You'll never lose something on the couch again. Apple's AirTag (29 euros) takes advantage of the tight integration of iOS and the huge global network of iOS devices to create Bluetooth trackers that are uncommonly simple to set up, use and to locate, especially compared to Tile, the current giant of the sector. Related: Shark IQ Robot Drain Cleaner XL R101AE Review: Full Test & Review 2021. If you have an iPhone or iPad, the AirTag is a sleek and fun way to track your lost devices, earning it our Editor's Choice award for iOS tracking devices.

Never lose anything again

There is a decent industry of trackers for people, vehicles and the like. Samsung offers SmartTag and SmartTag+ for owners of Samsung phones and tablets. For iPhone and iPad users, the AirTag competes with industry giant Tile, which has made its mark on low-cost Bluetooth trackers that let you beep when you lose your keys.

(A quick note: The AirTag is compatible with any iPhone or iPad running iOS or iPadOS 14.5 or higher. We refer to iPhones throughout this review for simplicity, but any iPad will work just as well for pairing and finding AirTags).

AirTags are easier to install than Tiles, have better directional search capabilities, and can be found from farther away. Tiles come in more forms than AirTags, and you can call your phone from a Tile and vice versa. But their maximum range is around 10 meters, while the range of AirTags is functionally infinite as long as there is someone with an iPhone nearby.

You can get one AirTag for $29 or pay $99 for four. Also, you'll need to buy mounts for them: Unlike the Tile and SmartTag, the AirTag doesn't have a lanyard hole. Apple sells a blue, brown, or red leather keychain for $35, a brown or red leather keychain for $39, and a blue, orange, white, or yellow silicone keychain for $29. Since this is Apple, there is already a huge third-party ecosystem. You can get basic versions of the keychain and loop holder from Belkin for $12.95, and Amazon has dozens of no-name keychains and loop holders starting at $2.99.

The tags themselves are small metallic discs with a shiny silver side and a white side. Apple offers free printing of a monogram or emoji on each label, which helps distinguish them and designate them for particular uses.

An AirTag goes unnoticed when slipped into your jeans pocket. At 1.26 inches in diameter and 0.31 inches thick, it's a bit thicker than the Tile Mate or Tile Pro, and a lot thicker than the Tile Slim. It is, however, considerably thinner and smaller than the Samsung SmartTag. The difference between the AirTag and the Tile Slim especially comes into play if you're trying to track your wallet, as an AirTag will cause it to bloat more than a Tile Slim. But these tiny tags slip easily into a backpack, coat pocket, or suitcase, and they look great in one of Apple's keychains.

Apple claims the AirTag's replaceable CR2032 battery will last about a year.

The tags are quite durable, but I wouldn't run them over with a car. They are IP67 rated and water resistant for 30 minutes. They can therefore be thrown into a swimming pool, but if your wallet sinks to the bottom of a stream, you will have to act quickly.

In Apple tradition, AirTags look better than the competition. They're shiny and smooth, and the custom print is a nice touch. The key fob and wrist strap look more like fashion items than tech items. The shiny sides of my AirTags weren't scratched while I was using them, even though I shook one in a plastic bag with keys for about 30 seconds. I know other reviewers say their AirTags got scratched so maybe they have sharper keys.

Magic Seeking Powers

Installation and basic research is magic. Hold a new AirTag in front of your iPhone or iPad, and it's automatically detected. You can give it a name, and the Find My app will start tracking it. To find the AirTag, you can ask it to make a small hissing noise or play the game of hot and cold with distance. My AirTags said they were "connected" at about 45 feet, and a distance indicator appeared when I was about 30 feet away. If you have an iPhone 11 or later, this distance indicator comes with a helpful directional arrow, thanks to the Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Directional Protocol. Tile does not yet have UWB tags; if you want to use the UWB protocol in a Samsung tag, you need to get the $39.99 SmartTag+, rather than the basic SmartTag.

Another nice touch: if your iPhone is near the AirTag, you haven't found it and it does dark, you can touch a flashlight icon directly in the app to turn on your phone's light.

The pipe sound from the AirTag is significantly quieter than the Tile Mate – 78.3dB versus 99dB at 15cm – but I still heard it at a distance of 6m, or when the 'AirTag was stuck between the cushions of my couch. It might be harder to hear it buried deep in a bag or in a loud outdoor area, though.

The big difference here is that Apple's Bluetooth connection is much more reliable than Tile's. I have several Tiles that I use daily to track my keys and wallet, and their Bluetooth connection is annoyingly unreliable and intermittent. The AirTag has worked every time I tried it.

One of the few flaws of the AirTag is that you cannot use it to send a message to your connected iPhone or iPad. Competitor trackers offer this feature. If your phone is what you're most likely to lose, a Tile might be a better bet.

Near to Far

If AirTags are more than 10 meters from your phone, they leverage Bluetooth connections with strangers' Apple phones to tell you where they are . Apple says these connections are end-to-end encrypted and no one, not even Apple, knows the location or identity of an AirTag.

It is important to note the limitations of the AirTag. It is not a true GPS tracker, as it must be within 10 meters of a person's iPhone to transmit their location to the network. It works well in dense cities filled with iPhone users, but it's much less useful in rural areas. Tile and Samsung also operate third-party device networks. Tile currently claims to have 7,302 users within a 15km radius of me; Samsung, like Apple, does not give a figure.

If you need to track an object or a child where phones don't go, check out the Jiobit, which uses GPS and its own cellular connection.

Clockwise from top left: Samsung SmartTag, Apple AirTag, Tile Mate (with keys).

I left an AirTag, a SmartTag and a Tile at the local coffee shop and went home to “find” them. After 19 minutes, Find My told me the AirTag had been found, but the app thought it was around the corner from the store. 22 minutes later, the app found the correct address and stuck there. I got an accurate Samsung SmartTag location in 36 minutes. Tile, on the other hand, took over seven hours to tell me where my tag was.

Follow Me, Follow You

Because the AirTag is so small, so affordable, and connected to a global network, you may understandably worry that someone might slip it into your bag or your car and use it to track your trips. Other trackers, of course, can also be used this way.

There is a delicate balance to be found between the difficulty of tracking someone with an AirTag and the uselessness of the latter for finding lost or stolen objects. Initially, Apple wanted to keep the AirTags secret; they remained silent for three days after being separated from their owner before beeping to alert you to their presence. But after the outcry over the use of AirTags to track people, Apple changed this duration to a random duration between 8 and 24 hours. However, they still only beep once, and since AirTags aren't very loud, you can easily overlook them.

If you have an iPhone with OS 14.5 or later and a "foreign" AirTag (not paired to your device) is traveling with you, Apple says you'll receive an alert at the end of the day or when you return to where you are, as shown in Apple Maps or Contacts. Apple says an app for Android users will be available by the end of the year, but until then Android users have no way of knowing if an errant AirTag is on them if they don't hear the beep.

My daughter slipped an AirTag in her back pocket before going to the craft store. After about 20 minutes, she gave me an update every 5-15 minutes, with an approximate location within a block. She had no idea the device was being tracked; he did not make a sound or alert on his phone.

I set up AirTags on two different Apple accounts with two different home addresses, but failed to trigger the Stranger AirTag alert, even when taking a long walk with an unpaired iPhone and AirTag . That said, I may have been wrong in my stalking, because all my phones know they're staying at my house most of the time, and when they come home, they check in on my phone.

This opens a hole in anti-harassment history, and I can't figure out how to fix it. An AirTag could be used to track a child or living partner as long as they return home every day.

It's also possible with a Samsung tag (unless the person being tracked has a properly configured Samsung phone and is actively scanning for foreign tags), and the only reason it's less possible with a Tile is that Tile's network isn't nearly as good. Jiobits and other GPS trackers can be used in a similar way.

If you're really worried about being tracked by gadgets, buy a cheap RF bug finder, which will tell you what's emitting signals near you. (We have not tested these devices and cannot make any specific recommendations).

What about legitimately lost AirTags? Hold a found AirTag up to an NFC-enabled iOS or Android device to get a webpage with its serial number and instructions on how to deactivate it (remove the battery). If you lose one of your AirTags, use the Find My app to put the tag in Lost Mode. Anyone who finds it and checks it will see your phone number and a message.

We tested scanning lost tags with a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and an iPhone 12, and it worked well. It's important to note that you're not using the Find My app to scan a foreign badge; instead, you need to press the badge against the top edge of your iPhone when you're on the Home screen.

Apple makes lost items less annoying

Apple doesn't usually invent product categories; it picks up on other people's ideas and makes them less awkward. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but these two products smoothed the boundaries of installation and adoption and advanced their entire categories.

The same thing happens with the AirTag. By tightly integrating the tag with iOS, Apple has created a Bluetooth object tracker that 'just works', with an absolutely delightful UWB direction finding system and no connection errors. AirTags also have the fashionable, non-technical look that Apple has so successfully popularized.

There is still room for other trackers on the market. SmartTags and Tiles don't need to make you spend money on accessories. The well-made Tile Pro, with a sturdy casing, key fob hole and good connectivity, is our Editors' Choice for Android-compatible trackers. Both the Tile Slim and the Tile Sticker work well with items that can't easily fit an AirTag or AirTag holder, like slim wallets and remote controls. Jiobit and other true GPS trackers are much better at tracking down objects and people walking around in less populated areas. But if you have an iPhone and often lose your keys at home, you need one of these devices. Both stylish and functional, the AirTag is more than deserving of our Editors' Choice award for iOS-powered trackers.

Cons

Conclusion of our review

Apple AirTag tells your other Apple devices exactly where to find your lost items, even if they are miles away. See the article: T-Mobile Home Internet review: Full test and review 2021.