Can disabled AirTag be enabled again?

[MTShipp]

This may have already been asked and answered but…

If someone happens upon my lost AirTag (or to be a jerk) and decides to deactivate it and I still recover it later, is it dead now or can I reactivate it since it was tied to my account?

 

[theshoehorn]

It's my understanding that the "deactivation" mechanism is removing the battery. So put a new battery in and it's good to go?

 

[parseckadet]

This is a misnomer, that the person it's traveling with can click a button on their iPhone and turn off the AirTag. That's not the case. Instead their phone will give them instructions on how to remove the battery from the AirTag.

 

[Pagemakers]

If a tag has been assigned to your phone you cannot remove the battery and simply assign it to another phone. It won’t allow it.

 

[matrix07]

This is a misnomer, that the person it's traveling with can click a button on their iPhone and turn off the AirTag. That's not the case. Instead their phone will give them instructions on how to remove the battery from the AirTag.

Interesting...

Then to re-activate it is to put a battery in it again. Makes sense.

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

If a tag has been assigned to your phone you cannot remove the battery and simply assign it to another phone. It won’t allow it.

Wait what? Where is this said? So I’m stuck with the airtags I have I couldn’t even sell them? That can’t be right

 

[parseckadet]

Wait what? Where is this said? So I’m stuck with the airtags I have I couldn’t even sell them? That can’t be right

You can remove it from your AppleID, just like any other Apple device, and then sell them on. All that was meant was that there's more to it than simply removing the battery and that somehow causing the AirTag to reset, and thus be able to register it with a different account.

 

[matrix07]

Wait what? Where is this said? So I’m stuck with the airtags I have I couldn’t even sell them? That can’t be right

What he said is a thief can not remove YOUR AirTag battery and then register it to himself. Of course you will be able to unpair it to sell or give it to someone else or whatever but you'll need your Apple ID password to do that.

 

[Pagemakers]

Correct!