My AirTag showing an incorrect but updated location for weeks

FYI ... An iPhone can establish and use a VPN over a 5G cellular connection just as it can over LTE, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet (via an adapter). From the VPN's perspective, 5G is simply another IP network.

My point is, if they did use a VPN, the phone's location can be temporarily changed to another location. If that is the case, when it reports the (phone's) location to the Apple servers, it could be using that location instead of the actual location near the AirTag.

The ONLY “location” for an AirTag is that of the “Reporting” device(s).

(An annonmous iphone which hears the tag’s beacon and reports it’s own position to Apple’s servers.)

If that device’s location data is “confused” so too will be the location you see for your AirTag.

If conflicting locations are received (i.e. by hundreds of kilometers) I’m honestly not sure how the FindMy app resolves that conflict.

Perhaps it does continue to display the last “non-conflicted” position … ???

(FYI, Apple doesn’t know where any AirTag is; any location is only decrypted by FindMy on your device)

Per chance, were these two phones actively using a VPN tunnel when they are connecting to the Internet? If so, this is one potential reason the location would differ from the phone's physical location.

Might be. Don’t know.

Is France your tag’s “final destination” ?

The fol is my own conjecture.

Air tags are designed to find things “left behind”. i.e. Things that are non-moving AND detected and reported by multiple devices in the same location.

A moving AirTag is a different beast. Packed in a remover’s van, it’s likely being detected by fewer phones, all of which are widely scattered and the locations of all reports are constantly changing.

Perhaps we’re simply expecting the AirTags to perform in an environment too far outside of their underlying design criteria … ???

I honestly don’t know, but my own experience over 4 years of use has been “very positive” for stationary tags; and decidedly “mixed” for moving tags.

Interesting.

Were the tags moved-around or at least “jiggled” during that 2-week period; or were they stationary ?

AirTags DO detect movement w/ an accelerometer, so perhaps “movement” is a factor …