I put an AirTag in a vehicle to locate it if it is stolen. A friend of mine just took it to run an errand. When I use Find It, the information I get is six days old. My friend is in the car and has spoken to me with his iPhone yet the location is not updated. What can the problem be?
if he does not have bluetooth enabled then the airtag can't piggybag his internet connection to provide his gps location to apples servers to let your account know where the airtag was located close to.
In addition to the other replies, it is important to understand that an Apple AirTag is NOT an anti-theft device for a number of reasons.
One is what has already be stated ... and that is the tag relies on Bluetooth and the Apple "Find My Network" to relay it location to the Apple servers over the Internet. That is where you would find updated location information with the Find My app on your iPhone.
Two, depending on where you placed it in the car. The tag's Bluetooth signal may not be readably available to a nearby iPhone. In addition, the tag only broadcasts this Bluetooth signal once every 3-5 mins to conserve it battery.
Third, when the AirTag is separated from it paired iPhone, after a certain amount of time, it will start beeping. This could alert a potential car thief of its presence.
Finally, if that thief also happens to have an iPhone, that phone receive a notification that there is an AirTag "following" them.
As you can see, this make for a poor anti-theft device. If your goal is to track your car, should it get stolen, then you need to consider getting a dedicate anti-theft tracking device. One of those would be something from LoJack which is based on GPS, and not Bluetooth.
Hello.
The AirTag has to come within range of an Apple device connected to the FindMy network. If it hasn’t, then no location will emerge. A common misconception is that these are live trackers. They are not.
Regards,
mdp1101
Thank you all for your thorough replies. Now, I understand the limitations of the AirTag for the use I intended to give it. Thanks again.
You're are very welcome!
AirTag not working
