Apple AirTag review

The Apple AirTag is Apple's latest addition to its 2021 product lineup. The AirTag is pretty simple. It’s a device that you attach to things to help you locate them when you lose them.

We’ve picked up the four-pack, and we’ll do some extreme testing with them. We will put them through extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme dropping. We’ll do a ton of fun things with these AirTags.

Let’s take a closer look at this device. It’s made of a white plastic on one side, and we see the Apple logo and a stainless steel cover on the other side. It does pick up fingerprints, and, unfortunately, this stainless steel side does scratch really easily. So if you attach this to your keys or anything else with a rough surface, expect to get some scratches on it.

The AirTag has an IP67 waterproof rating, which means it can go about three feet deep in water for about 30 minutes.

Opening this device is pretty easy. You're just going to put a thumb on either side of the stainless steel side, push down, and turn. That's going to open the device up, exposing the battery underneath. The battery is a CR2032. It's a pretty standard battery, and you can expect this battery to last for about a year.

You should note that if you have small children around, the easy access to this small battery can be a serious hazard. In fact, Officeworks halted its sale of AirTags back in May, with speculation the move was due to safety concerns. 

However, Apple has argued that AirTags are "designed to meet international child safety standards, including those in Australia, by requiring a two step push-and-turn mechanism to access the user-replaceable battery”.

If you take a look at the AirTag, you’ll notice that there are no holes. There are no loops. There are no grooves for you to really attach anything through this device directly. Instead, you're going to need to pick up an accessory.

You could throw this into a backpack or a bag, but you can also pick up some accessories to hang or attach it to objects, which is something that we would recommend.

We picked up the leather key chain that Apple sells. It's a pretty standard-looking leather key chain. Open the snap and slide in your AirTag. Then, go ahead and snap it closed, and you’re all set. You can use the other end to attach the AirTag to anything. The ring on this is pretty big, and if you don't want to use it, you can always just take it out and put your own smaller ring into this. This key chain does leave your AirTag exposed on both sides, which is going to allow it to be prone to scratching.

Let's go ahead and say that you lost your keys—thankfully with an AirTag attached. Here’s what you’ll do. do. (We’re demoing what the experience will look like with the iPhone 11 or 12 with the new U1 chip inside of it.)

1. Grab your phone.
2. Open the Find My app.
3. Tap on the Items tab.
4. Select the lost item.

We labeled ours “Steve's keys,” and the map shows us where the keys are located. You can also make the lost device play a sound that will keep playing until you find it. That sound is actually pretty loud—louder than we were expecting from a device that is this small.

If you can't hear the sound, you can always click on the Find option, which brings up a precise location for you to follow. Keep in mind, you can use that find feature with the directional arrow only if you're within Bluetooth range of the missing AirTag, which is going to be anywhere between 30 and 40 feet. Anything over that is going to be a hit and a miss.

We hid an AirTag and tested out how easy it was for someone else to find. Watch the demo here.

Let's say that you truly do lose your device. You have it attached to your bag and you leave that bag on the bus or in an Uber and it drives off, and now it’s completely gone. How do you locate that?

Start by grabbing your iPhone and loading up the Find My app. Go to the Items tab, select the lost device, scroll down, and enable Lost Mode. Lost Mode will notify you if the AirTag’s location updates. It also allows you to enter a phone number for somebody to contact you if they find your device.

While in Lost Mode, your AirTag is going to chime every 15 minutes. Hopefully, somebody will hear the chime, see an AirTag on it, and realize that the bag was left behind. Thankfully, they can use the AirTag to get in contact with you.

Reporting found AirTag for Apple users:

1. Open Find My app.
2. Tab on Items tab.
3. Tab Identify Found Item.
4. Hold your phone to the AirTag.
5. If the AirTag is in Lost Mode, your phone will display the phone number of the person you need to get in contact with.

Reporting found AirTag for Android users:
1. Unlock your Android device.
2. Hold the AirTag to the back of your device.
3. If the AirTag is in Lost Mode, your phone will display the phone number of the person you need to get in contact with.

With so many of us not going into the office because of the pandemic or working remotely, and instead going into a cafe or libraries and bringing your bags with us, it may be a good idea to pick one of these guys up. The AirTag is great for keeping track of your most important things, including your laptop, iPad, anything else that you may have in your backpack. But, as we mentioned above, take special care if you have young children at home. While the two-step push and twist method for removing AirTag batteries may deter inquisitive toddlers, it certainly doesn't make accessing the battery impossible for them.