Apple AirTag (updated)

I am a sucker for technology gadgets. When the Tile first came out, I bought a couple of them to keep track of stuff. It works fine when the tag is within range of your phone. If you lose the attached item out in the real world, then finding stuff depends on other people’s phones. The Tile user base was too small to be effective. Also, the original Tile tags ran out of battery pretty quickly and they were not user replaceable. Did they expect people to buy another Tile tag each time the battery ran out?

So I was excited to see Apple’s solution to this problem. Since you would not want to use cellular or WiFi connection for locator tags, we are limited to using Bluetooth. It was pretty smart to utilize Apple’s locate my stuff app since all iOS users are familiar with it. Hopefully there are enough iPhones out there for good coverage, and lost AitTags can be located quickly.

I ended up buying the four pack and got them engraved with some emojis. Because of the personalization, the AirTags will take 2-3 weeks to arrive. They are likely still made in China so they need to be engraved in the factory, packaged, and shipped overseas. This used to take only days, but with COVID still a risk worldwide, the number of airfreight flights is very limited.

One of my sister’s dogs sometimes runs out of the house when you open the door. I may put one on her to see if the tracker works outside the house.

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Updated: 6/22/2021 6:00 pm

I got a text message from FedEx saying a package for me has shipped. I thought it was a prescription or the monthly Natera Prospera blood test, but the package is coming from Kunshan, China, so it is probably the Apple AirTags. Kunshan is right outside of Shanghai. I could not find the address on Google Maps, but it is likely located in one of the high tech industrial parks found in every Chinese city. I also got an email from Apple just now with estimated delivery date of June 29th. That is next Tuesday. I thought shipping would take longer, but FedEx has their own planes and do not depend on commercial passenger flights for cargo shipments.