Apple in late January unveiled a new generation of AirTag, the popular item tracker, featuring expanded range, enhanced Precision Finding capabilities, and a significantly louder speaker to make lost belongings easier to locate.
The updated AirTag builds on the original model launched in 2021, leveraging Apple’s vast Find My network to help users track everyday items like keys, wallets, backpacks, luggage, and more.
Chris Welch for Bloomberg News:
The AirTag is the rare Apple item that you’re never supposed to think about. Having been an early adopter of the original $29 device, I’ve kept the tiny circular tracker on my keychain, tucked it away in my backpack, and hidden it in my guitar case. And for most of that time, the AirTag has dutifully (and uneventfully) served its purpose, continually pinging nearby iPhones, Macs and other devices in Apple’s vast Find My network to report its whereabouts.
That location is almost always right where I expect it to be. But as someone with an unfortunate history of losing wallets and keys, I’ve found the AirTag invaluable on multiple occasions.
The new device’s improved loudness — an increase of 50%, according to Apple — is the biggest improvement. Whereas I sometimes struggled to hear the original AirTag emit its location in a crowded restaurant or on a city street, this one cuts through clearly in those environments. If someone were to covertly plant one of Apple’s trackers on me for nefarious purposes, the louder chime makes it easier to pinpoint and disable.
Under the hood, one new feature is the ability to use Precision Finding — a feature where on-screen arrows guide you to an AirTag’s exact spot — on an Apple Watch. I no longer need to bother with the intermediary step of finding my iPhone all so that I can use it to locate another object. So if I’m out for a phone-free walk and somehow misplace my keys, my watch can bring me right to them.
Unless you’re really sold on the idea of a slightly louder chime, there’s no reason to run out and replace all of the AirTags you already own that are likely serving their purpose just fine… But for a gadget that’s meant to attach to something and (mostly) be forgotten about, the second-generation AirTag still gets the job done and is an affordable way to locate whatever it’s tethered to, or at least get you pretty close.
MacDailyNews Take: Precision Finding on Apple Watch just works so well; it’s quintessential Apple!
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