You may have heard of Airtags before or been recommended to get them. By a friend who knows you’re constantly losing your keys. Whether you’re an Airtag pro and just looking for a trendy new case, or if you’re looking to get an AirTag for your furry friend, we have tips and tricks for you to learn how exactly AirTags work.

• What Is an AirTag? — According to Apple, an AirTag is a super-easy way to keep track of anything from your car keys to your bike or even your four-legged friend if you put it on a dog collar. All you need to do is put the AirTag on any item you want to track. Then, you just have to use the Find My app on your iPhone to keep track of those items. Within the Find My app, you’ll have a list of all of your AirTagged items, such as your umbrella, bike and keys. The AirTag’s Precision Finding feature is currently compatible with iPhones 11, 12 and 13.

• Setting Up Your AirTags — Once you get your AirTag, setting it up and pairing it with your iPhone is quite simple. Just take your AirTag out of the box it came in and pull the tab out to activate the AirTag. Unlike your iPhone, AirTags don’t have a GPS chip. Instead, AirTags use a proprietary U1 chip with ultra-wideband technology. This technology creates a peer-to-peer network to help determine the location of your AirTag.

• Taking Care of Your AirTags — Here’s one less thing for your to-do list: you don’t need to charge your AirTags. AirTags come with a replaceable CR2032 battery so all you need to do is replace the battery from time to time. The battery lasts for about a year before it needs to be replaced. To replace the battery, just push down and twist the AirTag’s backplate. To keep your AirTag in tiptop shape, make sure you purchase an AirTag case. The same way that you’ll want to put a case on your phone or any other device. You’ll want to get a case for your AirTag to make sure it doesn’t get dirty or wet.

• AirTags and Family Sharing — The good news is that you don’t have to worry about random nearby Apple devices knowing about your tagged items. As the AirTag owner, you’re the only one who can determine the location of your AirTag by default. Even if you want to share the location of your AirTags via the Family Sharing feature — no, you’re not able to do that. An AirTag is specifically locked to just one Apple ID, purposely designed to help prevent unwanted tracking. You can share your phone’s location with family members, but you cannot share the location of your AirTag items with family members using the Family Sharing feature.

• Finding Your Items with AirTag — To ensure that your AirTag works effectively, you’ll need to enable location services on your device. Otherwise, you won’t be able to find your AirTag. That’s because Apple needs to know your phone’s location to know where your lost item has gone. To turn on the location services feature, open your Settings. Go to the Privacy menu and then turn on Location Services. If you want to ensure it’s on specifically for the Find My app, locate the Find My app and ensure that it’s set to While Using the App.

• Removing an AirTag — You’re also the only person who can remove an AirTag if you wish. If you want to remove an AirTagged item from your list, just go into the Find My app. You can remove the item from the list there. If your AirTag or the item that your AirTag was attached to is even stolen or lost. The person who finds or takes the item cannot just link it to their iPhone. That’s because, in addition to the fact you’ve removed the item from your Find My list. The AirTag is also specifically registered to your unique Apple ID.

• AirTags for Your Dog — AirTags are for more than just your wallet or your laptop. You can put an AirTag on your dog! In the event that Fido ever gets lost or runs away into the woods. Because they saw a squirrel while you two were walking. All you need to do is get an AirTag dog collar case for your furry friend.

• AirTags and Androids — At this time, while Android users are not able to register an AirTag with their smartphone, Androids do have NFC (near-field communication) functionality. With that, Android users can connect to lost AirTags and help return it to the original owner.

Now that you know how AirTags work. You’ll be able to keep track of any of your essential items in confidence. From your luggage to your car and your best furry friend, you’ll rest easy knowing that you have that extra peace of mind.

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