WTB: Apple AirTags

To post in this sub-forum you must have made 100 posts or have Trust status.

Forums › Offers and Wanted › WTB: Apple AirTags

1 | 2

Marmalade

94 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#3099483 4-Jul-2023 10:31

I also bought one of these from Aliexpress for about $22 delivered. Not having ever used an AirTag I can't compare to that, but it certainly works as expected. The plastic feels a little cheap even with low expectations, but realistically who cares on a device like this, so long as it's sturdy, which I think it is.

I think NZ Customs may have removed the coin battery — it had an empty hole in the internal packaging where it should have been. Seems weird though?

More than happy to run some kind of test if anyone's curious and wants to tell me what they want to know :)

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung (affiliate link).

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3099510 4-Jul-2023 12:04

My iTag has stopped working 🤨
Need to get the battery cover off and see if it’s dead, however not a great start given it’s only 2 months old. You get what you pay for and all that…

jonathan18

7410 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#3099526 4-Jul-2023 12:09

Makes me feel ok about paying $45 for original AirTags - I needed them for placing on our e-bikes so it’s worth it to know they’ll work…

alasta

6661 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#3099527 4-Jul-2023 12:15

To be honest I haven't found genuine Airtags to be totally reliable either. A couple of weeks ago I spent a day pet sitting for my friend and the Find My app was showing my keys still at her place two days later despite the fact that they were physically with me at my office. I had to take the battery out of the Airtag and put it back to fix it.

More recently my jacket appeared to be 'stuck' at home while it was with me at work. After a couple of days it just started working again with no intervention. Also, I get the Airtags randomly bleeping at me sometimes for no reason.

I get the feeling that if I ever genuinely lost an item then these things might not be particularly useful.

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3099542 4-Jul-2023 12:27

I agree, the genuine one I have hasn’t been 100% reliable also. I currently have it attached to a genuinely missing item so it will be very interesting to see how it performs.

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3105715 18-Jul-2023 19:56

ashtonaut: My iTag has stopped working 🤨
Need to get the battery cover off and see if it’s dead, however not a great start given it’s only 2 months old. You get what you pay for and all that…

I finally got around to replacing the battery in my iTag. Top tip - the circular shape on the back isn’t the battery hatch, you have to pry both sides of the case apart…

With a new battery inside it’s working fine again. Not sure why it died prematurely, but let’s see how it goes with a genuinely fresh battery inside.

johno1234

2609 posts

Uber Geek

#3106001 19-Jul-2023 16:29

I ordered some MFI trackers from AE and they turned up quite quickly. However they most certainly are not MFI and are not compatible with the Apple Find My system. The item on AE was quite clear that they were MFI and Find My compatible. The vendor is not answering and I can't see any way to dispute the order - it is telling me I have to wait until a certain date is reached.

Ordered some Airtag$ from Apple.

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3106013 19-Jul-2023 17:25

What’s the link to the product you purchased?

I can confirm that this product is MFi compatible:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPGnHf0

johno1234

2609 posts

Uber Geek

#3106019 19-Jul-2023 17:38

Straight off the "My Orders" page:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005295836129.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.21ef18020wjzrt

Not MFI and Not Find-My compatible. The tracker is actually a Tuya based item.

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3106023 19-Jul-2023 17:42

Yeah that’s some straight out deceptive marketing, good luck getting some kind of refund.

Marmalade

94 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#3106031 19-Jul-2023 17:55

In case it helps anyone else, I can confirm this one also works fine. It's a little bit more than the others but worth it, according to the YouTube review that I posted the link to earlier.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune though. That's really scammy :(

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3107775 25-Jul-2023 08:45

ashtonaut:
ashtonaut: My iTag has stopped working 🤨
Need to get the battery cover off and see if it’s dead, however not a great start given it’s only 2 months old. You get what you pay for and all that…

I finally got around to replacing the battery in my iTag. Top tip - the circular shape on the back isn’t the battery hatch, you have to pry both sides of the case apart…

With a new battery inside it’s working fine again. Not sure why it died prematurely, but let’s see how it goes with a genuinely fresh battery inside.

So I'm starting to conclude that these iTags are rubbish... which perhaps isn't surprising for $15...

Brand new battery installed, tag is detected and works fine in iOS. Less than a week later it stops updating location, then within 24 hours starts again, but displays a 'low battery' alert.

I can only assume that the cheap chip used inside them doesn't have sufficient battery management 'smarts' to properly conserve battery, so it blows through it in a short period of time.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone else that purchased one whether they have the same experience, or perhaps my one-off purchase just happened to be a dud?

Worth the $15 to test it out, but at this rate I'd rather just pay $50 for the genuine article and have some reassurance that it won't randomly stop working.

tchart

2358 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#3107792 25-Jul-2023 09:55

ashtonaut:

I'd be interested to hear from anyone else that purchased one whether they have the same experience, or perhaps my one-off purchase just happened to be a dud?

I don't think its a dud, most reviews/comparisons state the same thing - poor battery life...

johno1234

2609 posts

Uber Geek

#3107802 25-Jul-2023 10:19

tchart:

ashtonaut:

I'd be interested to hear from anyone else that purchased one whether they have the same experience, or perhaps my one-off purchase just happened to be a dud?

I don't think its a dud, most reviews/comparisons state the same thing - poor battery life...

I have one iTag that still shows 100% battery after 25 days.

Strangely, my Apple AirTags don't show battery life on the iPhone FindMy app so don't know how they are going for battery life.

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3107804 25-Jul-2023 10:26

Mine initially showed 100% for about a month or so before it died. Second time around it lasted about a week.

1 | 2