Announced for several years, Apple's AirTags lost object trackers are finally arriving on the market after their presentation at the spring keynote.
Find your lost items including your precious keys or wallet?
The market was well marked out by a pioneer like the American company Tile or its late French competitor Wistiki, which uses Bluetooth connections - under Android as well as under iOS - and a limited network of users.
With its AirTags at 35 euros each, Apple intends to reproduce the AirPods recipe that popularized wireless headphones and take advantage of its giant network of nearly a billion iOS devices in circulation around the world to identify its AirTags.
We put them to the test of reality, during a quick test this weekend that will obviously have to be supplemented by more in-depth analyzes when we have regained more mobility, during long trips for example.
And that iPhone users will have made the latest update that will serve to build a network of "spotter".
Because only devices running the latest version of iOS 14.5, which should be available this Monday evening, can pair the AirTag which will ask you for a software update anyway.
A few steps are enough to add the tracker to the “Objects” found in the Locate application.
Another restriction, only the iPhone 11 and 12 families benefit from a U1 Ultra Wideband chip which increases precision.
Presented in the form of a cufflink, the AirTag is light and thick like two coins.
LP / DLC
Too precious to slip it nonchalantly at the bottom of a bag, the AirTag can be placed in a wallet despite its thickness which creates a small bump.
Ideally, it hangs rather on a keychain with a key ring (sold separately) or on a bag, or even a bicycle, with a lanyard, also sold as an accessory.
Effective at home and outdoors
The first step in our test was to find the device in the living room, in particular in a widely documented “swallower” of keys and other wallets, the sofa. In the middle of a room with several Bluetooth and wi-fi signals, we must launch the Locate application and two options are available to us: Play a sound or Locate. The AirTag produces a slightly louder ringing tone for 3 to 4 seconds than when receiving an SMS. The audio signal should be enough to spot which corner it is hiding in. The Locate option, which is based in part on the U1 chip, will refine the search area and guide precisely, to the nearest ten centimeters, to the object. Finding a bunch of keys or any lost object before leaving should no longer turn into a morning puzzle.
IPhone accurately guides to the object when it is within a short radius.
LP / DLC
Locating takes no more than 20 seconds even when the beacon is placed in another room and the bluetooth signal passes through a wall or door without hindrance.
But the system has a little more trouble locating when there are two walls and a little more distance.
Let's move on to the outside world, the AirTag, resistant to water and dust, does not fear adventure even if its stainless steel part is easily scratched.
Head to the Bois de Boulogne forest for a rather special treasure hunt.
Hidden in the middle of the woods by an accomplice, the AirTag is subjected to the test of one of its most promising functions: to find its truly lost belongings.
The Locate application displays the last place where our smartphone detected the presence of the AirTag but eventually it should also soon show the near real-time location of the AirTag when it is spotted by the device running iOS 14.5 of a stranger.
Another user's Bluetooth connection will capture and record the location and send the information “securely, anonymously and end-to-end encryption” to a server.
This should be particularly interesting for luggage lost at an airport or forgotten on a train.
The AirTag's geolocation is displayed on the map and defines a search zone.
LP / DLC
In our experience today, the Key symbol appears on speed cameras about 1 km away and you just need to click on Directions and the Maps application will guide you nearby.
The geolocation is initially not very precise, it indicates a search zone with a degree of precision to work.
"Weak signal"
In the middle of the trees, the iPhone struggles to hook the location of the AirTag: “Searching for the signal in progress.
Try to move in another direction, ”advises the application.
After a few minutes of exploring the area, we are "connected" but with a "weak signal".
A few hiccups sometimes accompany the search in a larger area.
LP / DLC
You have to wait until you reach a radius of ten meters around the object to be guided with precision with arrows.
This is when the system proves its interest.
The Find My app gives directions and the iPhone generates haptic feedback.
LP / DLC
Note also that using this means of finding your belongings in nature implies having the network or failing that an Internet connection by wi-fi to connect to the server and see the last place where the AirTag gave sign of life.
One question remains unanswered: can we divert AirTags from their use to spy and follow someone, for example? “Our device was designed to track objects, not people,” Apple told us. Main safeguard, the AirTag rings when it is too long out of reach of its owner or will send a notification to another iPhone to signal its presence. The person targeted by this intrusive monitoring would therefore quickly realize it.
After a certain period of time, it goes into Lost Mode and locks itself.
You will receive a notification when its position becomes available again.
After filling in your contact details, including your phone number, someone who can find it can contact you.
And it should also work with recent Android smartphone users thanks to the NFC reader which can read his signature.
Verdict
The AirTag corresponds to a need, to no longer lose your things, which is the role of practical innovation.
Its rather successful operation does not call for any expertise and it can become a good habit to take and especially a gift to offer to a friend or a member of the family known for his faculty to scatter.
Apple had the good idea to insert a watch battery therefore interchangeable which will extend its life.
But the manufacturer has, as usual, limited compatibility with devices other than those in its ecosystem.
Its price - 35 euros or 119 euros, the 4 - can also be an obstacle for some heads in the air.
Especially since to take full advantage of it, you have to get an accessory like the official leather keychain which costs… more (39 euros) than the tracker.
Other more affordable accessories will of course make their appearance but this is a parameter to be taken into account before purchasing.
In pre-order since last week, the AirTags are victims of their success according to the online store of Apple which postponed deliveries to mid-May.