I see on the news ALL the time people that found their stolen bike (by tracking its Apple tag), car etc. my cat has a tag in his collar and we can’t track him unless he’s in bounds closer to us. How do these people track their tag far away?!?!?!?
iPhone 14
Per Apple: Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the Find My network. These devices send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. And itʼs efficient, so thereʼs no need to worry about battery life or data usage.
The range of Bluetooth is typically about ten meters, more or less, though AirTag range is not documented AFAIK.
This means that the periodic “here I am” messages emitted from an AirTag must reach a nearby Apple device, and relayed from there to Apple and the Find My network. No relay, no location.
Per Apple: Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the Find My network. These devices send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. And itʼs efficient, so thereʼs no need to worry about battery life or data usage.
The range of Bluetooth is typically about ten meters, more or less, though AirTag range is not documented AFAIK.
This means that the periodic “here I am” messages emitted from an AirTag must reach a nearby Apple device, and relayed from there to Apple and the Find My network. No relay, no location.
On average, stolen bikes are probably closer to other people and to other Apple devices that can relay position than wandering cats tend to be. AirTag is not a cellular-enabled GPS tracker. AirTag needs other Apple devices nearby to relay its position.
So…when an air tag gets “pinged” by some random person a mile away, will it show up on my phone (since I own that air tag)? Is that how it works? Sorry, trying to understand. Thanks for ur input☺️
How to track your pet with air tag?
