What it is: a Bluetooth beacon with a speaker, an Ultra Wideband radio and a replaceable coin cell. No GPS receiver and no SIM, which is why it costs nothing to run and why it reports where something was rather than where it is.
The specifications, as Apple publishes them
| Battery | User-replaceable CR2032 coin cell. Apple states it works for more than a year, based on everyday average usage of playing sound and Precision Finding. |
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| Water and dust | IP67, tested under controlled laboratory conditions to a maximum depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes under IEC standard 60529. Apple notes resistance is not permanent and may decrease with normal wear. |
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| Precision Finding | Ultra Wideband. Apple states the second generation has 1.5 times the Precision Finding range of the original. |
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| Speaker | Apple states 50% louder than the first generation. |
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| Network | Apple Find My — the largest crowd network in the world. Apple describes the relaying as anonymous and encrypted. |
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| Platform | iPhone only. There is no Android app. |
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| Attachment | None. No hole, no loop. |
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Three-year cost of ownership
The live price above, plus about three dollars of CR2032 cells over three years, plus a three-dollar keyring shell if it is going on keys. Call it the tag price plus six dollars.
There is no subscription, no paid tier and no iCloud+ requirement — Find My tracking works on a free Apple Account. That is not a promotional position: the data that locates your tag is carried by strangers' phone plans, so there is no recurring cost for Apple to recover. Why that makes a subscription structurally unlikely.
For comparison, the cheapest published cellular tracker plan we cover is $8.95 a month — $322 across the same three years.
What it is genuinely good at
Things lost among people. Airports and baggage halls especially — the Find My network is dense wherever iPhones are, and a bag that goes astray in a terminal reports from inside the building. This is the single best use of the product.
Finding something in the last ten meters. Precision Finding gives you a direction and a distance rather than a pin, and in a cluttered room that is the difference between a minute and twenty.
Being forgotten about. More than a year per battery means you fit it and stop thinking about it, which is the correct relationship to have with a tracker.
Traveling. Find My works globally with no roaming cost, because local iPhones do the relaying on their own plans. Cellular trackers frequently surcharge or exclude international coverage.
What it is not good at
Anywhere without people. No passing Apple device, no report. Fields, woodland, a rural barn, an empty motorway at night.
Live tracking. There is no “where is it now” that works — only a pin with a timestamp.
Being loud. Pebblebee states 130 dB and Chipolo about 125 dB, both above an AirTag. For things lost inside a house, the louder tags find them faster.
The design flaw
It has no hole. Every AirTag on a keyring, a collar or a bag handle is an AirTag plus a holder — Apple's leather loop for most of the price of another AirTag, or a three-dollar plastic shell.
It is a small thing that is genuinely annoying, and it is the reason Chipolo's LOOP and Samsung's SmartTag2 — both of which have a hole built in — win points in our comparisons.
Who should buy it
Anyone with an iPhone who loses things in places with people in them. That is most people, and for them this is the right product at the right price with no ongoing cost.
Who should skip it
Android users. It will not work. There is no app. Buy a Google Find Hub tag — the alternatives are here.
Anyone who needs to know where something is right now. A car you are worried about, a dog that works a field, a person at risk of wandering. A tag will be silent at the moment it mattered. That decision is here.
Anyone who might switch to Android in the next few years. Four AirTags and a platform change leaves you with four pieces of plastic. A dual-network Chipolo or Pebblebee can be reset and re-paired.
Anyone whose main problem is finding things inside their own house. Buy the loudest tag instead — the map cannot help you there and the siren can.
The alternatives, named
Chipolo LOOP — louder, has a loop, works on Find My or Find Hub so it survives a platform change. Gives up Precision Finding.
Pebblebee Clip 5 — the loudest at a stated 130 dB, rechargeable, also dual-network. IP66 rather than IP67.
A cheap Find My multi-pack — same network, no Precision Finding, a quarter of the price per tag. Right for luggage and spare keys.
Samsung SmartTag2 — if you are on a Galaxy rather than an iPhone. 500 stated days and a hole.
