I recently bought an AirTag mainly for luggage when travelling. I get a notification when I’m away from it, and it updates when I’m back next to it but no updates in the meantime. It’s been in busy airports and I find it odd it wouldn’t update with the location (it just says location X hours ago). Is this normal?
Actually, no. The Apple AirTag relies on two things to be able for you to see its "location" on the Find My app on your iPhone: 1) Bluetooth, & 2) The Apple's Find My Network (which literally consists of millions of iPhones)
The key is that an iPhone, with an active Internet connection, must be within an unobstructed Bluetooth range (~30-40') to pick up the tag's Bluetooth signal. That signal is transmitted approximately once every 3-5 mins. to save battery life. With everything in place, the phone will relay the tag's ID, & the phone's GPS location over the Internet to the Apple servers. That is where you would see the updates on your phone.
As you can see, a number of things would have to happen for this to work smoothly. So, for example, if you place the tag inside your luggage, and you happen to have a hardened (think metal) suitcase, then the tag's signal may not be able to transmit thru. Another would be, if no iPhone was nearby within a transmission, it wouldn't "see" the tag, let alone relay its info to Apple.
What would be surprising would be if the tag is at a busy airport, or any "busy" location, where there are many iPhones present, that at least one of them would not be able to "see" the tag ... unless that tag's battery was depleted or that it is defective.
Actually, no. The Apple AirTag relies on two things to be able for you to see its "location" on the Find My app on your iPhone: 1) Bluetooth, & 2) The Apple's Find My Network (which literally consists of millions of iPhones)
The key is that an iPhone, with an active Internet connection, must be within an unobstructed Bluetooth range (~30-40') to pick up the tag's Bluetooth signal. That signal is transmitted approximately once every 3-5 mins. to save battery life. With everything in place, the phone will relay the tag's ID, & the phone's GPS location over the Internet to the Apple servers. That is where you would see the updates on your phone.
As you can see, a number of things would have to happen for this to work smoothly. So, for example, if you place the tag inside your luggage, and you happen to have a hardened (think metal) suitcase, then the tag's signal may not be able to transmit thru. Another would be, if no iPhone was nearby within a transmission, it wouldn't "see" the tag, let alone relay its info to Apple.
What would be surprising would be if the tag is at a busy airport, or any "busy" location, where there are many iPhones present, that at least one of them would not be able to "see" the tag ... unless that tag's battery was depleted or that it is defective.
Sorry for my bad english - but we see the same problem.
In our opinion and after many tests, we see that the problem the iOS 17.xx is.
Iphones with this iOS does not refresh the current position of the airtag in the "FindMe" Network.
An older Iphone with iOS 16 refresh the airtag current position immediately.
You can test it.
I hope that Apple recognizes this problem and fix it fast
You may find the following article an interesting read. It does include the AirTags, so you can see what alternatives are available to choose from.
Yes I thought it odd no update from the airport / it was just in a canvas bag too and finds it fine from my phone when it’s in a vehicle!
AirTag not updating location when away from me
