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| Apple has officially launched the AirTag to track lost items |
Apple has officially released AirTag, a location tracking tool that allows Apple device owners to locate lost items through Find My App while keeping location data private and anonymous with end-to-end encryption.
The AirTag itself is a small and lightweight carousel tracker with a rating of IP67, water and dust resistant and can be connected to personal items such as purses, bags or keys.
The first order will start on Friday and the product will go on sale April 30 for $ 30.
The built-in speaker beeps to make the AirTag easier to find, and the removable cover allows the user to easily replace the battery.
Once setup is complete, AirTag will appear in the New Item tab in the Find Me app, which allows the user to view the current or last known location of an item on the map.
Each AirTag is equipped with an Apple-designed U1 chip with ultra-wideband technology so that it can accurately search for iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 users.
In hand, this technology can more accurately determine the distance and direction of the missing AirTag.
As the user moves, Precision Finding integrates camera, ARKit, accelerometer and gyroscope inputs and feeds them to the AirTag using an array of audio and visual feedback.
If the AirTag is not connected to the owner and is out of Bluetooth range, Find My Network can help track it down.
The "Find Me" network is approaching a billion devices that can anonymously detect the missing Bluetooth AirTag signal in the background and send the location to its owner.
Users can also put AirTag into "lost mode" and notify them when it is in range or on the wide "Find My" network.
If they find someone missing AirTag, they can click on it with an iPhone or NFC enabled device and then go to a website that displays the phone number of the owner's contact.
AirTag aims to ensure location data privacy and security and there is no physical storage of location data or location history in AirTag.
The connection to the Find Me network is encrypted all the time so that only the owner of the device can access their location data and no one, including Apple, knows the identity or location of any device that helped find it.
AirTag also has a number of active features to avoid unnecessary tracking as the Bluetooth signal ID sent by AirTag is rotated frequently to avoid unnecessary location tracking.
If the user does not have an iOS device, the AirTag, which has been separated from the owner for a long time, will beep when the doorbell rings.
Apple's entry into the tracking arena means that competitors like Tile still face tougher competition, despite Apple's concessions when opening "Discover Me".
So far, Tile has responded to Apple's plans and has already announced plans to launch UWB trackers this year.
Apple's tight control over its ecosystem helped launch new products like AirTags and forced Tile to focus on promoting its features such as various formats and cross-platform support.