Air Tags for Luggage

[SATaxman]

Recommendations for brands of Airtags.

[basor]

We use the original Atags for our IPhones - they work great.  Also gave one to each of our grandchildren and then have them on their backpacks and car keys.....often on sale 4 for $79.95 on Amazon

[SATaxman]

3 minutes ago, basor said:

We use the original Atags for our IPhones - they work great.  Also gave one to each of our grandchildren and then have them on their backpacks and car keys.....often on sale 4 for $79.95 on Amazon

We do not have Iphones. I will check if they work with Android. Saw the 4 pack on Amazon.

 

[Heartfelttraveler]

we had AirTags in the suitcases and also took photos of our luggage.  Four people with four suitcases.
 

We flew from ATL to JFK to AMS. To OSL  to Longyearbyen.  My suitcase stayed in Amsterdam.  In Oslo I had the AirTag showing exactly what terminal my suitcase was at.  Went to lost luggage with that info and the photo on my phone of my suitcase.  It was on the next flight to Oslo.  Worked great.

 

[basor]

Just now, SATaxman said:

We do not have Iphones. I will check if they work with Android. Saw the 4 pack on Amazon.

 

They do not but there is an "Airtag" product that is made for Android phones....a simple search will bring then up.  Fun watching your luggage move through an airport and onto the plane!

[FlyerTalker]

AirTag is a patented device, developed by Apple and designed to work with Apple products.  As such, there is no "AirTag" for Android or any other operating system.

 

There are a number of different "trackers" that are designed for the Android platform.  But they are not AirTags, nor will they work with Apple devices.  Tile is probably the most widely used.

 

 

[piper28]

If you have samsung phones, I'd probably consider the galaxy smarttags (or the plus model).  Only issue is that I've seen rumors that they might be doing an update to those later this year, and right now stock seems to be very limited, and places are charging a premium for them now.  Otherwise, for android, I'd probably say Tile.  I'm not sure how the installed base on Tile is, since they're basically limited to only devices that have the app installed, versus airtags that can access any iphone, and smarttags that can hit galaxy phones.

[SATaxman]

Just now, piper28 said:

If you have samsung phones, I'd probably consider the galaxy smarttags (or the plus model).  Only issue is that I've seen rumors that they might be doing an update to those later this year, and right now stock seems to be very limited, and places are charging a premium for them now.  Otherwise, for android, I'd probably say Tile.  I'm not sure how the installed base on Tile is, since they're basically limited to only devices that have the app installed, versus airtags that can access any iphone, and smarttags that can hit galaxy phones.

Thanks, I will check this out. We have Ipads; however our phones are Samsung.

[piper28]

Hmm, with ipads you might be able to go with the airtags too?  I'm not sure I've seen for sure whether that's viable or not, and I'm not familiar enough with the apple side of things to know for sure.  If it does work though, right now it's probably cheaper, and with the number of iphones out there to do the tracking, would be a good choice.  (Brief search seems to indicate that it's feasible to use airtags even if you only have ipads and not an iphone.  Given that, with the current supply situation with the samsung tags, I'd probably say airtags might be the better choice right now.)  

[rjscott]

We got AirTags and were so happy we did. They provide a great deal of entertainment for my husband as he will track them as they are loaded on the plane(s), ship, and where they are at disembarkation.  They provided a great deal of peace of mind on our flights to and from NZ/AU .  Being able to know our luggage was right along with us was very reassuring. 😊

 

Becki

[Charles4515]

6 hours ago, SATaxman said:

Thanks, I will check this out. We have Ipads; however our phones are Samsung.

AirTags won’t work with your phone but they do work with iPads. 

[Charles4515]

5 hours ago, piper28 said:

Hmm, with ipads you might be able to go with the airtags too? 

AirTags do work with iPads. 

[FlyerTalker]

4 hours ago, rjscott said:

We got AirTags and were so happy we did. They provide a great deal of entertainment for my husband as he will track them as they are loaded on the plane(s), ship, and where they are at disembarkation.  They provided a great deal of peace of mind on our flights to and from NZ/AU .  Being able to know our luggage was right along with us was very reassuring. 😊

 

Most airline apps provide bag tracking, based on scanning of the bar codes as the bags move through the handling process.  For example, on a recent trip, the app showed when the bag was checked in, when it was loaded on the aircraft, when it was removed from the aircraft and when delivered to baggage claim.  It has also shown me the transfer at a connection point.

 

 

[Charles4515]

20 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Most airline apps provide bag tracking, based on scanning of the bar codes as the bags move through the handling process.  For example, on a recent trip, the app showed when the bag was checked in, when it was loaded on the aircraft, when it was removed from the aircraft and when delivered to baggage claim.  It has also shown me the transfer at a connection point.

 

 

The airline app is only good for luggage on a plane though. It won’t track that your bag is on the ship. In addition to luggage I use AirTags to track my keys, my wallet, my backpacks, my automobile. I have eight AirTags now with six in use. Two in reserve. 
 

There are trackers that work on Android,Tile is one widely used but you need an app. AirTags do not need an app only an iPhone or iPad. Google is developing an Android tracker that works like AirTags. Built in to Android devices but the have not announced their tag product yet. 

[babysteps]

We have galaxy phones but use Tile and not the Samsung version. More phones connected seemed like a good idea. Just replaced the batteries for the first time after almost a year. I keep one on the pouch my wallet is in. 

[Wynterwynd]

16 hours ago, rjscott said:

We got AirTags and were so happy we did. They provide a great deal of entertainment for my husband as he will track them as they are loaded on the plane(s), ship, and where they are at disembarkation.  They provided a great deal of peace of mind on our flights to and from NZ/AU .  Being able to know our luggage was right along with us was very reassuring. 😊

 

Becki

 

The second best reason to have them…entertaining the husband!   Thank you for my smile of the day!

[piper28]

1 hour ago, babysteps said:

We have galaxy phones but use Tile and not the Samsung version. More phones connected seemed like a good idea. Just replaced the batteries for the first time after almost a year. I keep one on the pouch my wallet is in. 

 

This is something I'm kinda curious about, but unfortunately, nobody would ever really tell us the real numbers - Does the installed base of the Tile software exceed the user base of samsung galaxy phones?  Clearly, whichever one has the larger user base would be the winner between the two of those.

 

Also, from what i'm seeing, it looks like the more generic android find my device compatible trackers are just starting to hit the market in the next couple of weeks.  Looks like those are going to be open to a number of brands, but will all work with the built in android tracking.  Doesn't help for anyone who needs something now, but will probably be a strong choice in the near future. (Makes me wonder if that also might have something to do with the current availability of the samsung ones).

[DoulaAnn]

I put an AirTag in my suitcase on our last cruise and was glad I did.  I was one of those canceled in Newark by FAA issues. The next day, my luggage (and my husband's) went to my home airport without me. When I arrived at baggage services to retrieve our luggage, they "couldn't find" either of ours, so they took me back into the area. I found his immediately but not mine. They kept saying "maybe it's still in transit".  I had been watching my "Find My" all day and KNEW it was at the airport. When I was in the area, it said my bag was very nearby. Sure enough, they took me to the claims area and the lady took the baggage tag and found it immediately.  Without the tag, I'm relatively sure (given the number of people looking for their bags) they would have given up and told me to come back another day.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, piper28 said:

This is something I'm kinda curious about, but unfortunately, nobody would ever really tell us the real numbers - Does the installed base of the Tile software exceed the user base of samsung galaxy phones?  Clearly, whichever one has the larger user base would be the winner between the two of those.

 

The number of Samsung phones is immensely larger than the number of phones with the Tile app but the problem with that methodology is that it really just works with an app. That does not mean it is on. On the Apple devices Find My works by default. It can be turned off but most users won't. A future Android version and Google tag will probably work the same way.  I read on rumor sites. There are enough Tile trackers that while not as large a network as Apple's they do work.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Charles4515

[piper28]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

The number of Samsung phones is immensely larger than the number of phones with the Tile app but the problem with that methodology is that it really just works with an app.

 

Hmm, I had to dig and turns out it's indeed opt-in on the samsung phones, for some reason I thought it was opt-out like apple does.  That said (at least according to Samsung, so take it with a grain of salt), they're up to about 300 million "find nodes" worldwide, with 100 million added in the last year.  If that's accurate, I'd say it probably still exceeds Tile significantly.  (What's also kinda interesting is that based on looking at my phone, they *don't* turn on the checks for unknown trackers by default.)

 

I think the number that have opted in probably is a sign that people think apple's find my idevice stuff has worked well enough that it convinces them that it's worth doing.  I've been playing around with one for a little bit now trying to get a feel for how well things work before we take our next airline flight.    So far it's been interesting to see how often it really does seem to get picked up.  I'm definitely curious to see how well that ends up working when we actually travel soon.

[Jancruz]

ok question,

I ship my luggage with Luggage Free will air tags work??

Thanks,

Jancruz1

[basor]

3 hours ago, Jancruz said:

ok question,

I ship my luggage with Luggage Free will air tags work??

Thanks,

Jancruz1

yes - you will be able to see were your bags are

[Hlitner]

I have wondered if the various Android tag products work all that well.  Consider that Apple ITags (which only work with iPhones) takes advantage of the chip sets that are in every iPhone and designed for this product.  The Airtags link to any nearby iPhone (no matter who is carrying the phone) and uploads its location info (this is all done in the background).  Since there are over 2 Billion iPhones, it is likely that somebody will be in the area of the airtag.  

 

Android phones are made by multiple manufactures and are not all compatible with this kind of airtag system.  Perhaps this is just another reason why many of us do like our iPhones.  And I will add that we are very happy users of airtags which have already helped us track down a missing piece of luggage.

 

Hank

[CruisinShips]

17 hours ago, basor said:

yes - you will be able to see were your bags are

Caution...air tags work by (and only by) "piggybacking" a signal from a nearby iphone.  That means it won't show a location until someone with an iphone (with bluetooth happens to pass in proximity to the air tag.  Then it pings the signal.  That's a strange concept, but it's the way it works.  That means you often won't get a signal while the luggage is in the underbelly of a plane, but it will register usually when it's unloaded. 

[mcgilldj]

My husband puts an AirTag in our car that we leave parked near the port, just in case.