Airtag not updating location

Recently bought 8 AirTags for various keys, wallets and bags belonging to myself and OH. OH lost his house keys late at night so I opened Find My to locate them. Briefly, it said they were at a location where he had been earlier when in his brother’s parked car. When I opened app again it said they were at home. The app said it couldn’t connect, so we hunted high and low with no joy. Next day we drove 10 miles to where car was parked thinking if key had fallen on ground, we could get in range and find it. Again the app said it could not connect and keys were at home. Spent an hour searching by eye before OH’s brother coincidentally rang him. Long story short, he looked in his car and the keys were on the back seat! Brother has an iPhone so that should have allowed connection!

We wasted a 20 mile round trip, not to mention the time.

I have reset the airtag and have been testing it but it is still not working. The other tags seem to be the same. I occasionally get locations and I am guessing this is when it is in the vicinity of someone with an iPhone on an older OS.

I am utterly infuriated!! Indeed, what is the use of them if this is the only way they can be located?

I have an air tag in my car and on the key ring for the same car. I am parked and the air tag in the car updated within 1 minute as to the correct location, the air tag on the key ring has not updated for over 30 minutes showing it was 26 miles away. The two air tags are only separated by 15 feet. The keys are in my pocket with my iPhone and it is the one that has not updated. After I got back in my car both updated at the same time. The answer provided by support does not address this situation that it is "expected behavior". If that was the case, both air tags would be providing the same tracking information.

I noticed the new IOS update magically made the AirTags update more

often.. still not like it use to but it does around half an hour or so. Before it was going to 2-4 hours at times.. seems like it’s being done purposely by Apple. Maybe reducing liability for stalking? I’m sure they know this is an issue.

Observed same behavior. It worked before as expected, does not work now.

Here is a theory (and as always in these forums it would be great if someone at Apple replies)... could it be possible that they changed their algorithm and now it only advises you that you left something behind and where you left it behind so you can come back and find it. But then if it moves (someone finds it and takes it) you are out of luck. This in order to avoid people tracking other people and Apple not getting sued for this. When they first came out I wondered how they were going to prevent this, as yes, it notifies you that you are being followed, but there is not so much you can do if the AirTag is well hidden.... so could this be possible Apple? Is your new algorithm only intended purely for the use case of when I leave something behind, so I can come and look for it where I left it and nothing else?

Hi there, I hear you on this. It seems the age old "start shutdown restart" approach may work. I have not wished to do it yet, expecting Apple to make software updates. I have tried the many things shared on this forum string to eliminate potential failure modes. None seem to work within reason.

For example when my wife's Airtag is with her (car keys) and she has her iPhone 14+ right next to her, one would think the Airtag and her phone would communicate and I can see the current location of the keys. That is NOT the case. I can see the iPhone, which is great, the Airtag, nothing but dead weight on the keychain.

[Edited by Moderator]

Hi there, can you share the details of 'how' it was fixed? I don't see release notes that speak to the update. Also does one need to literally wipe the tags and pair them again after the update? Classic Apple move.

Your theory is wrong. If it were correct, the AirTag should sync properly with those devices with which it is shared. And it doesn't. It only seems to sync correctly when near the owner's device.

There is no need to make many excuses. The product does not deliver what it promises. It simply doesn't work and is closer to being a scam than an error.

I have two. I put one in each of our luggage bags. When we arrive at our destination airport one of the tags has updated. The other shows a location pre flight??? This was very worrying the first time I saw it.

I’ve got used to it it now but it’s not good enough.

Apple just pulled my post from months ago - it stated this is a known issue and what resolution would they propose. So if this doesn't tell you Apple is off their game, I don't know what will. For the record... Apple products user since 1982.

so if I have a AirTag that I left in back of my truck and I’m somewhere where it’s raining does it mean that’s why my name is not updating on my phone because it’s wet

where is my airtag at??

I have the same issue. Air tag only updates if I’m near by. When I give it to me daughter who does NOT have a phone yet - it does not update the location when going out. How do we fix this?

I’m positive it’s the IOS.. the AirTag updates randomly like it’s only when certain iOS versions are around

Wish I’d seen this before ordering these piles of junk.

Going to get a refund on them.

There's a post on reddit that indicated phones running iOS17+ are not reporting locations, but iOS and earlier are.