AirTags as car trackers... Alternatives?

[akku]

I was thinking that hiding an Apple Airtag in the car would be a decent tracking option. I have used airtags to track luggage. They are small, decent battery life and don't need any kind of contract or airtime.

Has anyone tried this? I have heard folks say its not reliable as a method of tracking. it seems to work well enough with my suitcases.

A decent third party version would be fine but I guess they will all be subject to the same limitations?

Thoughts?

[b18lou]

I have used them as car trackers before, theres just 1 weakness and thats if the theif happens to have a iphone they will be alerted to it's presense in the car.


Still however a very cheap way of having a tracker.

[chandlergti]

I have them buried in a few of my cars and also on my car trailer. Maybe the warning that an AirTag is traveling with the thief will cause them to dump it before parting it out? Or at least I hope so.

[akku]

I am a little unclear about how AirTags work, that thing about them being visible to a theif is a possible downside, but doesn't that only happen when you put them into "lost" mode? You can track them otherwise just fine without the lost mode. Or could a thief be "scanning" the car to see if there were tags in it?

For £25 each with no airtime charges they seem like a good buy...

[maf260]

I use airtags for luggage when travelling - peace of mind to know the bags have been loaded onto the plane!

I also have one stashed deeply in a car with the speaker removed so that even if a thief can discover it's in there they can't use the audible alert to easily find it.

[LowStandards]

Airtags will alert a phone that they are travelling with them as a safety measure to stop you being a drity stalker


I kinda think this is a good thing in this instance, as ChandlerGti says, it would make them dumnp the car




You'd also want to mod it to remove the speaker as it will alert them to it's location that way as well, but it's easy to do and loads of info online

[akku]

I'm curious. If the tags alert you to travelling with them, then why doesn't alert anyone I travel with as I have an airtag on my house keys? Surely then every iPhone user I go anywhere with should get a warning? Nobody ever mentioned it and I would have thought that it would cause comment.

Do you have to go into "find my" to see if there is a tag travelling with you or should there be a popup?

I feel this is a cause for some investigation

Good call on the speaker removal.

[jimi]

Oct 1, 2024 12:49:55 GMT LowStandards said:

I kinda think this is a good thing in this instance, as ChandlerGti says, it would make them dump the car

More likely, dump the car and set fire to it

[LowStandards]

Not seen a burnt out car in years



I quite miss it

[maf260]

Oct 1, 2024 14:15:20 GMT akku said:

I'm curious. If the tags alert you to travelling with them, then why doesn't alert anyone I travel with as I have an airtag on my house keys? Surely then every iPhone user I go anywhere with should get a warning? Nobody ever mentioned it and I would have thought that it would cause comment.

Do you have to go into "find my" to see if there is a tag travelling with you or should there be a popup?

I feel this is a cause for some investigation

Good call on the speaker removal.

My understanding is that they would only get an alert for an 'unattended' air tag moving with them. If you're nearby it knows it's yours and so won't alert others.

[akku]

Oct 1, 2024 19:06:01 GMT maf260 said:

Oct 1, 2024 14:15:20 GMT akku said:

I'm curious. If the tags alert you to travelling with them, then why doesn't alert anyone I travel with as I have an airtag on my house keys? Surely then every iPhone user I go anywhere with should get a warning? Nobody ever mentioned it and I would have thought that it would cause comment.

Do you have to go into "find my" to see if there is a tag travelling with you or should there be a popup?

I feel this is a cause for some investigation

Good call on the speaker removal.

My understanding is that they would only get an alert for an 'unattended' air tag moving with them. If you're nearby it knows it's yours and so won't alert others.

Now that makes sense. I still feel the need to test this.

[frag]

When I considered putting one on the dog,Incase he went ‘awol’
I was under the impression,AirTags piggyback off other nearby apple devices for location info.So if there’s no nearby other apple device,they can’t be located.

No good for the dog scenario if in the countryside…..

So depending where you live,and where the car was stashed or dumped,would you still be able to locate it like a tracker ?

[maf260]

Oct 7, 2024 18:17:26 GMT frag said:

So depending where you live,and where the car was stashed or dumped,would you still be able to locate it like a tracker ?

Yes

[The Cat Herder]

Tile trackers don’t alert other iPhone users when one is nearby, as an AirTag will.

[frag]

Oct 7, 2024 19:42:37 GMT maf260 said:

Oct 7, 2024 18:17:26 GMT frag said:

So depending where you live,and where the car was stashed or dumped,would you still be able to locate it like a tracker ?

Yes

I
Even if it’s not close to/within range of any other apple device ?

[ChasR]

The alerting feature of airtags can be handy. Quite a few motorbike thieves were using them to track bikes to a person's address so as to steal them later. I have heard similar deals happen on cars, but I've yet to hear a report of this being the case.

As a budget way of tracking the car, it's worth a go. Whether the police will acknowledge it as a means of recovering the car is another matter.

[maf260]

Oct 7, 2024 20:47:41 GMT frag said:

Oct 7, 2024 19:42:37 GMT maf260 said:

Yes

I
Even if it’s not close to/within range of any other apple device ?

I believe it needs to operate within the Apple Find my Device network, so not like GPS, but with so many Apple devices in use there must be very few black spots.

[frag]

They seem to rely on blue tooth, to the nearest apple device (and that has to be connected to the internet)
Range isn’t brilliant,I think you’d be in with a chance in a city or town due to all the other apple deivices

But in a rural or countryside location,if there’s no other apple internet connected device,within Bluetooth range (10 metres indoors / 30 metres outdoors)
It will only show the last location it was within range of such a device

beepings.com/airtag-vs-tracker/#:~:text=This%20means%20that%20its%20range,range%2C%20it%20cannot%20be%20located.

[glenanderson]

We have an AirTag on our cat’s collar. It’s a reasonable way of keeping track of her, but we do live in an urban environment and there’s plenty of other devices around.