AirTags Said to Be 'Completely Waterproof' and Use Magnetic Charging Like Apple Watch

Monday February 24, 2020 6:37 am PST by Eric Slivka

In a report touching on several topics today, Japanese site Mac Otakara claims that Apple's Tile-like "AirTags" item trackers will be "completely waterproof" and use similar magnetic wireless charging to that seen on the Apple Watch.

apple item tag

AirTag image found in iOS 13 build

Evidence of AirTags has been found in builds of iOS 13 since last summer, and it appears the small item trackers will show up in the Find My app and enable users to locate misplaced items. With ultra wideband support found in the iPhone 11 lineup and augmented reality, it looks like AirTags could offer high precision and direct the user straight to an item, even pinpointing it within a room.

We're not sure when to expect AirTags to launch, but it looks like it may not be imminent yet, as noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said just last week that production isn't expected to ramp up until the second or third quarter, and today's report from ‌Mac Otakara‌ claims an announcement in the fall of this year, which would likely be alongside new iPhones in September.

Related Roundup: AirTag

Tag: Mac Otakara

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Top Rated Comments

MarkAtl

80 months ago

“Similar magnetic charging”

Ideally they should support Qi wireless charging, and hopefully not another magnetic charger.

Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)

DoctorTech

80 months ago

What's the expected range? Don't Tiles work over only a few feet? Seems like at that range locating your bike should be easy.

I don't know the expected range of the tag itself but I would guess it to be in the 30' to 100' range. The key is that it is expected to use ANY iPhone (or possibly even iPad or Apple Watch) within that range to locate your AirTag. That means if someone were to steal my bike, I could locate it anytime it was within 30-100' of anyone with an iPhone.

The existing Tile product works in a similar manner but 1) you can only locate a Tile if it is within range of someone who has the Tile app running on their portable device and 2) I do not like Tile's privacy standards - once you install the app they have the ability to track your mobile device anywhere. I trust Apple with my real time location and I know my wireless service provider has that information (nothing I can do about that) but I don't want to give access to that information to a 3rd party like Tile.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)