Review: Apple AirTag

There are rumours that Apple is planning to release an updated version of AirTag with built-in AR technology like Samsung’s new SmartTag2. But until that happens, Apple users will have to make do with the version of AirTag that Apple disrupted the smart tag market with back in 2021. And it’s still a solid product that delivers what you’d expect on most parameters.

The AirTag’s crowning glory is that you can play match burner with the help of fairly accurate on-screen distance indications and haptic feedback. It’s a step below Samsung, but definitely both useful and effective. Even visually impaired people will be able to find their AirTag using only the gentle buzz of haptic feedback.

And with an AirTag, every iPhone and iPad in the world will help you locate your tag if it goes missing. So it’s fast and it’s accurate.

Hard to hear

Apple has not disclosed the range of the AirTag, but we find that it is roughly equivalent to the range of other manufacturers’ smart tags. On the other hand, the sound level is very low, in fact so low that you can only detect the sound when you are actually very close.

This is really surprising, and it’s also the case in various internet forums where people share hacks about which side you should face up to hear your AirTag. (It’s the white one).

But imagine that your AirTag is at the bottom of a backpack in a different room from where you are. Your only hope of finding the tag by sound is if you specially train your dog to do so.

Where’s the hole?

Another design choice that can rightly be questioned is that you have to invest in a keychain with an AirTag holder if you want to use AirTag for your keys, for example. And it’s to be expected that many people will want to use it for exactly that.

But Apple is the only manufacturer in this group test that has not chosen to make a hole in their AirTag. Yes, there is a wide range of keychains from all sorts of manufacturers, but for the most part, they are basically redundant products that correct a design flaw.

That said, it’s brilliant that you can use AirTag in the Find app, where you already keep track of your family’s other Apple products. And you can effortlessly connect the tag with Siri, so you can ask the assistant to find it for you. All of this is intuitively built into the system, making it incredibly easy to adopt AirTag and use it in everyday life.

Conclusion

If you’re an iPhone owner, Apple’s own AirTags are the obvious choice. But it’s also one of the products Apple uses to lock you in as a customer, because the more Apple products you own, the less likely you are to switch brands. Despite this, Apple’s AirTags are a great product that does the job and is even fun to get to know.