Using AirTags with a Mac, but without an iPhone

Hello,

I have a MacBookPro, and an Android phone. I bought a AirTag to track my bag, suitcase, etc.

I burrowed an iPhone from work, put in my iCloud account, and paired the AirTag to it.

Afterwards, I was able to see the AirTag location from the Mac's FindMy app. I then wiped the iPhone and returned it. I can still see the AirTag location on my mac (since the AirTags is connecting to other iPhones in the vicinity).

However, this lasts only a few weeks, and afterwards it loses the location, and I need to re-burrow the iPhone and re-pair the AirTag.

Why does this happen?

Thanks in advance,

Tal

Posted on Dec 16, 2023 3:03 AM

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2 replies

Tesserax

Level 10

160,460 points

Apr 1, 2024 11:32 AM in response to tallavi

AFAIK, Apple designed the AirTags to paired to your Apple ID by using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

With a Mac the AirTag can be "seen" with the Find My app, but not on the iCloud Find My app in a web browser.

However, once the AirTag is no longer paired to those iOS/iPadOS devices, it may still be "seen" with the Find My app on a Mac, but for how long I'm not sure.

The key is that this tag is tied to your Apple ID. The only way to remove it from that ID would be to use the device you initially paired it with. In this case, since you already removed your Apple ID association with this work phone, you may not be able to pair with it again ... rendering the tag as basically useless.

vctrmp

Level 1

0 points

Apr 1, 2024 10:01 AM in response to tallavi

Were you able to figure this out? I'm in the same situation (have a Mac, but don't have an ipad or iphone) and was planning to setup the tag with a temporary iphone.

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Using AirTags with a Mac, but without an iPhone