically "flipping through the channels" trying stuff out and searching the internet for answers (no thanks to Apple). I removed my AirPods from my bluetooth connections, turned off bluetooth, turned-off my phone, turned-on my phone and turned on bluetooth. Then when my Airtag was recognized it finally let me set it up properly. I am TOTALLY P*SSED-OFF at Apple for making this so confusing and complicated. There is simply no excuse for not clearly explaining this set-up procedure and having troubleshooting ideas listed. If a device or technology has bugs then DON'T RELEASE IT!!!!!!

I just turned off my phone tired it back on and it worked perfectly try it

This resolved my issue. (signed out icloud and signed back in)

Hi Bariley228!

It sounds like you’re unable to pair your AirTag, and we’re happy to help. Please try unpairing another accessory, such as AirPods, an Apple Watch or other Bluetooth accessory, then connect to the AirTag. If pairing is successful, you can then pair the item that was unpaired again.

If you're still having trouble after trying this workaround, you should contact Apple Support using this link:

Contact Apple Support

Cheers!

I’ve looked at all the recommendations all over the internet: deleted devices off my icloud, deleted off of find my, disconnected my bluetooth to multiple devices, changed my privacy on my bluetooth, updated my software, resetting the airtagc, etc. i still cannot get a BRAND NEW, never used, just took the tab off today airtag to connect to my phone. Gives me an error every time that i must remove items from my items paired because i’ve maxed on them. At this point, i only have my phone listed.

what else can i possibly do? i have never had an issue with apple till now.