For those who don't know what "Lost Mode" means, which is everyone on Earth, I will explain it. Lost Mode does not change the behavior of the AirTag, it changes the behaviour of Apple's Find My servers. If you tell Apple's Find My servers that you want to put an item into "Lost Mode", what that will do is tell Apple's Find My servers that you are authorizing anyone who finds your lost device to be able to see your contact information on their screen so that the finder can call you to say that they found your item.
It's really a badly named feature. It should be called "Mutual Contact Mode." Because it tells the finder who the owner is, and it suggests to the finder that they call you. If you don't put the item into Lost Mode, you can still see the item in your Find My App, but you won't be able to receive a text or a phone call from anyone who finds it.
So will an Air Tag ping iOS devices near it anonymously without alerting the owners if those iOS devices, unless you enable Lost Mode? So you can still track your lost thing anonymously?
What if the poor criminals who took my stuff don’t have latest iPhone or use android?
also, I think there is another use for the airtag, an unfaithful husband put an airtag in lost mode beside the door. When his wife go home, the airtag will send alarm to the husband’s iPhone by the wife’s iPhone. So he can rush to send his side chick away. Yes their house is very big, so he won’t hear the door.
Same trick can be use by criminals too, as long as they know the victim has a newer iPhone.
Ah, and now we have the AirTags version of the “Hey, you!” FaceID heist. Or the AirPods pluck heist. Or the TouchID finger chopping off.
sounds like it wont be useful for tracking thefts as i think they said it alerts an iphone carrier of an unknown tag
shame i wanted to put one in my car
You’re forgetting that thieves are generally not the cleverest people in the world so; • this probably won’t occur to them to check • they probably don’t have iPhones anyway
I just want to adhere one of these to my AirPod Pro case since the “find my AirPods” is completely worthless now. But no idea on how big they are and if that’s possible.
That's actually an interesting idea. AirPods do not have a U1 chip and do not contact the Find My servers: based on what I've read they contact only your iOS devices via bluetooth only. If I owned AIrPods I would definitely attach an AirTag. Especially because AirPods don't communicate when they are stored in an enclosed AirTag case/charger. I'm sure this will be one of the best use cases for AirTags. Unless someone comes up with a better idea, I would attach one via really ugly duct tape.
Expect to see an airtag case for your AirPods case.
For those who don't know what "Lost Mode" means, which is everyone on Earth, I will explain it. Lost Mode does not change the behavior of the AirTag, it changes the behaviour of Apple's Find My servers. If you tell Apple's Find My servers that you want to put an item into "Lost Mode", what that will do is tell Apple's Find My servers that you are authorizing anyone who finds your lost device to be able to see your contact information on their screen so that the finder can call you to say that they found your item.
It's really a badly named feature. It should be called "Mutual Contact Mode." Because it tells the finder who the owner is, and it suggests to the finder that they call you. If you don't put the item into Lost Mode, you can still see the item in your Find My App, but you won't be able to receive a text or a phone call from anyone who finds it.
So will an Air Tag ping iOS devices near it anonymously without alerting the owners if those iOS devices, unless you enable Lost Mode? So you can still track your lost thing anonymously?
You just asked me if AirTags behave differently if you enable "lost mode." But I just told you that "Lost Mode" does not change the behaviour of AirTags. So the answer is no, as I said.
The term "Lost Mode" is a misnomer because it makes you think that the AirTag behaves differently. It does not.
Basically an AirTag asks every iOS device around it to report its location to the FindMy servers. And the AirTags have memory so they probably won't ask the same device twice in a short period of time, whatever that is defined to be by Apple. I'd like to know the details, but I can't find them.
<snip> I'm surprised there hasn't been outrage that people's iPhones are using their own data plans to transmit location data of other people's Tags. I think the reason there is no outrage is that people still haven't figured out what's actually happening.
That would be a typical complaint
In reality it shouldn't matter b/c iPhones use WiFi when possible and most people have been arm twisted into "unlimited" data plans.
Fair points, but at the very least I think Apple owes us a feature in iOS that tells us what percent of our device's total monthly data is data being sent to the Find My network. And at the most, it should allow us to disable this crowd-sourcing feature if we are feeling cheap about helping other people find their devices. Maybe some of the idiot lawmakers will enforce this.
They don’t owe you anything, they already have this feature in Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data > System Services > Find My.
Current usage for me is 5.3 MB out of several gigabytes of usage. Your FUD over the theater scenario or some massive server problems etc are ridiculous — you think Apple didn’t think of any of this shit? How big do you think location data is?
That's very funny. You just proved I was right - Apple does provide exactly what I'm saying they owe us. Interesting how you put a negative spin on my correct claim. Thanks for showing that to me; I had forgotten about that feature.
My value is currently 15 MB. And remember, this is before AirTags are available. Once they are available, this number is going to shoot up. How high? I think Apple knows, but they aren't telling us yet. As soon as people start reporting on the actual increases, users will start to get upset.
Most of that 15 MB could be my own device reporting its location to the Find My servers, NOT my own device reporting other people's devices' locations to the Find My Servers.
I notice you didn't comment on my claim that lawmakers should consider making this an opt-out feature (or maybe even opt-in). As it stands now, users have no choice but to share their ISP traffic supporting other users' devices. I'm not opposed to this feature - I'm telling you that when people figure out what's going on they will start to get upset and probably even launch lawsuits against Apple for being forced to pay for other people's data traffic.
As for your question, do you know how big the location data is? Or are you just trying to get me to do all your research for you?
For those who don't know what "Lost Mode" means, which is everyone on Earth, I will explain it. Lost Mode does not change the behavior of the AirTag, it changes the behaviour of Apple's Find My servers. If you tell Apple's Find My servers that you want to put an item into "Lost Mode", what that will do is tell Apple's Find My servers that you are authorizing anyone who finds your lost device to be able to see your contact information on their screen so that the finder can call you to say that they found your item.
It's really a badly named feature. It should be called "Mutual Contact Mode." Because it tells the finder who the owner is, and it suggests to the finder that they call you. If you don't put the item into Lost Mode, you can still see the item in your Find My App, but you won't be able to receive a text or a phone call from anyone who finds it.
So will an Air Tag ping iOS devices near it anonymously without alerting the owners if those iOS devices, unless you enable Lost Mode? So you can still track your lost thing anonymously?
You just asked me if AirTags behave differently if you enable "lost mode." But I just told you that "Lost Mode" does not change the behaviour of AirTags. So the answer is no, as I said.
The term "Lost Mode" is a misnomer because it makes you think that the AirTag behaves differently. It does not.
Article says:
Objects can be placed into "lost" mode where when another iPhone user comes in proximity it sends the device location back to the owner, similar to Tile's community feature. When in lost mode, anyone who finds them can tap them via NFC to learn more about the lost item.
Whether it's the AirTag itself or the Find My service or iOS client device behaving differently is an academic distinction, users don't care. They're saying their tag is lost so that other people can be aware of it. "Mutual Contact Mode" is ridiculous, "Lost Mode" is understandable.
For those who don't know what "Lost Mode" means, which is everyone on Earth, I will explain it. Lost Mode does not change the behavior of the AirTag, it changes the behaviour of Apple's Find My servers. If you tell Apple's Find My servers that you want to put an item into "Lost Mode", what that will do is tell Apple's Find My servers that you are authorizing anyone who finds your lost device to be able to see your contact information on their screen so that the finder can call you to say that they found your item.
It's really a badly named feature. It should be called "Mutual Contact Mode." Because it tells the finder who the owner is, and it suggests to the finder that they call you. If you don't put the item into Lost Mode, you can still see the item in your Find My App, but you won't be able to receive a text or a phone call from anyone who finds it.
So will an Air Tag ping iOS devices near it anonymously without alerting the owners if those iOS devices, unless you enable Lost Mode? So you can still track your lost thing anonymously?
You just asked me if AirTags behave differently if you enable "lost mode." But I just told you that "Lost Mode" does not change the behaviour of AirTags. So the answer is no, as I said.
The term "Lost Mode" is a misnomer because it makes you think that the AirTag behaves differently. It does not.
Article says:
Objects can be placed into "lost" mode where when another iPhone user comes in proximity it sends the device location back to the owner, similar to Tile's community feature. When in lost mode, anyone who finds them can tap them via NFC to learn more about the lost item.
Whether it's the AirTag itself or the Find My service or iOS client device behaving differently is an academic distinction, users don't care. They're saying their tag is lost so that other people can be aware of it. "Mutual Contact Mode" is ridiculous, "Lost Mode" is understandable.
"Lost Mode" makes people think that the AirTag behaves differently. I just had someone ask me that question in post 41 even though I had clearly just stated, in bold text, that there is no difference to the AirTag's behaviour. It's the phrase "Lost Mode" that causes people to misunderstand.
I know you have to argue with me whatever I say; it's part of your personality. I still love you.
For those who don't know what "Lost Mode" means, which is everyone on Earth, I will explain it. Lost Mode does not change the behavior of the AirTag, it changes the behaviour of Apple's Find My servers. If you tell Apple's Find My servers that you want to put an item into "Lost Mode", what that will do is tell Apple's Find My servers that you are authorizing anyone who finds your lost device to be able to see your contact information on their screen so that the finder can call you to say that they found your item.
It's really a badly named feature. It should be called "Mutual Contact Mode." Because it tells the finder who the owner is, and it suggests to the finder that they call you. If you don't put the item into Lost Mode, you can still see the item in your Find My App, but you won't be able to receive a text or a phone call from anyone who finds it.
So will an Air Tag ping iOS devices near it anonymously without alerting the owners if those iOS devices, unless you enable Lost Mode? So you can still track your lost thing anonymously?
You just asked me if AirTags behave differently if you enable "lost mode." But I just told you that "Lost Mode" does not change the behaviour of AirTags. So the answer is no, as I said.
The term "Lost Mode" is a misnomer because it makes you think that the AirTag behaves differently. It does not.
Article says:
Objects can be placed into "lost" mode where when another iPhone user comes in proximity it sends the device location back to the owner, similar to Tile's community feature. When in lost mode, anyone who finds them can tap them via NFC to learn more about the lost item.
Whether it's the AirTag itself or the Find My service or iOS client device behaving differently is an academic distinction, users don't care. They're saying their tag is lost so that other people can be aware of it. "Mutual Contact Mode" is ridiculous, "Lost Mode" is understandable.
"Lost Mode" makes people think that the AirTag behaves differently. I just had someone ask me that question in post 41 even though I had clearly just stated, in bold text, that there is no difference to the AirTag's behaviour. It's the phrase "Lost Mode" that causes people to misunderstand.
I know you have to argue with me whatever I say; it's part of your personality. I still love you.
From the user's perspective it does behave differently, it enables other iOS users nearby to identify it as lost (gasp!) and access the means to contact the owner. The technical means of that difference is completely irrelevant to the service, any misunderstanding does not matter, and no one cares about this misplaced pedantry.
I do not love you, not even a little bit. You're profoundly irritating.
It's not even called "Lost Mode" in the Find My app anyway, it's just an option to "Mark As Lost". There's no problem at all here, except your pompous "explaining" of things that's muddied waters.
As I thought, unless you live in a high-crime area (e.g., places where people get garages broken into, cars and purses stolen etc), it seems like a fairy useless product.
I’ll pass.
Aside: The most ‘meh’ Apple event I can recall. And there’s been a lot of competition in the past few years...
I wonder what happens if that e-bike with the air-tag has its built in air-tag in a spot that requires special tools or partially disassembling the bike. Maybe you would get some time after the tag alerts the thief ( or maybe an innocent passer-by) on his iPhone and before he rips the bike open to get the tag.
Can someone describe to me the type of person who will be buying a $449 AirTag Hermès Luggage Tag? The same person who bought the $18,000 Gold Apple Watch Gen 1?
So, as I understood it (or maybe misunderstood it) with Tile, my phone could locate my tags via Bluetooth. If I left my wallet in a bar, it would be out of my Bluetooth range but yet anyone else having Bluetooth on and the Tile app that it would locate my tag and give me an approximate location.
Would the Apple Tags take advantage of this by either 1) the method I described for Tile, or 2) just show you the tags’ last known location. I know we can get alerts if get too for away from specific items but doesn’t really help.
I’m looking for a tag small enough to be a cat’s collar that can show me where in the neighborhood she might be (she’s an escape artist 😁).
I don't think you understand how it works. It's neither (1) nor (2) in your list of explanations. If your lost AirTag comes within range of any iOS device anywhere in the world, that iOS device will report the location of your lost item to Apple's servers and your iPhone can query the location. You don't need an app for this to work. And it doesn't just show you the "last" location, it shows you the location as reported by the most recent iOS device it came in touch with.
This is a huge difference from how Tile works. Mainly because there are probably only a million users who are running the Tile App, but there are about a billion users who are running iOS.
I'm surprised there hasn't been outrage that people's iPhones are using their own data plans to transmit location data of other people's Tags. I think the reason there is no outrage is that people still haven't figured out what's actually happening.
I agree. I don’t want others pimping off my device battery and data. There better be a way to disable the feature completely, as I don’t plan on using air tags. I’m guessing if you’re using them, you automatically are opting-in for others to pimp off your devices.
<snip> I'm surprised there hasn't been outrage that people's iPhones are using their own data plans to transmit location data of other people's Tags. I think the reason there is no outrage is that people still haven't figured out what's actually happening.
That would be a typical complaint
In reality it shouldn't matter b/c iPhones use WiFi when possible and most people have been arm twisted into "unlimited" data plans.
Fair points, but at the very least I think Apple owes us a feature in iOS that tells us what percent of our device's total monthly data is data being sent to the Find My network. And at the most, it should allow us to disable this crowd-sourcing feature if we are feeling cheap about helping other people find their devices. Maybe some of the idiot lawmakers will enforce this.
They don’t owe you anything, they already have this feature in Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data > System Services > Find My.
Current usage for me is 5.3 MB out of several gigabytes of usage. Your FUD over the theater scenario or some massive server problems etc are ridiculous — you think Apple didn’t think of any of this shit? How big do you think location data is?
Find My cellular settings need to be more granular. It’s ok to use cellular find MY devices and people, but not for the millions of other idiots out there that can’t keep track of their sh!t.
What you don't understand is that iPhones, iPads, and Macs already have internet connections and therefore they do NOT request nearby bluetooth iOS devices to report their location. That's the difference. (I'm ignoring AirPods because they don't have U1 chips and I'm quite sure that they do NOT use the Find My network; they report directly and solely to your iOS devices.) AirTags are NOT connected to the Find My network so they must ALWAYS request to nearby iOS devices that their location be sent to the Find My network.
Except that my iPhone typically has a WiFi connection in areas where I'd probably encounter lots of AirTags, in which case the data usage of forwarding those packets to Apple's "Find My" servers is irrelevant. As for my cellular data, "Find My" used a whopping 0.14% of my unlimited plan over the past 6 months, which (again) is irrelevant. Even increasing that 20-fold would hardly be a blip in my overall data usage.
Of course, if enough people such as yourself can manufacture sufficient outrage because Apple is "stealing" from their pay-as-you-go cellular data plans, Apple will probably include a software switch along the lines of "Only Forward 'Find My' Data Packets When Connected to WiFi", and you can then rest assured that all those AirTag users won't be stealing your precious cellular data.
The more confusion I see around how AirTags work the more I suspect that AirTags are going to be a tough sell for Apple.
I’m also starting to think that Apple may have overestimated the demand for this type of product. I’m struggling to figure out what I’d attach one of these tags to. When I travel I never let my bags out of my sight. I’ve had my bags “lost” by the airlines, but having a tag on my bag would not have made a difference in any of these cases. The airlines knew where my bags were, which were thousands of miles from where I was.
I wonder what demographic Apple is targeting with AirTags?
For those who don't know what "Lost Mode" means, which is everyone on Earth, I will explain it. Lost Mode does not change the behavior of the AirTag, it changes the behaviour of Apple's Find My servers. If you tell Apple's Find My servers that you want to put an item into "Lost Mode", what that will do is tell Apple's Find My servers that you are authorizing anyone who finds your lost device to be able to see your contact information on their screen so that the finder can call you to say that they found your item.
It's really a badly named feature. It should be called "Mutual Contact Mode." Because it tells the finder who the owner is, and it suggests to the finder that they call you. If you don't put the item into Lost Mode, you can still see the item in your Find My App, but you won't be able to receive a text or a phone call from anyone who finds it.
So will an Air Tag ping iOS devices near it anonymously without alerting the owners if those iOS devices, unless you enable Lost Mode? So you can still track your lost thing anonymously?
You just asked me if AirTags behave differently if you enable "lost mode." But I just told you that "Lost Mode" does not change the behaviour of AirTags. So the answer is no, as I said.
The term "Lost Mode" is a misnomer because it makes you think that the AirTag behaves differently. It does not.
Basically an AirTag asks every iOS device around it to report its location to the FindMy servers. And the AirTags have memory so they probably won't ask the same device twice in a short period of time, whatever that is defined to be by Apple. I'd like to know the details, but I can't find them.
Ok let me rephrase it. if you lose an Air Tag, and you want to find it with the Find Amy app, you go in the app and select to find it right, now that will make the Air Tag ping its location out to any iOS devices near by. Simple right?
But...
Do these iOS users know an Air Tag is lost nearby as their iOS device tells them by default? As in without you telling it to. Does it ping its location out completely anonymously?
And then it only shouts it’s lost to people nearby if you tell it to do that.
This is what I am not clear on, the idea is good but if the thing automatically starts broadcasting it’s lost to anyone nearby it’s a complete waste, as it’s basically shouting steal me I’m lost, or rather the thing it’s attached to.
Comments
Le sigh...
• this probably won’t occur to them to check
• they probably don’t have iPhones anyway
The term "Lost Mode" is a misnomer because it makes you think that the AirTag behaves differently. It does not.
Basically an AirTag asks every iOS device around it to report its location to the FindMy servers. And the AirTags have memory so they probably won't ask the same device twice in a short period of time, whatever that is defined to be by Apple. I'd like to know the details, but I can't find them.
My value is currently 15 MB. And remember, this is before AirTags are available. Once they are available, this number is going to shoot up. How high? I think Apple knows, but they aren't telling us yet. As soon as people start reporting on the actual increases, users will start to get upset.
Most of that 15 MB could be my own device reporting its location to the Find My servers, NOT my own device reporting other people's devices' locations to the Find My Servers.
I notice you didn't comment on my claim that lawmakers should consider making this an opt-out feature (or maybe even opt-in). As it stands now, users have no choice but to share their ISP traffic supporting other users' devices. I'm not opposed to this feature - I'm telling you that when people figure out what's going on they will start to get upset and probably even launch lawsuits against Apple for being forced to pay for other people's data traffic.
As for your question, do you know how big the location data is? Or are you just trying to get me to do all your research for you?
Whether it's the AirTag itself or the Find My service or iOS client device behaving differently is an academic distinction, users don't care. They're saying their tag is lost so that other people can be aware of it. "Mutual Contact Mode" is ridiculous, "Lost Mode" is understandable.
I know you have to argue with me whatever I say; it's part of your personality. I still love you.
I do not love you, not even a little bit. You're profoundly irritating.
seriously, it’s awesome that they have replaceable batteries. Way too many devices are made to be disposable these days.
Maybe you would get some time after the tag alerts the thief ( or maybe an innocent passer-by) on his iPhone and before he rips the bike open to get the tag.
Except that my iPhone typically has a WiFi connection in areas where I'd probably encounter lots of AirTags, in which case the data usage of forwarding those packets to Apple's "Find My" servers is irrelevant. As for my cellular data, "Find My" used a whopping 0.14% of my unlimited plan over the past 6 months, which (again) is irrelevant. Even increasing that 20-fold would hardly be a blip in my overall data usage.
Of course, if enough people such as yourself can manufacture sufficient outrage because Apple is "stealing" from their pay-as-you-go cellular data plans, Apple will probably include a software switch along the lines of "Only Forward 'Find My' Data Packets When Connected to WiFi", and you can then rest assured that all those AirTag users won't be stealing your precious cellular data.
if you lose an Air Tag, and you want to find it with the Find Amy app, you go in the app and select to find it right, now that will make the Air Tag ping its location out to any iOS devices near by.
Simple right?
But...
Do these iOS users know an Air Tag is lost nearby as their iOS device tells them by default? As in without you telling it to. Does it ping its location out completely anonymously?
And then it only shouts it’s lost to people nearby if you tell it to do that.
This is what I am not clear on, the idea is good but if the thing automatically starts broadcasting it’s lost to anyone nearby it’s a complete waste, as it’s basically shouting steal me I’m lost, or rather the thing it’s attached to.