I just read that AirTags don’t work both ways like Tile does. In other words you can’t press on the AirTag to ping your phone if have your keys but misplaced your iPhone. Is this correct? Why would Apple not include that feature?
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Can AirTags ping your phone?
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I believe that is correct. There is no pinging your phone from an AirTag.
That seems like an oversight. You can misplace your phone (have the couch eat it) as you are your keys. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There is no way that I can see you can ping your phone. At least not in this version/software.
You can however, ping the other way around. You can ping the tag from your phone.
"Ping it. Find it."
"Misplacing something like your wallet doesn’t have to be a big deal when it has AirTag attached. You can play a sound on the built-in speaker by going to the new Items tab in the Find My app, or say “Hey Siri, find my wallet.” If it’s hiding nearby — like under the couch or in the next room — just follow the sound and your search is over."
You can however, ping the other way around. You can ping the tag from your phone.
"Ping it. Find it."
"Misplacing something like your wallet doesn’t have to be a big deal when it has AirTag attached. You can play a sound on the built-in speaker by going to the new Items tab in the Find My app, or say “Hey Siri, find my wallet.” If it’s hiding nearby — like under the couch or in the next room — just follow the sound and your search is over."
Eh, I would rather just ping my iPhone from my Apple Watch. Or HomePod. Or wife/sister/friend phone. The Tile to phone ping always went off at the worst time in my pocket.
i would expect Apple to design a product that can do both without errant pings.
I think that this is the case for many people. If I was to lose my phone I would use one of those devices that you mention (or iPad/Mac).
However, quite a lot of people only have an iPhone as an apple device, and if they decide to get Airtags then they would miss this functionality. I thought it was likely that this would be possible.
I understand that. I would be curious though how many people buying AirTags already own an Apple Watch. I don't carry my keys around all day, so would never use the "click for ping." But also, the added button made the Tile devices more fragile. Not to mention most people hated the feature as it ALWAYS went off in pockets.
The white dome is the speaker on the AirTags. It couldn't be a button due to the need for it to be a more rigid structure for noise.
I agree. Maybe this will be a feature in AirTag 2.0?
You can ping your iPhone by… an Apple Watch ? now you see why the AirTags don’t support it.
All you need is a web browser to ping an iPhone, and I'm sure people have friends with computer, iPads, or iPhones.
I was just responding to a post that said people could use their other Apple devices to ping the phone by mentioning that they may not have other Apple devices.
I gave my wife a tile with this feature. She kept accidentally activating the ping your phone, to the point she got so fed up with it she ripped the tile off her key ring and threw it in the bin.
That’s what I do (or use my HomePod) but many folks don‘t have either of those. Apple is going to Apple. Personally I think “precision finding” is just a cute gimmick.
I have other devices that can help me find my phone. My Apple Watch, I can also ask any of my homepods to find my phone. I could also use find my on my iPads or macs.
I think they already explored this. Apple probably thinks since everyone has an Apple Watch, people will be able to locate their phones.
If the airtags had this it’ll be priced a bit more, maybe $50
Accidentally pressing the key could be easily prevented by Pressing 3 times within 3 seconds or something similar.
You cannot ping your phone by…an Apple Watch if you do not own the latter product. Now you see why the OP’s question is relevant to some people.
Yes, that’s obvious…in response to a silly comment that assumed all owners of one product own the other by default.
I think the silly comment originally came from apple, who suggested that people use an Apple Watch for kids rather than use airtags. I assume that was what the other poster was referring to (hence the smiley).