I am sharing an Airtag with my wife. She is traveling & the AirTag is showing its proper location on her "Find My" app, but on my phone, it has not updated its location since 2 1/2 hours ago. Is there something about sharing that only allows one person to track?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Can't track a Shared AirTag
AirTag
When you're sharing an AirTag, it's true that the tracking behavior isn't quite the same as if you were the sole owner. Apple recently added the ability to share AirTags (as of iOS 17.0 and later), but there are a few limitations and quirks that can affect how real-time the tracking appears for everyone involved.
First, only one person at a time (usually the owner or the most recently paired iPhone near it) will be able to consistently get the freshest location data. This happens because AirTags don't use GPS directly—they rely on nearby Apple devices to update their location. So, when your wife is traveling with the AirTag, her iPhone is constantly pinging its location to the Find My network. That update will always appear freshest on her Find My app. For you, as someone sharing access, it can sometimes take longer to reflect new location info—especially if the tag hasn't recently passed by a new Apple device not associated with her.
Since she has an iPhone, wouldn't it be easier to just have her share her location via her phone, which uses GPS and is far more accurate in providing real-time location updates?
When you're sharing an AirTag, it's true that the tracking behavior isn't quite the same as if you were the sole owner. Apple recently added the ability to share AirTags (as of iOS 17.0 and later), but there are a few limitations and quirks that can affect how real-time the tracking appears for everyone involved.
First, only one person at a time (usually the owner or the most recently paired iPhone near it) will be able to consistently get the freshest location data. This happens because AirTags don't use GPS directly—they rely on nearby Apple devices to update their location. So, when your wife is traveling with the AirTag, her iPhone is constantly pinging its location to the Find My network. That update will always appear freshest on her Find My app. For you, as someone sharing access, it can sometimes take longer to reflect new location info—especially if the tag hasn't recently passed by a new Apple device not associated with her.
Since she has an iPhone, wouldn't it be easier to just have her share her location via her phone, which uses GPS and is far more accurate in providing real-time location updates?
3 hours later I got a message that the bag is at the airport. SO eventually it tracked. I didn't know a person could be tracked via their phone. Not trying to track her - just want to make sure all our bags have airtags that work. We recently lost one - and I saw it was in Rio and was able to get someone who happened to be in Rio to bring the bag back to Florida for us.
gwesq wrote:
I didn't know a person could be tracked via their phone.
It's one part of the Apple's Find My network, where devices (iPhones, Macs, etc.), items (AirTags), or people can be located. It's the share your location feature on an iPhone. It is not pure tracking in a sense as the person has to approve your ability to know their (iPhone's) location. They basically have to "invite" you, and you accepting that invitation. Once that is done, you can "see" their phone's location in near real-time as it is all based on GPS, not Bluetooth, like the AirTags.
Ref: Share your location in Find My on iPhone - Apple Support
Why is my AirTag not updating my wife's location on my iPhone?
