The Apple AirTags (learn more about them here or buy them on offer here) are superb products designed to enable easy tracking of your valuables (using every other iPhone out in the wild), alert you when they’ve left your person (e.g. you walk away from a forgotten bag) and help you find your valuables when they’re not obviously found, however, out of the box they’re rather limited and cannot be fixed to things easily without additional products, so as big fans of AirTags here is everything we’ve tested and would recommend:
1) Mounting within your car (ideal for ‘find parking space’ or stolen cars) / Trailers / Motorbikes
Depending on the value of the vehicle we would probably chuck in at least 2 into our car, it’s not going to be as good as a dedicated tracker system but it’s cheap and likely will help and having it plus an additional tracker is likely the best solution (something we do). Where/how you install will vary on your car etc but the best advice is to randomly pick a spot that is obscure, think about inside the boot/engine bay/frunk etc, underneath carpets etc there are a variety of mounting options including:
We also have seen great use cases for trailers and motorbikes using the above mounts, for Motorbikes you could also buy something like this.
Also be sure to see the last point of this article for how to improve the security of these.
2) TV Controller
If you have kids that love to hide the remote or you yourself are prone at dropping them down the side of the sofa etc these are a must, this will vary depending on your TV controller on how you fix it, but normally a sticky holder, a glow in the dark version, a fabric one or a dedicated silicone case with a space for an AirTag: Apple TV or FireTV will work well.
3) Keys
Having a small AirTag attached to keys is so useful and clearly everyone that is buying an AirTag likely thought about their keys, whether it’s your car keys, garage keys or any other bunch of keys we’ve found these are the most useful location for AirTags and we use them the most! We generally recommend these small Belkin versions as they’re great quality, these mounts are also good for luggage, pets and other options.
4) Keycards (e.g. Employee access card or Tesla Keycard)
Previously arrived at work only to realise you’ve left your badge at home? If you combine a keycard holder with one of these you will soon never forget your keycard again!
5) Mountain Bike / Road Bike Options
Bikes are expensive and ideal targets for being pinched. We recommend at least a 1 AirTag on each bike (depending on its value, if it’s an e-bike or particular sought after bike we’ve seen some people install up to 3 on them), there is a wide range or fitting options including:
- Within the underneath of the fork £25 or this more universal/cheaper version
- Within a bell
- Stuck underneath the saddle
- Within the tyre valve (tubeless only)
- Inside the stem
- Within a reflector (slight caveat here is that quite a few of these are rather obvious they’re more than just a normal reflector so you may prefer something less obvious).
- Underneath a bottle holder or this cheaper version
- The DIY Gaffa Tape option (under the saddle or around the frame)
6) Luggage / Bags / Wallets / Purses
Whether it’s your handbag, laptop bag or suitcase, having an AirTag fixed on it could save you hundreds or even thousands from mistakenly leaving them in the boot of a taxi, someone pinching it by mistake at the Airport or worse. We always prefer the discreet method of install so would normally slip one inside a piece of luggage instead of having it on show on the outside, but it’s important that they’re secured in the bags as you don’t want them sliding out and getting lost or accidentally put into the washing machine after a holiday away!
We recommend the following:
- To install on interior zips or these with straps
- To install externally on handles/straps
- To install to hard suitcases
- A dedicated AirTag Wallet or Bank Card with AirTag holder
7) Drones / Guitars / Camera Equipment / Kayak etc
In our opinion, these are a must-have product for a variety of products, for most of these types of products we would buy these or these branded versions
8) Tools
If you work with a wide range of tools, having an AirTag attached to valuable items, those prone to be pinched or those often borrowed by colleagures could save you plenty of time or money. Hard to know what method to recommend to attach here but something like this, this or this.
9) Baby Monitor
Especially important if you’re tired, we did this for a couple of years (albeit with a Tile instead of an AirTag), probably best to use something like this.
10) Remember you can share AirTags with other iPhone users
This was a feature missing with AirTags when they launched and we were crying out for this feature, it’s now available!
Learn how to share an AirTag with a family member
11) Pets
For us, it will depend on how active your animal is and how likely they’re to go swimming with the unit on, for us it’s all about having something that’s waterproof, not too bulky and strong, out of the box they’re splash, water and dust resistant and were tested under controlled laboratory conditions with a rating of IP67 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 1 metre up to 30 minutes), so we would recommend the following:
Big caveat here animals have been known to eat, chew and swallow AirTags so if you do this you need to be aware of the all the risks and if you still want to proceed limit the risk by ensuring the collar is fastened correctly and the AirTag is mounted flush to it.
- For those pets who love swimming (or this cheaper version)
- For all other pets (or this cheaper version just be cautious as the silicone can snap)
- For a more temporary option you could also look at this
12) First Aid or similar
If an inhaler, EpiPen or similar is part of your life, attaching to them (via a bag or similar) is a great use case, like combined with one of these.
13) Coats / Jackets etc
If you’ve ever left your jacket at a restaurant or it’s a nice jacket that might get pinched you could consider adding an AirTag within there are some great (albeit expensive) fabric AirTag holders
14) Laptops (non Apple) / Tablets
These Silicone ones are neat but also these stick on ones will do the job
Extra: Remove the speaker (optional)
The AirTags all have a small speaker within it’s designed to aid privacy concerns (e.g. if someone were to slip this into your jacket pocket they could track you so the unit produces a small beep to aid someone finding it),
The timeframe for the noise is days. The notification is if you get home.
The problem with the speakers is that if these are fixed to your property and the items get stolen the Airtags can be easily found so many remove the speakers from these units to make them vastly superior security devices. Just note it is likely illegal to use them to track people or others property and you will void any warranty!
