20 Surprisingly Practical Uses for

Apple AirTags
Apple AirTags are super helpful for keeping track of your keys, backpack,
and other frequently misplaced items, but there are some pretty clever
things you can do with them beyond finding your stuff.

Apple's $29 Bluetooth beacons definitely drew some inspiration from Tile's
lineup of trackers. But just because AirTags are designed like other smart
trackers doesn't mean you can't find different valuable ways to use these
little homing tags. As you can see below (and in the headline), we've thought
of 19 fun ways to get the most out of AirTags.

Apple sells these new smart trackers standalone ($29) or in packs of four
($99). The latter is the better deal if you think you'll need a bunch of these,
as it brings the individual AirTag cost down to $24.75 a pop. Maybe you only
need one, but remember — there are at least 18 ways to use Apple's new
smart trackers, so you might want to stock up!

Buy on Amazon: Apple AirTag - Individual ($29)

Buy on Amazon: Apple AirTags - Four-Pack ($99)

How AirTag Works

To be clear, an AirTag is not an iPhone, so it cannot communicate with the
Find My app or network or on its own. Instead, it connects to other devices
on the Find My network using Bluetooth. To get a hit on Find My, a
connected device needs to be within Bluetooth range of the missing AirTag.

But that's the beauty of AirTag. Unlike AirPods, it's not just your devices
AirTags communicate with. Any device running at least iOS 14.5, iPadOS
14.5, or macOS Big Sur 11.1 can connect to your AirTag. That means all an
AirTag needs to do to refresh its location on Find My is connect to a close-by
device on the Find My network. Think about how many millions of iPhones,
iPads, and Macs can do that.

You can even place the AirTag in Lost Mode so that if someone finds it, all
they have to do is tap and hold the top of their smartphone to the AirTag and
wait for a notification that takes them to a webpage with your phone number
and other information. That works for iPhone and Android devices that
support NFC, so you'll have the help of virtually the entire smartphone
community.

Image by Marques Brownlee/YouTube

Apple does all of this with a focus on privacy, as well. All communication
between your AirTag and a stranger's products is entirely encrypted and
anonymous. No location data is stored in the AirTag. The AirTag's Bluetooth
signal identifiers frequently rotate to prevent unwanted tracking. So there's
no risk that a hacker will compromise your security.

If you're looking for your AirTag on your own, it's a similar experience to
tracking down an item on Find My, unless you have an iPhone with the U1
chip (iPhone 11 and newer) with Ultra Wideband technology. These devices
support Precision Finding with AirTag; you'll see an arrow on your iPhone's
display, letting you know exactly how close you are to that AirTag and what
direction it's in. That's a feature we think will come in handy in more than a
couple of the scenarios below.

Jump to a Section
1. Expose Government Secrets
2. NFC Contact Cards
3. Secret Message Dead Drops
4. Lifesaver Beacons
5. Location Trackers for Pets
6. Location Trackers for Children
7. Location Trackers for Yourself
8. Location Trackers for People with Dementia
9. Location Trackers for Your Stuff
10. High-Tech Scavenger Hunt Clues
11. Beacons for the Visually Impaired
12. Underwater Item Locators
13. Luggage Locators (When the Airline Loses It)
14. Luggage Locators (When Coming Around the Carousel)
15. Toy Locators
16. Anti-Theft Trackers for Your Bike
17. Anti-Theft Trackers for Your Car
18. Parked Car Locators
19. A Reason to Buy Those Flat Batteries from the Store
20. Flex Your Wealth

1Expose Government Secrets

In January 2022, security researcher and activist Lilith Wittmann uncovered
a front organization for a German intelligence agency, and she used an
AirTag to do it.
After discovering Germany's mysterious Federal Telecommunications
Service (BST), a federal authority Wittmann was unfamiliar with, she tried
locating it. Through extensive research, Wittman concluded that it was
actually a secret camouflage authority for the Federal Office for the
Protection of the Constitution (BfV), a German domestic intelligence service.
The nail in the coffin was the AirTag she mailed to the BST's address, which
was routed and tracked to the BfV's address.

If an AirTag can expose a secret government front organization, what other

government secrets can it reveal? Maybe you can find out.

2NFC Contact Cards

You don't need to lose an AirTag for them to be helpful to strangers. AirTag
can act as an NFC contact card, sharing your phone number and any other
information you want to provide with whoever interacts with it.

They would tap the top of their NFC-equipped smartphone (iPhone or

Android) on the white side of the AirTag, then hold until a notification
appears. Open that, and they'll be redirected to a webpage that displays the
information you added. It's not quite the same as an NFC business contact
card that can help import contact details, but it's fun to play with.

To set it up, your AirTag must be in Lost Mode. Open the Find My app, tap
the "Items" tab, and select the AirTag. In the Lost Mode section, tap
"Enable," then hit "Continue" on the splash page. Enter your phone number,
hit "Next," then enter your message, which can contain your email, business,
etc. Continue with the directions and hit "Activate" to turn on Lost Mode.

3Secret Message Dead Drops

Espionage tradecraft utilizes dead drops to pass information between two
people without those two people having to meet. One person hides the dead
drop in a secret location, and the other picks it up. In the digital age, dead
 drops can take the form of an anonymous
offline communications server over Wi-Fi,
where people can chat locally in secret
and even drop files to each other.

For AirTag, you can utilize the same Lost

Mode concept mentioned above to drop
secret messages to whoever might know
the location of the AirTag. Have a friend
put an AirTag in the same area, and you
can both scan each other's AirTag to see
any message updates that have been
added in Lost Mode.

4Lifesaver Beacons
If you or a loved one is severely allergic to
anything, put an AirTag with your EpiPens.
The same goes for any other life-saving
medication you may need to take at a
moment's notice. If someone else needs
to find the medicine for you (or vice
versa), they can use your Find My app (or
their own if they are a part of your Family
Sharing group) instead of frantically upending the house.

Don't Miss: The Best Cases & Covers for Apple's New AirTag
Trackers

5Location Trackers for Pets

If you don't want to go through the process of microchipping your pet,
there's a less invasive option to keep track of your furry friend: AirTag.
Apple's Bluetooth trackers are a perfect pet companion since they're IP67
water-resistant, small enough for a cat's
collar, and hardly noticeable on a dog's.

When you already have a collar for your

pet, you can get an AirTag case with a
loop, keyring, or small carabiner. If you
don't know whether a keyring or carabiner
would work best, Arae sells a pack of
AirTag cases with both. There are also
slide-on options from Moogrou, Typecase,
Caisateq, Dlenp, Swincho, and Pup
Culture. You can even get a waterproof
case that screws onto most collars.

If you want a collar with a built-in case for

AirTag, FollowPaw and AirCollar make
leather ones. Feeyar and Taporse sell
reflective nylon collars with neoprene
lining. And you can even find tactical
collars for AirTag.

Popular Option: Moogrou AirTag

Pet Collars for Cats and Dogs of All
Sizes
Image by Moogrou/Amazon

6Location Trackers for Children

Like pets, children have a mind of their own and can run off at a moment's
notice. Put your attention elsewhere for half a second, and you'll spend half
your afternoon looking for your kids.

For an easy way to keep track of kids that aren't old enough for smartphones
yet, think about pairing them with an AirTag. You can simply throw one in
their backpack or pocket, but a case is less likely to be left behind and will
protect the AirTag from damage (kids do tend to destroy things).

A case with a loop, keyring, or carabiner can attach to pretty much anything,
a slide-on case can be secured to any strap, and a screw-on case or pin-on
case can latch onto fabrics and other materials. There are even nylon and
silicone wristbands that support AirTag you could have your kid wear, as well
as necklaces.
Your children should return home every day, so the built-in anti-stalking
feature won't activate since it only plays a sound when the AirTag is away
from your iPhone for three days and starts to move. However, you should
definitely let your young ones know they have an AirTag tracker.

Popular Option: Typecase Nylon Wristband with AirTag Protective

Cover

Images by Typecase/Amazon, Dlenp/Amazon

7Location Trackers for Yourself

Maybe you've listened to one too many true crime podcasts and want a little
extra security in your life. You can pick up an AirTag for your bag or pants
pocket to keep yourself on other people's radar, whether they are on Family
Sharing with you, share an Apple ID account, or have your AirTag set up from
their device.

Another layer of security never hurts when you think you might be walking
into a dangerous situation. Emergency SOS might not be good enough, 911
on your Apple Watch can easily be stopped, custom panic buttons in
Shortcuts might not be usable in time, and your iPhone can be shut off to
disable tracking. But an attacker or assailant might not even realize you have
an AirTag on you, and their own Apple devices might even help track you
down.

8Location Trackers for People with Dementia

People with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia can lose their ability to
recognize familiar places, so it's not uncommon for them to wander off and
get lost and confused. There are GPS trackers for people with special needs
and dementia, but they cost more than AirTag, so why not try an AirTag and
save money? Just ensure they know they have an AirTag, just like you should
do with kids.
As with children, you can attach a loop, keyring, or carabiner to most
anything, secure a slide-on case to most straps, fasten a screw-on case or
pin-on case to most fabrics, or give them a nylon or silicone wristband to
wear. If they always have their wallet on them, you can even place a holder
shaped like a credit card in with their other cards.

9Location Trackers for Your Stuff

AirTag was designed to track your belongings. Like other smart trackers,
AirTag helps you find things you easily misplace daily. But have you
considered everything in your life that an AirTag can help you keep tabs on?

keys
remote (try an adhesive AirTag holder)
AirPods (even better with a case)
wallet (try a credit card-size AirTag holder)
purse
employee badge
student ID
laptop bag
many other things
Image by The Verge/YouTube

10High-Tech Scavenger Hunt Clues

Have some cash to spend? Looking for some high-tech fun? Consider
picking up a four-pack of AirTags and using them as scavenger hunt clues.
Your contestants can use their iPhones — especially ones with the U1 chip —
to tell if they're getting warmer to an AirTag, and, subsequently, to the next
clue. This probably works best for the first clue in a scavenger hunt, as the
players might get confused seeing multiple AirTags on the map.

Image by Marques Brownlee/YouTube

11Beacons for the Visually Impaired

The Find My app supports various accessibility settings built right into the
iPhone. These include VoiceOver, inverted colors, larger text, and
compatibility with braille displays. VoiceOver is possibly the best
accessibility feature to use with AirTag since an iPhone (with a U1 chip) can
give step-by-step instructions out loud with Precision Finding, which offers
blind or low-vision users spoken directions like "AirTag is five feet away on
your right." It's definitely a faster way for people with visual impairments to
find items faster.
12Underwater Item Locators
AirTag is IP67-rated for water resistance. That doesn't mean it's waterproof,
but it does give you some leeway when it comes to a liquid encounter since
AirTag should continue to function at a maximum depth of one meter (about
three feet) for up to 30 minutes.

Given that, consider attaching an AirTag to any items you're concerned

about losing when in water. If you're going boating, swimming, or any other
activity that could result in a wallet, backpack, or other possession falling
into shallow water, an AirTag might be what gets it back to you. You'll need
an iPhone with a U1 chip since Ultra Wideband technology will better
penetrate water than Bluetooth.

If IP67 isn't good enough for you, some keyring and carabiner cases will
make your AirTags even more waterproof. Temdan makes an IP68-rated
case; Mozoter, v-Golvin, Supfine, and Sevrok have IPX8 ones; and DDJ and
Dovick have unrated versions. There are also waterproof AirTag cases for
straps and collars.
Image by Dovick/Amazon

13Luggage Locators (When the Airline Loses It)

If the airline can't find your bag on its own, maybe it can locate it with a
beeping AirTag inside it. Use this tip at your own discretion, of course, since
some airlines might not take too kindly to demands to listen for a chirping
noise inside their luggage area. That said, it isn't the only time an AirTag can
help you with your luggage at the airport.

14Luggage Locators (When Coming Around the

Carousel)
It's a universal struggle to watch endlessly for your luggage on the airport
carousel, wondering if that bag that looks like your bag really is your bag
(spoiler: it probably isn't).
Stop waiting and guessing by popping an AirTag in your bag before you hand
it off to the airline. When it comes time to pick up your luggage, you can use
your U1-equipped iPhone and Precision Finding to know exactly when the
bag has entered the area from the back.

Image via Apple

15Toy Locators
No more flipping over couch cushions or ducking underneath the bed
looking for that lost stuffed animal, race car, or security blanket. If you can
find a way to attach an AirTag to your kids' favorite toys that always go
missing, you should. Of course, make sure it's hidden and not removable by
the kid. An AirTag could pose a choking hazard depending on their age, but
an AirTag sewed into a teddy bear or wooby won't even be accessible to
them.

16Anti-Theft Trackers for Your Bike

If you take your bike out and about town, you likely have a lock or chain to
keep it safe. That said, if a lock or chain were able to stop all bike thefts, we
wouldn't be here, would we?

Don't Miss: How to Crack Any Master Combination Lock in 8 Tries

or Less Using This Calculator

To add extra security to your bicycle while left unattended, hide an AirTag
somewhere inconspicuous. That way, if someone steals it, all you need to do
is track the AirTag to find your bike — with or without the thief. Moment has
AirTag holders with adhesive backs that can mount to flat and curved
surfaces, so you can hide one under the sear or even on one of the bars.
Aimtel, Pelican, Elago, and Lizhi also sell adhesive-backed AirTag cases.

Even better, some companies make AirTag mounts just for bikes. Toovren
and Izi have cases that strap under your bike's seat, while Laut makes a
saddle mount. TagLock, Tusita, and Koqeiey sell AirTag bike mounts that look
like reflectors, so bike thieves won't even notice anything wrong. Anmuka,
Elevation Lab, Grapid, In-Cog-Neato, Royal Kit, Supmega, and Tentoku have
ones you conceal behind your water bottle holder. Dog River Tools, Efeall,
and Nicedack sell stem mounts to camouflage your AirTag. There's even an
AirTag case disguised as a bicycle bell for your handlebars.

Popular Option: TagLock AirTag Bike Mount Disguised as Reflector

Images by Efeall/Amazon, In-Cog-Neato/Amazon, Stouchi/Amazon

Some bikes even have tracking technology built-in that works with the Find
My network, if you're worried about an AirTag being seen.
Image by VanMoof/Apple

17Anti-Theft Trackers for Your Car

As with bikes, AirTag is perfect as a cheap anti-theft device for your car or
truck. There are plenty of places you could sneak an AirTag into your vehicle
so an unsuspecting thief would never notice. Glove box, under a seat, in the
center console, with the spare tire in the trunk, you name it. They think they
just got away with the perfect crime, but little do they know you can track
their every move.

Of course, there are GPS trackers you can buy specifically for vehicles, but
they're expensive and usually require a monitoring subscription.

18Parked Car Locators

You don't need a thief in the picture for your vehicle to go missing. You're
perfectly capable of misplacing your car or truck all on your own, thank you
very much.

To avoid a Seinfeld parking situation, just entrust your location to that hidden
AirTag! Your U1-equipped iPhone with Precision Finding will lead you right
back to your car, so you no longer need to worry about memorizing garage
floor numbers, remembering cross street names, or trying to get "Show
Parked Location" in Apple Maps to work.

Popular Option: In-Cog-Neato's AirTag Cover with Neodymium

Magnet for Vehicles

Seinfeld - Parking garage episode

19A Reason to Buy Those Flat Batteries from the

Store
The batteries in AirTag last around one full year, but once they're dead, you
don't need to buy a whole new AirTag. In a very un-Apple move, AirTag
batteries are user-replaceable, running on the CR2032 coin cell battery.

CR2032 batteries are essentially the AA battery of coin batteries. They're in

every grocery and convenience store, but the chances are that most of the
products in your life don't take them, aside from your old-style Apple
Remote, of course. With AirTags, you finally have a reason to.

Amazon: Energizer CR2032 Lithium 3V Coin Cell Batteries (6

Count) ($7.99)

How to change and replace the AirTag battery

20Flex Your Wealth

This isn't a practical use by any means, but it's certainly something you can
do with an AirTag: show off how much money you have to blow. If you're a
real baller, don't get the standard $35 leather keychain holder like a pleb.
Instead, drop the cash and get a status symbol from Hermés that serves the
same purpose but costs ten times more!
Just updated your iPhone? See everything that's new with Apple's
latest iOS update:

iOS 17.2 Has 59 New Features and Changes for iPhone You Won't
Want to Miss