This ‘stray’ accessory will work best for expensive, important items. However, it can be misused.
I’m a pretty neat person. Furniture when going home like backpack, glasses, keys or wallet are stored in the correct tray in a box next to the door. Thanks to that, I rarely have to look for things that are important to me before going to work. However, no matter how neat I am, there are times when I lose my belongings. I dropped the wallet on an acquaintance’s car, and because the wallet fell into the slot under the seat, my friend couldn’t find it. Had it not been found by the car washer, I might have had to go over and over again. These are situations where a misplaced device like the AirTag comes in very handy. I was very excited when Apple introduced the AirTag, but it still has many inconveniences when it comes to real-world experience. Accessories “cheap” in the Apple way Excluding EarPods or chargers, AirTags is Apple’s cheapest standalone product. This accessory has a genuine price of about 800,000 VND, and if you buy a set of 4, the price is a bit lower. However, for many this will not be the final price to be able to use AirTag. The device has a round design and two sides are not flat, meaning it is difficult to secure in the compartment of a handbag. Leaving AirTag in your wallet just makes your wallet look good, while lowering your device’s notification volume. AirTag is also quite thick, so placing it inside thin wallets will make the wallet look up quite a lot. In addition, if the AirTag is placed in the wallet or compartment too thin, the efficiency will also decrease. The solution now is to buy a leather pouch. Although there are no prices in Vietnam, the genuine bags that Apple sells are priced equal to or several times higher than the AirTag itself (from 29-449 USD). Leather cases of craft units in Vietnam also cost about 200,000 VND or more. If you buy this accessory, the price of AirTag will be nearly 1 million dong. AirTag pairs very quickly with iPhone. Due to not being able to buy a holster in time, I used the “bare” AirTag, and immediately understood why a holster was needed. In less than a day of use, leaving this accessory in the backpack and wallet compartment, both the aluminum and plastic sides of AirTag have had scratches. Actually scratches will not affect the function of the device, but for those who require high looks, these are still the points to pay attention to. Well done the main function Connecting AirTag to iPhone is very simple. Just bring the accessory close, the machine will automatically recognize and the set-up takes only about 30 seconds. This is a big plus compared to other finder devices. To find items attached to AirTag, users have 3 ways. First, they can go to the Find My app, choose to show up on the map to see the last recorded location. If you are in the same apartment, you can press the speaker button to let the AirTag play the sound. The third method only applies to iPhone 11 onwards, allowing the display of the direction and distance to the nearby AirTag. The “exact find” function worked quite well, but still occasionally lost the signal. The Find My network with billions of devices running iOS is a huge advantage of AirTag. No need GPS or network connection, users can still find the AirTag when it is near any iOS device. Testing in city conditions, I found the position of AirTag on the map was quite accurate. The challenge will come when you want to find the AirTag nearby. The AirTag’s “speaker” is in fact the white plastic side of this device. When you select a sound feature, the plastic face vibrates to create sound. This sound is only enough to be heard in an apartment, when the background noise is quite small. If you search inside a multi-storey house, or assume your family member has the TV turned on quite loudly, you will be hard pressed to hear AirTag’s sound. This is why you should not leave AirTag inside your wallet too tight. At that time, the volume of AirTag emitted will be much smaller, reducing the efficiency when searching. The search when the AirTag is lost is quite effective, the address is accurate. The UWB wave precision search is also useful, but efficiency depends on the environment. When I tried to leave AirTag in the living room of a 2 bedroom apartment, the iPhone frequently reported “weak signal” when I went into one of the bedrooms. Only when the distance is less than 4 m, and there is no barrier between the iPhone and the AirTag, can the device be able to accurately indicate the distance and direction. Combining all 3 of these features, the ability to find lost items will increase significantly when attached to AirTag. However, there are still environments where AirTag is not very efficient, like in a large apartment, or in the middle of a crowded shopping mall. It is also not suitable if you want to leave it on your motorbike to look in the parking lot, as cheaper and louder accessories are available on the market. It would be disastrous if used the wrong way At launch, Apple stated that the AirTag was an accessory “to track things, not to track people”. The company also integrates a number of features so that users know when someone else’s AirTag comes with them. However, in practice these features all have vulnerabilities. The current AirTag can still be used to spy on others. The first way AirTag notices is sound. According to Apple, after “a while”, if an AirTag is separated from its host device, it will squeal to get attention. The company did not specify how long that period was. Just squeeze or stick the tape around the AirTag and the sound will be very soft. According to the Washington Post , it took three days since the last time away from the owner, the AirTag cried for about 15 seconds, and then rang every few hours. The 3-day period is quite a long time for AirTag owners to keep track of the places the victims visit. Besides, reducing the sound of an AirTag is not difficult. If you detect an AirTag that is not with the same account but has been nearby for a long time, the user’s iOS device will also pop up a message saying there is a strange AirTag. The victim can press play to find the strange AirTag, but cannot access the map or find the exact same as the official AirTag. However, in my hands-on experience carrying the strange AirTag all day, I never get a notification on my iPhone. Also, if the victim uses an Android phone, they won’t receive any notifications. AirTag uses the familiar CR2032 battery, sold in every watch shop. AirTag still has many vulnerabilities to be misused. That’s not to mention if the AirTag owner is spying on a relative and knows their iPhone’s password, that person can go into the Find My app and turn off notification when it detects a strange AirTag. Although Apple promises very well, AirTag can still be used as a tracking device for others. In the future, the company may update to reduce the alarm interval or adjust the notification feature. At present, AirTag still has many major vulnerabilities that can be exploited for the wrong purpose. Should I buy AirTag? If you are an iPhone user and forgetful, AirTag will be a very useful accessory, especially with important objects. The price of nearly 1 million is not high compared to the effort of redoing papers in your wallet, or hitting a car key. AirTag can be said to be a huge reason iPhone users continue to stick with Apple’s ecosystem. However, if you do not use an iPhone, there are many other options on the market, with prices as low as half the Samsung SmartTag or Baseus Intelligent T3.
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