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Apple Air Tags (Consolidated Threads)

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Old May 5, 2021, 2:44 am
  #106  
 
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Originally Posted by draver
Apple builds products then sells the sizzle. People buy them because they see them as superior to other similar products. Remember, they built the first iPhone that had to compete with many established cell phone companies like Nokia, Motorola, etc. They just did that better also. This is nothing new for Apple.
Very true on the smartphone front, in fact Apple totally demolished market-leader BlackBerry and pretty much drove an iStake through the heart of Nokia, Windows Mobile etc.

Apple was also not the first in the MP3 player space but it certainly was the first to nail the product, the 'packaging' of the concept and the ease of use, to the point where most people thought Apple was the first and the iPod became synonymous with portable digital music players. (And the same not-first-but-best also applies to the tablet, if you discount the Newton as a 'false start').
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Old May 5, 2021, 2:46 am
  #107  
 
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FWIW, I was chatting with a friend today, he flew SYD-ADL on a Boeing 737 with AirTags on his checked bags and while they didn't track along the belt as expected, they did show as nearby on his iPhone while he was in the air (and connected to Qantas' inflight Internet).
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Old May 5, 2021, 8:00 am
  #108  
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Call me a cynic - what problem is this a solution for?
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Old May 5, 2021, 8:33 am
  #109  
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Originally Posted by WilcoRoger
Call me a cynic - what problem is this a solution for?
Losing your keys, bags etc.

Leave your bag on the bus? Track it and find where it ended up.
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Old May 5, 2021, 9:30 am
  #110  
 
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Originally Posted by LIH Prem
Right, here's mine .. it's pretty localized, maybe at most a radius of a few miles?
Thanks! Yeah it looks like about the size of an average city? Although I am surprised that there are actually 199 tile users in that small an area at Maui. That's pretty cool.
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Old May 5, 2021, 10:44 am
  #111  
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Review:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021...acy-messaging/

Says it can be used to stalk people with Android phones but maybe not people with iPhones.
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Old May 5, 2021, 12:58 pm
  #112  
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
Losing your keys, bags etc.

Leave your bag on the bus? Track it and find where it ended up.
How did humanity managed before?
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Old May 5, 2021, 1:18 pm
  #113  
 
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Originally Posted by WilcoRoger
How did humanity managed before?
The usual way. The person who lost the thing asks his/her spouse, "Have you seen my xxxx?" Seriously these AirTags will make really nice Christmas stuffers for my nephews and nieces. They are priced just right for causal gifts.
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Old May 5, 2021, 1:38 pm
  #114  
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How did people manage before planes, computers, TVs, smart phones?

AirTags won't become as indispensable as those other things but they might become as useful as say smart watches or AirPods, things which you don't have to have but kind of enhance your digital ecosystem somewhat.
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Old May 5, 2021, 2:52 pm
  #115  
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Airtags can be used to stalk iPhone users too, and Apple isn't clueless enough to not know that. They just want to make a show of having said they considered the issue and "we did something".

Originally Posted by Need
The usual way. The person who lost the thing asks his/her spouse, "Have you seen my xxxx?" Seriously these AirTags will make really nice Christmas stuffers for my nephews and nieces. They are priced just right for causal gifts.
But they need a holder or some other kind of deliberate placement; otherwise they just become more clutter. Very different than is the case with relatively expensive phones and watches and even bluetooth earpieces in daily use.
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Old May 5, 2021, 3:21 pm
  #116  
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I bought one today on a whim. I figure I'll attach it to my car keys.

I don't tend to lose things, but hey, it'll be a new gadget to play with I guess. And maybe I'll find something I actually want to track.
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Old May 5, 2021, 5:50 pm
  #117  
 
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Originally Posted by Need
The tests will come out soon when more of the general public received the AirTags. Right now most of the online reviews are from Apple sponsors who got the AirTags and other Apple products for free. Those people are not going to risk their sponsorship telling people how the AirTag works if it is going against Apple's official stands.

Here is another article said that they "confirm" about the home location thing, but didn't say whether they confirm it by testing or got words directly from Apple.
https://petapixel.com/2021/04/26/app...track-thieves/
The real normal users tests are coming in. Here is one that also confirm about the "home" location is where you get notified of being stalked. Another note is that if you share the same home location as the person you are tracking, he/she won't even know about the tracking after coming home.
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Old May 5, 2021, 5:55 pm
  #118  
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Originally Posted by Need
The real normal users tests are coming in. Here is one that also confirm about the "home" location is where you get notified of being stalked. Another note is that if you share the same home location as the person you are tracking, he/she won't even know about the tracking after coming home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jScSpxvUlrY
Do most iOS devices even have their owners/users deliberately storing a "home" location on them? Or is the "home" location something that is sort of pushed onto iOS device users? I expect the answer to the latter is "yes".

And does Apple sort of push its iOS device user to have the Find My stuff on and keep it on?

Isn't Apple's "Find My" stuff not really just about finding "my" stuff but also about finding others and/or for finding others' stuff at this point?

Last edited by GUWonder; May 5, 2021 at 6:18 pm
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Old May 5, 2021, 6:05 pm
  #119  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Do most iOS devices even have their owners/users deliberately storing a "home" location on them? Or is the "home" location something that is sort of pushed onto iOS device users? I expect the answer to the latter is "yes".
My wife and son' Apple IDs have a home address. I think when you create an Apple ID it askes for your home address and you have to fill it in. And you have to log in to your Apple ID on the iPhone if you want to use Facetime or App Store or some other things.
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Old May 5, 2021, 6:06 pm
  #120  
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They try to prompt you to set a home location but they see where you spend your time.

So if you open the Maps app, it might already let you quickly tap navigation to your Home, even if you've never set it.

Sounds like people can stalk their spouses or parents can stalk their kids then.
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