AirTag not showing on map when away from home

As stated previously, the location of the AirTag can only update when there is a phone nearby. The AirTag is not a device that has GPS tracking built in and has to rely on a bluetooth connection to a phone that does have the GPS capability. When you see a location that says "17 minutes ago", then that is because there was a device within about 30 feet of your daughter that transmitted the location at that time. If you are looking for real time tracking, it would be better to put a phone in her backpack with the sound turned off to avoid distractions. Since she is only 5, you could put a luggage lock on a zipper inside the backpack.

zvenøva wrote:

Right. Apple says that your AirTag’s location will update with other iPhones around it. Then why, in a house full of iPhone users, will my AirTag not update to me while I’m 20 miles away from the place. Kinda pointless.

Yep. That is exactly how it works for everyone that uses an AirTag. If you are not seeing it working that way, then there is a problem with your AirTag. Check the battery or perform a reset. If it still does not work, then consult with Apple directly.

How to reset your AirTag - Apple Support

Jooleej wrote:

Not sure I agree with this....I have airtags on my luggage and was able to track it when it was far more than 30 feet away from me. But now that I have one on my dog, who I need real-time tracking on, it doesn't do it. It also constantly says i need to find a better connection....we are OUTSIDE...ugh

It is true. The luggage does not need to be 30 ft from YOUR phone, just around 30 feet from ANY Apple device and Airports are full of those. The 30ft rule is not a hard limit and can be a little more or less depending if there are any obstacles in its path. To track something without the bluetooth range restriction, you would need a GPS tracker, which costs more and requires more frequent recharging or battery replacement due to the increased power usage to establish the connection.

It still needs an iPhone within 30 feet that has Bluetooth and Location Services turned on to update its location. The AirTag does not have GPS and needs to rely on getting the location from a nearby device.

I had the same problem with no location found. So, instead of using Siri to find the AirTags I open find my and tap on the air tag that I want to locate and it shows the location every time. Hope this helps.

Like all the types of tag, bar those deliberately designed to be full GPS trackers and hence having a SIM card, outside Bluetooth range requires someone to be nearby with the relevant tracking app and in Bluetooth range. I don’t know whether Android phones can have an app that tracks all makes of tags, certainly my old Chipolo app was device specific. So an Apple tag is liable to be seen by an Apple phone and Apple phones are very numerous where’s phones running Chipolo may not. The Android app for checking Apple tags but it does gives alerts if someone is close to your tag and enables you to identify contact details for a found tag. For complete tracking you must have a racket with both GPS and a sim card

it need to be an iphone and the iphone needs to have bluetooth enabled and have an active connection to the internet and bluetooth is more like around 30meters really

I ended up having to share the air tag location with the person watching them in order for it to update. But didn’t have that issue with my luggage.

so how come that my dad has his iphone with him have 4g/5g sginal while walking with my dog in a park, my dog has an airtag and the location is not being reported back at any time, thats 30feet away, location from my dad it is reported live but not the air tag, so what is going on with it, it only reports back when they are both at home.

iPhone, Bluetooth on, find my on, key chain on, 2FA on, running latest iOS, , only works when within distance of registered iPhone.doesn’t work with shared device.

told by Apple support that device needs to be iOS 17 and device needs to be iPhone 12 and above.

anyone been able to resolve this issue?

kae53 wrote:

So basically, these are useless for putting on dogs if they get lost or anything that gets out of your position since my dog won’t have an expensive iPhone with Bluetooth in her back pocket

It has never been recommended you use them on animals. There are cases of people that had done that and their dog got the device off of their collar and ate it. This could lead to surgery for removal and in some cases death. Don't do it.

I’m starting to believe that it requires more devices and it triangulate the signal and distances, I was under the impression with one device the air tag would get the gps coordinates from the phone and update but know that people say luggage works and dogs no it possible requires several devices

Deli02 wrote:

Has anyone found a solution?

Is the AirTag not showing on the map when there is another iPhone within Bluetooth range (about 30 feet) of your AirTag?

That other iPhone will also have to have a connection to the internet and be using Location Services.

Same issue, I live in New York City, where we are surrounded by iPhones. If I am physically with my child’s AirTag, it will tell me it’s with me. However if the AirTag is not with me, it will not know where it is. There is no chance that there are no iPhones with Bluetooth enabled nearby all the time. I have reset them, but that has not helped.

There was a time when they worked fine, but something got broken in some IOS update. Unfortunately these AirTags are now useless.

You have all that and not reporting back the location at least not the air tag the iPhone yes reports back where it is live