I know, it’s about as ironic a request as could be made: a way to help us find AirTags! Specifically, a way to find AirTags with low batteries, which no longer have enough power for the sound alert or precision-finding function.
I explained recently why I’ll in the future do my AirTag battery replacement en masse, but didn’t mention one small piece of entertainment involved in this …
I have eight AirTags. One of them is on my Brompton, as backup for the Invoxia GPS tracker, and another one on my video rig. Five of them live permanently in my most-used bags. The final one is simply named Bag of the Day, and is one which I slip into any other bag I happen to be using that day (regular readers will know that I’m something of a bagoholic).
As the low battery warnings started to come in, I replaced the batteries, one by one. There was, however, one bag that was more deeply buried, and which I decided to leave until I next used it. This was a mistake.
The bag in question is a large rolling suitcase, which I only used once or twice a year at the time. By the time it came to use it, the AirTag could still tell me where it was – but no longer had enough power for either the precision location or the audible alert.
So I started pulling out the things I keep in the bag as standard, and searching for the AirTag. I mean, it’s one bag, how hard can it be?
Quite hard, as it turned out. While my primary goal for the AirTag was to help me locate the suitcase if an airline managed to lose it, I did also want to guard against theft of the bag. For that reason, I’d hidden the AirTag somewhere it was unlikely to be quickly discovered by a thief. I had, it transpired, done this rather well. So well that it took me 10 minutes to find it, even though I was the person who put it there in the first place.
So, crazy as it might seem, I think it would be pretty handy if the Find My app had a feature to help us find AirTags with low batteries. What I have in mind is as foolproof and as low-tech as it gets: a Notes field for each item in the app. We can use that to put a reminder about precisely where we hid an AirTag.
Is it just me having a senior moment, or does anyone else think it’s a good idea? Let us know in the comments.
Photo: Ognev/Unsplash
