Loading history…
Loading history…
|
AirTag
Lose your knack for losing things.
|
i
|
| Official AirTag site — Apple |
[ Show / Hide ]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AirTag is Apple's item tracker — a coin-sized disc that hitches a ride on the Find My network, where nearly every iPhone on Earth anonymously relays the location of any AirTag it passes. Launched in April 2021 at $29, it turned Apple's install base into the largest lost-and-found system ever built.
Its precision comes from Apple's ultra-wideband silicon: the U1 in the original and the second-generation UWB chip in AirTag 2 enable Precision Finding — an on-screen arrow that walks an iPhone owner to within centimeters of the tag.
The original AirTag (April 2021) arrived years after rumors and immediately dominated the tracker market, with the user-replaceable CR2032 battery and IP67 build making it a set-and-forget product. Its success carried a shadow: stalking misuse prompted Apple to add unwanted-tracking alerts, louder beacons, and — with Google — a cross-platform detection standard adopted across iOS and Android.
AirTag 2 (January 2026) upgraded to the second-generation UWB chip for up to three times the Precision Finding range, added a louder, tamper-resistant speaker aimed squarely at the misuse problem, and kept the prices: $29 each, $99 for four.
| Model | Chip | Role |
|---|---|---|
| AirTag 2 | 2nd-gen UWB (2026) | Item tracker — $29, four for $99 |
AirTag is the smallest expression of Apple's biggest advantage: the network. No competitor can replicate a billion relay nodes, which is why the product's real battles have been social — the anti-stalking standards it forced into existence — rather than competitive. Its UWB silicon also keeps the U-series in front-line service.
Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0