January 26, 2026 UPDATE Apple introduces new :br(l)::br(xl):AirTag with expanded :br(l)::br(xl):connectivity range :br(l)::br(xl):and improved findability The next generation of AirTag — the…
January 26, 2026
UPDATE
Apple introduces new :br(l)::br(xl):AirTag with expanded :br(l)::br(xl):connectivity range :br(l)::br(xl):and improved findability
The next generation of AirTag — the bestselling item finder — is even easier to locate with more powerful Precision Finding, a longer Bluetooth range, and a louder speaker
Apple today unveiled the new AirTag, a powerful accessory that helps users keep track of and find the items that matter most with Apple’s Find My app — now with an expanded finding range and a louder speaker. Powered by the strength of the Find My network, AirTag allows users to keep tabs on their belongings every single day. Since the launch of AirTag in 2021, users from around the world have shared stories of being reunited with lost luggage, keys, bicycles, bags, and more. With the help of AirTag placed inside an instrument case, a musician was able to locate their lost instrument and perform that evening, while another user was able to find lost luggage that contained a lifesaving medication. AirTag is designed exclusively for tracking objects and offers industry-leading protections against unwanted tracking. It is available today for the same price as its predecessor: $29 for a single AirTag and $99 for a four-pack, with free personalized engraving available on apple.com and the Apple Store app.
Enhanced Range and Findability
Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband chip — the same chip found in the iPhone 17 lineup, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and Apple Watch Series 11 — powers the new AirTag, making it easier to locate than ever before. Using haptic, visual, and audio feedback, Precision Finding guides users to their lost items from up to 50 percent farther away than the previous generation.1 And an upgraded Bluetooth chip expands the range at which items can be located. For the first time, users can use Precision Finding on Apple Watch Series 9 or later, or Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, to find their AirTag, bringing a powerful experience to the wrist.
With its updated internal design, the new AirTag is 50 percent louder than the previous generation, enabling users to hear their AirTag from up to 2x farther than before. Paired with its enhanced Precision Finding capabilities and distinctive new chime, AirTag now makes it easier for users to find their important items, such as keys hidden deep in between couch cushions or a wallet as they head out the door.
The Find My Network and Share Item Location
Find My makes it easy to locate AirTag, Apple devices, and compatible third-party devices, as well as keep up with friends and family, all while protecting user privacy. If AirTag is out of range of its paired iPhone, the Find My network can help track it down. The Find My network is a crowdsourced network of Apple devices that use Bluetooth technology to detect the location of an accessory or device, and report their approximate location back to the owner.
The new AirTag integrates seamlessly with Share Item Location, an iOS feature designed to help users recover a misplaced item by temporarily and securely sharing its location with trusted third parties, such as airlines, so they can assist in recovering delayed luggage or other lost items. Apple has partnered directly with more than 50 airlines to privately and securely accept Share Item Location links.
With Share Item Location, users can share the location of a misplaced item with a participating airline’s customer service team. According to SITA, a leading IT provider for airlines, carriers report that using Share Item Location has reduced baggage delays by 26 percent and reduced incidences of “truly lost” or unrecoverable luggage by 90 percent. Access is granted only to authorized personnel via secure Apple Account or partner authentication. The shared location will be disabled as soon as a user is reunited with their item, can be stopped by the owner at any time, and will automatically expire after seven days.
Industry-Leading Security Features
The new AirTag is designed from the ground up to keep location data private and secure. AirTag doesn’t physically store location data or history on device, and end-to-end encryption protects all communication with the Find My network, ensuring that only the owner of a device can access its location data. No one, including Apple, knows the identity or location of any device that helped find it. Designed exclusively for tracking objects, and not people or pets, the new AirTag incorporates a suite of industry-first protections against unwanted tracking, including cross-platform alerts and unique Bluetooth identifiers that change frequently.
Environmental Responsibility and Accessory Compatibility
Apple 2030 is the company’s ambitious plan to be carbon neutral across its entire footprint by the end of this decade by reducing product emissions from their three biggest sources: materials, electricity, and transportation. The new AirTag is designed with the environment in mind, with 85 percent recycled plastic in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards. The paper packaging is 100 percent fiber-based and can be easily recycled. Maintaining the same form factor as the original, the new AirTag is compatible with all existing AirTag accessories, including the FineWoven Key Ring, which is made from 68 percent recycled content and available in five beautiful colors.
Pricing and Availability
- The new AirTag is available to order on apple.com and in the Apple Store app today, and will be available at Apple Store locations later this week. The new AirTag will also be available at Apple Authorized Resellers.
- Customers can add a personalized engraving to the new AirTag for free during checkout on apple.com and the Apple Store app.
- AirTag is available in one- and four-packs for $29 (U.S.) and $99 (U.S.), respectively.
- The Apple-designed AirTag FineWoven Key Ring is available in fox orange, midnight purple, navy, moss, and black for $35 (U.S.).2
- The new AirTag requires a compatible iPhone with iOS 26 or later, or iPad with iPadOS 26 or later. Customers must have an Apple Account and be signed into their iCloud account. Certain features require Find My to be enabled in iCloud settings.
- Precision Finding on Apple Watch requires Apple Watch Series 9 or later, or Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, with watchOS 26.2.1.
- Precision Finding is not available in countries and regions where Ultra Wideband technology is restricted. For more information, visit apple.com/uwb.
- AirTag accessories, including the AirTag FineWoven Key Ring, are sold separately.
Press Contacts
Stephanie Ng
Apple
Alex Kirschner
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
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Comments
By helloguillecl 2026-01-2615:2215 reply Airtag is the reason of why I stil have my favourite hand luggage.
I had just sat down on the train from Zurich to Basel. Suddenly, someone sat down in front of me. He looked suspicious, but I didn't pay much attention. Just before the train departed, he picked up what I thought were his belongings and left.
Twenty minutes later, already on the way to Basel, I looked toward where I had left my suitcase. It was gone. That was when I realized that the person who had sat in front of me was a thief.
However, he hadn't counted on the fact that I have an AirTag in every backpack and suitcase.
So I was able to see where the thief was and where he was moving. I considered going to retrieve my suitcase myself, but while traveling back to Zurich, I called the Zurich Police and, as the thief kept moving, I told them where he was.
Twenty minutes later I received a call from the police informing me that they had found my suitcase with my belongings, matching the description I had given.
But also the thief and his accomplice.
Back in 2011 (!) I went to a wedding in Denia, a medium-sized town on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
The day after the wedding we went to a restaurant by the sea to have some hangover paella, part of the wedding celebrations. Weddings in Spain are usually 2 or 3 day affairs. Anyway, since we were travelling back to Madrid later that day we left our luggage in the trunk of the car, not visible from the outside. We locked the doors and off for paella.
Or so we thought: some bad guys were jamming the car key frequencies so the car didn’t actually lock. They hit jackpot with my bag: my Canon IXUS camera (I loved that camera), my Kindle 3G, my MacBook Pro and my iPad… with 3G.
When we found out later that day we went to the local Guardia Civil and told them the story. I opened “Find My” on my phone and told them exactly where the bad guys were, all the way in Valencia already.
You should have seen the face of the two-days-shy-from-retiring officer when I told him that my iPad was connected to the internet and broadcasting its location continuously. Remember this was 2011.
So they sent a police car to check out the area and found a suspiciously hot car. They noted it down and did some old-fashioned policing the rest of the summer. Two months later I got a call: they had found them and waited on them to continue stealing using the same MO, until they had a large enough stash that they could be charged with a worse crime.
They had found my bag, my MacBook and my iPad. The smaller items had already been sold on the black market.
It still is one of my favourite hacker stories. I went to court as a witness and retold the whole thing. The look on the judge’s face was also priceless.
By reaperducer 2026-01-2621:151 reply Similar story for me. Except in Rome, and the ending wasn't happy because all I could do is watch my wife's iPhone go to Tunisia where it disappeared.
Still, in those very early days of "Find my" I could see how this was going to eventually change things.
By littlecranky67 2026-01-278:063 reply Simlar (sad) story in Spain, very recent. Airtags and Find My are known by police by now. When my friends bag was stolen, he located it on the police station via Find My. It was located in a residential multi-story house nearby, which was known by the police. The place is known to house several members of organized petty crime. Police told him they cannot do anything as they can't enter the house without a warrant and won't get one just based on his testimony.
Yup, that’s how it is sadly, happens every day in Barcelona. Once it’s inside a building they can’t do anything.
As opposed to the UK police, who can't do anything once it's... anywhere.
By FireBeyond 2026-01-2715:521 reply Yeah, or the police in my state capital, who, when I got confirmation that my stolen phone was being sold on eBay, by a seller who lived near me, whose eBay profile contained nearly 100 phones, and 50-60 laptops, all 'without chargers/accessories", some "activation locked", etc., as well as the strong implication of theft on eBay (I was actually contacted by someone who'd bought my phone from him, and when he discovered it was locked, with my info on the screen, contacted the seller who initially refused a return/refund on it, until the buyer said "So you know, if you don't, the phone is actually telling me who the real owner was, and how to contact them, and I can send them and/or the police your info..."), the police said:
Police: "Well, he probably didn't steal it himself."
Me: "Isn't selling known stolen property a crime in itself?"
Police: ...
Me: ...
Police: "We're not going to pursue this further."
Thank you for your service?
This is why I never understand the expansion of surveillance tech and how people believe it will make us safer. So many people have these types of stories and how does expanded surveillance solve those problems? The police already know a crime has been committed, who did it, where they are, and we need more surveillance?!
The trick is making the criminal by law responsible to pay the costs of the investigation.
Now the cops and judge have an incentive to actually prosecute, since it generates their funding.
Now it only costs them money.
By FireBeyond 2026-01-2814:561 reply I would agree with that, but then you have the situation of "how?" - I volunteered for an organization that had a large part of their funds embezzled by the Treasurer. When they were arrested and charged with theft, the prosecutor came to an association meeting and asked what our thoughts were. The person had sufficient income that they could reasonably pay back the money in a (relatively) quick time frame, and the prosecutor noted that "in these types of cases, often the victim has to choose between retribution/punishment, and recompense" - not that we were choosing his punishment, but he was asking our input.
As in - he could afford to pay if his job was kept, etc. But charge him with the felony, he would likely lose that job and the ability to repay anything in any meaningful manner.
Then you have the State of Florida, who charges you $75/day if you are in jail at all, regardless of the outcome of your case, charges being dropped or dismissed. You could be arrested for a BS traffic stop on Friday, the prosecutor drops it on Monday morning, three days incarceration. Or a not guilty finding. Doesn't matter.
And then, failure to pay this is a Class B Felony.
You could let the victims decide, or make it (depending on the type of crime) that they first pay off the debt and then go to prison (perhaps with reduced sentence) or the other way around.
I think you're oversimplifying. Those are hard questions to answer and have the impacts extend beyond the victim and perpetrator. There are social costs to each of those decisions. Part of the legal system is to ensure there is that balance. That is the social contract. Determining if this is done effectively (or even at all) is a different question, but one that can only be answered through answering a million smaller questions like this one.
By moi2388 2026-01-3015:59 Of course it’s difficult. But simply not holding them responsible at all for the costs they incur on society, and not making police and judges at least partially responsible for actually solving cases or ensuring recidivism is reduced is also not an option.
By rdtsc 2026-01-2713:20 The criminals know this as well, of course.
By lazide 2026-01-2715:50 How is it just his testimony if they can literally locate the device to the location?
That’s just ‘oh, my poor back’.
By LoveMortuus 2026-01-2710:234 reply [flagged]
By TheDong 2026-01-2711:46 Do you read Chinese, Hindi, and Vietnamese to read about thefts in those countries?
Latin-based-language countries also have more relations to the english world (mostly through Britain historically conquering most of them), and so as an English speaker you're more likely to see news about those countries.
I'm not sure if you're trying to imply something else, but if you are, please don't. The relationships between languages, what countries are reported in the western news, what countries americans (i.e. the HN audience visit), and so on is complicated, multi-faceted, and cannot be easily boiled down to language as a root cause of anything.
By littlecranky67 2026-01-2711:23 Because they happen to be at the mediteranian cost (for reasons related to how the roman empire conquered and reigned) and are popular tourist destinations today.
By jonwinstanley 2026-01-2711:40 I don't think you'd find any link between countries with latin based languages and theft. Differences in crime rates are going to be much more likely to be based on economic inequality, social policy, enforcement, and how crime is reported
By bmn__ 2026-01-2711:48 The connection to the language spoken in the countries that you are making is completely spurious. The real reason is the the current elected politicians have a great deal of tolerance for the African thieving and fencing gangs, and exert their influence so that the gangs enjoy protection from the consequences of the justice system over the native population. A reduction in crime could happen from one day to the next if the people are willing to abolish the two-tier system, reintroduce a measurement of accountability and enforce the law.
By trollbridge 2026-01-271:106 reply I need to applaud the efficiency and moxie of the Zurich / Swiss police service.
In America, the UK, Canada, etc they'd tell you to fill out a report that nobody would ever read, and also advise you it's probably unsafe to go pick it up yourself.
By nozzlegear 2026-01-274:314 reply In certain places in America. My county sheriff's office would be more than happy to have something to do that isn't picking up somebody's stray dog. I'm sure this is true for the UK and Canada too.
By repeekad 2026-01-277:16 I called the non-emergency line for the local police department when someone went home with my wallet after I left it on a plane, tracked with an AirTag. 2 hours later an officer said they didn't have probable cause but could knock on the door and ask anyway. I think he basically offered for there to be no trouble if they gave it back, thief claimed they were "going to return it to lost and found", and sure enough I was able to go show my passport at the station and collect it the next day.
By elzbardico 2026-01-2710:122 reply UK police is more interested in combating wrong thought
Absolutely not the case. This is just what overly online people think.
There's a recent video of a woman getting arrested, not for the first time, for admitting that she might be praying to herself inside her head, silently.
Here's an article I searched up about it: https://adfinternational.org/news/uk-christian-woman-crimina...
By agar 2026-01-2716:47 Because there is a law against people impeding or trying to influence people within 150 meters of an abortion clinic. Her admitted goal was trying to influence people entering. Will her defense be that she does not believe prayer has an influence on the world?
Most would agree that 150 people standing in front of the abortion clinic would obviously an attempt to impede or influence people. What if someone stands there "praying" but really noting faces and license plates for future harassment? Where does the law draw that line?
The ADF is a discriminatory, corrosive organization that has done real harm to millions by rolling back civil rights in the US, and now they have taken their agenda internationally.
The hypocrisy of calling this a "thought crime" is stunning. ADF is the same organization that brought a case against a Colorado law that banned discrimination against LGBTQ businesses, because a baker was worried she may have to bake a cake for a gay wedding - which she was never asked to do. So some thoughts are legally protected (prayer) while others (concern) are justifications to roll back civil rights. But the thoughts of others (terror and shame while entering an abortion clinic, feelings when discriminated against, love for a same sex partner) are irrelevant and not worthy of protection.
Their stated purpose is "advancing every person’s God-given right to live and speak the truth" - but only "live" and speak the "truth" that they deem to be correct, based on their evangelical and politically-charged interpretation of Christianity. And they want that legislated.
Yes, the place she thought needed her prayers.
How is that important?
What are your views on abortion?
I believe in free access. I also believe those going to get an abortion shouldn’t be impeded by protesters in the immediate vicinity when getting their healthcare.
By sejje 2026-01-2914:59 She was standing alone, across the street, on the curb/grass next to the sidewalk, kind of doing a homer simpson into the bushes.
There were no other people visible, she made no noise.
She didn't impede anyone, and it would have been very difficult to tell she was protesting, if that's in fact what she was doing (I'm not her, so I don't know).
I don't believe in God, so those particulars (or that it was an abortion clinic) aren't important to me. She was arrested for thinking silently to herself.
Do you believe God was listening to the prayers and influencing the people at the abortion clinic? From what I read the lady was standing there and not blocking free access. The law says you may not influence.
By lostlogin 2026-01-2718:48 > Do you believe God was listening to the prayers and influencing the people at the abortion clinic?
No, the woman was there tying to influence other women’s healthcare, something she had no right to get involved in.
Edit: The police did screw this up - the clinic was closed. She also received a payout.
Framing this as ‘thought police’ is wrong, the issue was her presence.
Tbf, it's not the case that they are more worried about wrongthink because they're just not worried at all by petty theft - or almost any other instance of micro-criminality.
Would you believe me if I said the police aren't worried about it because even if they put in the effort and catch thieves, they won't be prosecuted very hard. Since 2014, "low-value shoplifting" (under £200) in England and Wales can only be tried in the Magistrate's court and have a maximum sentence of 6 months (now ~1 year since 2024), no matter how many summary offenses you're convicted of. So if you steal under £200 of stuff, hundreds of times over, it's the same outcome. You'll be back on the street very soon.
The government is currently seeking to amend that:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policin...
> The bill will remove the perceived immunity granted to shop theft of goods to the value of £200 or less, by repealing Section 22A of the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980 and the legislation that inserted it (section 176 of Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014).
> This will ensure that all offences are tried as ‘general theft’ (an either way offence with a maximum custodial sentence of seven years), instead of summarily in the magistrates’ court, unless the defendant elects for jury trial
"Either-way" here means that the offence can be tried either as a summary or indictable offence; an indictable offence can carry much more serious penalties.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/12/section/176
> 22A (1) Low-value shoplifting is triable only summarily.
By toyg 2026-01-2717:44 I don't disagree, and I would add that the court system is so clogged up that one might not even end up behind bars at all - because by the time the hearing is finally scheduled, the perp might well be on another continent.
Still, the public would appreciate some effort - if anything to actually get some of their stuff back, if not to inconvenience thieves.
By bmn__ 2026-01-2711:52 It is the case in reality. We are talking about an objectively measurable outcome, and delusional thinking from the propaganda victims does not change it.
By crimsoneer 2026-01-2712:023 reply Oh for gods sake, can we stop this nonsense mad twitter trope spreading through HN. Having been a cop in the UK, we will happily got nick a robber if they're on the move and tell us where they are, and we don't arrest people for "wrong thought" on twitter unless that happens to be repeatedly messaging your ex and telling her about how you're going to do murder them.
yes, some of my stupid colleagues will once in a blue moon arrest people for twitter nonsense, but that barely ever happens which is why it makes the news and they pretty much never get convicted.
By encom 2026-01-2717:39 >once in a blue moon
>look inside
>12000 arrests a year
https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/09/09/people-a...
By arthurfirst 2026-01-2713:58 In Canada the police are pretty lazy and it's mostly due to who they hire, and also a LOT of political garbage as it's a federal police force throughout the country in most cases -- run from Ottawa.
Not much real police work happening any more unless you criticize the government or do something they can use as a reason to grow their budgets or otherwise further political agendas.
If there is a video of a crime they do like that...easy! Also they can show it to media for props.
Lazy cops just love centralized 'social' media and the fools who post their lives on it for them to snoop through.
By TeapotNotKettle 2026-01-2713:38 [dead]
By tonyedgecombe 2026-01-278:411 reply >I'm sure this is true for the UK
No, it isn't. The police in the UK are stretched extremely thin.
By akimbostrawman 2026-01-2711:461 reply Just claim they have been mean on twitter and they will send a squad
By tonyedgecombe 2026-01-297:32 Not any more, they have been rowing back from that.
By moffkalast 2026-01-2718:511 reply > county sheriff
I take it you live somewhere roughly in the middle of nowhere?
By reaperducer 2026-01-2719:121 reply I take it you know roughly nothing about how the world works?
Even New York City has a county sheriff.
https://www.nyc.gov/site/finance/sheriff-courts/sheriff.page
By moffkalast 2026-01-2719:151 reply If by the world you mean America, then yes. One really only hears about sherifs in westerns and florida man videos.
By reaperducer 2026-01-2720:441 reply If, by your own admission, you don't know anything about America, why would you post a snarky personal attack like that?
Go rage-post on Reddit. HN is supposed to be better.
By moffkalast 2026-01-289:59 Yeah, fair point. Too much rage inducing news lately I guess.
By btucker 2026-01-2717:28 Last year here in Chicago my wife's bike was stolen overnight. It has an airtag hidden in a bell on the handlebars. When we woke up and noticed it was missing, we traced it to a park not too far away. We ran over there and called the Chicago PD who showed up in <10min. We told them a description of the bike and showed where FindMy said it was. They went and retrieved it. Surprisingly happy ending & I was impressed the Chicago PD were so helpful!
By Salgat 2026-01-2716:21 If they had said this happened in the US I would absolutely not believe them.
By Foobar8568 2026-01-276:241 reply That's not a common occurrence, police in Switzerland is highly passive, and the judiciary system is highly complicit with criminals (drug dealers,thieves, white collar crimes etc), and against women (rape victims can be told to close their legs better by judges).
Care to back up your outlandish claims? I live here for 15 years and all you write is completely untrue for everything I ever experienced, saw, heard or read. Or you mean some case from early 70s?
By Foobar8568 2026-01-2810:00 Just in the last few years https://www.blick.ch/fr/suisse/proces-pour-viol-dans-les-gri...
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/14523420-polemique-autour-dun...
And when you take the train, have a baby, and land on this fucked up article https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/sodomie-infantile-un-film-choc... you know the country is fucked up.
https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2025/article/comedien-v... 4years for a teacher raping his teens students.
Should I start talking about the different train stations and all the drug dealers or drug users ?
Saying "i am getting my gun and going to retrieve my stuff" guarantees that 6-8 police cars will converge on the location within minutes. Once there, they will apprehend the thief since they are there already.
By crimsoneer 2026-01-2712:061 reply I love getting diverted from the violent domestic call to turn up to a theoretical firearms call and find out it was just someone trying to be clever.
By FireBeyond 2026-01-2715:55 What? As someone who has worked in emergency services, with a brother-in-law who was a 911 dispatcher in a capital city for 10 years, what dispatching prioritization system puts "violence in progress" lower than "threat of violence", unless the cops are bored and just want to roll their SWAT team at the slightest provocation?
By elzbardico 2026-01-2710:162 reply Then you’re fucking comically unlucky, there’s a shooting and some old enemy offs someone at the same address and flee, minutes before the police gets there.
Some pissed off riff-raff family member decides that you look like the killer.
You’d better have a top notch lawyer in your family or prepare to spend lots of money hiring one.
By filoleg 2026-01-2719:23 I think the idea isn't to really bring a firearm into the situation, it is just to tell the cops that you are considering doing so.
Which, in your hypothetical "you might get extremely unlucky" scenario, should give you no problem, since you never had a firearm on you in the first place.
By wongarsu 2026-01-2712:39 If you're really concerned about that you could go to a local bar and call from there. Make sure you have the attention of the bartender while making the call. Easy alibi, the bartender won't forget something like that
By QuantumNomad_ 2026-01-274:531 reply Sounds like a great way to get charged with making false statements to the police or something along those lines.
Not at all. I had intent to do so, which is what I said, then thought about it, realized it was dangerous, and didn't.
By throw20251220 2026-01-2715:45 Sounds like a great way to end up with criminal charges. Try it, try your luck.
By tybstar 2026-01-2713:21 Legal genius.
By rangestransform 2026-01-272:145 reply [flagged]
By JasonADrury 2026-01-276:162 reply I don't think this is true. It's probably true that there's a pervasive belief that a hungry person probably shouldn't be punished for stealing food.
Other kinds of property crime? The costs of enforcement are high compared to the losses caused by individual cases, prioritization is understandably a difficult problem to solve.
By mikkupikku 2026-01-276:371 reply It goes far beyond hungry people stealing bread. Look at one of those academic fraud discussions had here on HN over the past week and you'll find people saying that using AI to hallucinate an academic paper isn't a good thing but instead of judging the people who do this we should blame society itself while being understanding of the frauds. The mentality spoken above is pervasive and insidious.
By JasonADrury 2026-01-276:481 reply I saw that, it was bizarre enough to be seared into my memory. I think you're underestimating just how weird that particular conversation was.
The pervasive problems you see in places like SF or much of the UK are just far more boring.
By mikkupikku 2026-01-277:09 I think those commenters were just on cruise control, applying a pattern of thought with which they are well accustomed, to a scenario which is even more clear cut than usual crime. If it were instead teenagers stealing cars to joyride, we'd get the same cohort pleading for leniency because it was social circumstance that made them do it. It's not just hungry people stealing bread, there's an automatic reflex to defend any criminal as being a victim of society and this only becomes as bizarre as you experienced when the criminals involved are in particularly privileged and trusted positions.
By squokko 2026-01-277:41 It's not a hard problem to solve, you scale the punishment for the cases you prosecute so high that it makes the expected value of stealing a suitcase negative
My experience with small police departments in the US is that they either don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with small property claims. If you’re a business they’ll be there in 10 minutes, but individuals aren’t afforded the same courtesy. Eventually, citizens realize it’s just not worth the cost or the hassle to report a crime unless it helps with an insurance claim.
My experience with large police departments in the US is that they either don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with small property claims. Some people tried to steal cars (including mine) in my neighborhood in Chicago, we had them on video and they were still in the area and the police didn't do anything. Large police departments also generally won't really do much. Though my friend in Houston did have the police investigate car break ins at his apartment complex but that might be because multiple guns were stolen from cars (so at least there are certain things that will get their attention).
Next time, try reporting that a crime is currently in progress. Emphasize that it is happening as you speak.
Also say that you're thinking of intervening personally.
That usually gets them going.
My one and only experience of dealing with the police in the US was when I was visiting NYC. A tourist was being attacked on the subway because he was taking pictures and since we were still at the platform I jumped out and told 2 officers further down the platform what was going on. I expected them to sprint into action, but they could not have cared less and casually strolled along towards the carriage!
In a similar vain I was the first on the scene of a car crash in the UK, where the driver had exited the vehicle through the window (no seat belt) and was bleeding in the road. When the police turned up they casually and slowly walked up the road towards the scene.
It made me wonder if there was a good reason for this, like to control adrenaline, make better decisions, have time to assess the situation. Or if they were just jaded from seeing it a lot.
By ornornor 2026-01-276:24 When working for LUL (London Underground limited) I was told to never run towards an emergency because you risk tripping and falling and then you’re another person that needs help instead of being able to provide the help. So maybe that’s why? I’d walk with urgency though, not casually stroll.
By catskull 2026-01-274:20 Sounds like the solution in the US is to keep an AirTag and a gun in your suitcase so the police will be bothered to track it down.
By GoatInGrey 2026-01-272:211 reply I believe there to be some merit to the notion that it is better for society if many of the generational cycles which lead to crime are broken. Sometimes that involves off-ramps from the road to incarceration.
That said, the policy can be, and certainly is, applied in imbalanced ways when justice is pursued over pragmatism.
By zdc1 2026-01-272:59 I'm sure at some point it's cheaper to pay people to do nothing and have laws enforced, rather than indirectly paying people to do crime by letting stuff get stolen without consequences. Politically it sounds insane, but it would make for a more trusting society.
By fuzzer371 2026-01-272:26 That belief is not shared by law enforcement. But all the same, they'll refuse to help you anyway.
By mock-possum 2026-01-276:31 Bullshit.
By seanmcdirmid 2026-01-2615:327 reply Thankfully you were in Switzerland rather than the states, I just never see American police caring about that.
My friend/colleague had her phone stolen while she was napping in the hospital room of her terminally ill husband. Fortunately it had MDM. Called Palo Alto PD, I sat with them and tracked it from the hotel and it was already in San Jose. They worked with SJPD live and walked them into the guy who happened to be in a parking garage peering into cars. Caught him with a backpack full of stolen phones.
The stereotype of US cops not caring isn't always true.
Unfortunate fact for the perp was the ill husband was a US Attorney and stealing his phone made it a big boy federal felony that was not looked kindly upon by the colleagues of a dying AUSA in the Northern District. I wonder if he's still in FCI Lompoc.
Oh yeah, justice in the free and best country in the world. Prisons are hell on earth, so after his release, he will murder first person on sight and he will be back in no time.
So smart.
By ta9000 2026-01-279:46 blink You OK there bud?
By rdtsc 2026-01-2713:28 > Prisons are hell on earth, so after his release, he will murder first person on sight and he will be back in no time
> So smart
What should have been done instead?
By bchasknga 2026-01-283:06 Sounds like you also support a life sentence here for stealing a phone, too!
By elzbardico 2026-01-2710:19 So? Let him roam freely, consequences free? What about we execute him on the third strike if you think prison is not good enough?
By ifwinterco 2026-01-2616:023 reply Switzerland is the Singapore of Europe (I mean this in a good way!) - the state just functions in a way that other European countries can only dream of
By seanmcdirmid 2026-01-2617:06 I spent a couple of years in Lausanne so am aware. Swiss police don't mess around, you need to follow the rules if you want to live there.
Can confirm. Things just work in Switzerland. It’s a tough change to live/go back elsewhere.
I grew up in the US, live in Italy now, and just spent a few weeks in Switzerland. It felt constricting. I missed a bit of the chaos - particularly while driving.
By justinator 2026-01-277:232 reply > the state just functions in a way that other European countries can only dream of affording being able to
I have fixed that for you.
By kakacik 2026-01-2714:28 And morality and their conscientiousness (what a word).
If you look at the map of Europe, lay it over with that fiscal discipline and above, there is no mystery how things like income are spread out across the map, it all makes sense. Also a good confirmation that well regulated but proper capitalism is the easiest path for any country to long term prosperity.
By ifwinterco 2026-01-2721:35 Public spending per capita in switzerland is less than the UK
My car got broken into in Oakland, California. Multiple pieces of luggage stolen (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place). Luckily I had an AirTag that showed the exact location of the stolen items. I called the police but they said they couldn't do anything. Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in. Regardless, I was put on a waiting list, they finally called me back 3 days later. I promptly left the state a few months later.
By ahmeneeroe-v2 2026-01-2622:578 reply It's not your fault for leaving your property in your car. Wild to say that.
By poulsbohemian 2026-01-273:461 reply Ahem. There are neighborhoods in the US where you leave nothing in your car because otherwise your car will become a target. It's often "the rule" in these places that you also leave the doors unlocked because that way "they" won't break your window trying to get in. They open the door, see there's nothing of value to steal and move on. In other places in the US it's (still but fading) normal to leave your car doors unlocked because "everybody knows everybody and no one would steal from each other." Code switching is knowing which of the neighborhoods you are in and how to adapt.
The point of the comment is that this is not something we should have to tolerate or worry about in a seemingly high-trust society.
By poulsbohemian 2026-01-2718:501 reply I totally get and respect the perspective of the parent poster, I'm just keeping it real that the US is generally not a high-trust society. If it were, we wouldn't have disclosures and disclaimers and limits of liability for everything we do all day long.
By mlrtime 2026-01-2911:05 >I'm just keeping it real that the US is generally not a high-trust society.
Completely false, you mean Urban areas are not high trust.
I live in a place (In the US) where kids walk to school, don't lock bikes and our downtown has free umbrellas to take and give back whenever there is rain.
By ghaff 2026-01-270:31 Outside of some bad areas of some cities, in New England leaving property in cars is perfectly normal.
Lived in the Bay Area for over two decades. Yeah, leaving a visible item in your car is just bait for the smash-and-grab crowd.
It sucks but once you know it, it would be like thinking you can just leave your wallet sitting on a counter.
You can also do that in high-functioning societies. In Japan people leave their purses, phones, etc to hold their seat before ordering in a café, going to the bathroom, etc.
By whateveracct 2026-01-275:422 reply In Japan, they also had to segregate subways by sex to deter groping. And the men just got on the woman cars anyways.
High-functioning society lol.
In Japan, there's so little crime that they make an effort to crack down on things like creepshots. The desire to tackle stuff like that is more than most countries do, where it's swept under the rug and ignored.
In America, you can proudly say you grope and molest women and it's considered presidential behavior.
By justinator 2026-01-277:291 reply Love to live there but chances they'll let me are roughly 0%. It's convenient (for them) that racial discrimination isn't a crime in Japan.
It’s a little more complicated than that. The subways during rush hour are packed liked sardines - nothing like the US. Groping or not, women do not want to necessarily be squished from all sides by men.
By pixelpoet 2026-01-2711:31 I'm pretty sure the men aren't elated about getting squished by men either.
By plingamp 2026-01-2717:41 For what it's worth, everything was in a locked truck with no visible way of seeing any items.
From what I heard from others, apparently the thieves have a device that allows them to detect electronics (I had two laptops, cellphone, and a few other devices). I'm not sure how accurate this is, but i'm not sure why my car was the only one on the street that was targeted as there were no visible signs of valuables in the car (nothing visible from windows etc.) Funny part is a few weeks later nothing was found except for my Kindle which a kind citizen found and returned to me. Apparently thieves don't like to read?
By jasonfarnon 2026-01-271:121 reply not "fault" in the sense of legal or ethical blame, but "fault" in the sense of stupid vs. smart thing to do
But it’s not a stupid thing to do either - if anything, normalizing crime sounds not optimal.
By elzbardico 2026-01-2710:281 reply There’s no such thing as normalizing crime by simply taking sensible steps to protect yourself from it.
By thih9 2026-01-2715:46 For a society that does this long term, giving away your rights is literally how crime gets normalized.
By elzbardico 2026-01-2710:251 reply Fault doesn’t necessarily imply guilty. People need to understand that. “I should have known better” means while I am not guilty of what happened to me, I could have avoided it by not doing X. So, the real world is messy, and next time I will ac accordingly for my own good.
It is not smart to die or have your things subtracted just because you want to make a point of how things should be, a point that nobody will care about.
By Terr_ 2026-01-2712:02 I often like to highlight the difference words that we tend to smush together and treat as synonymous.
For example, something can be your responsibility but not your fault, or vice-versa. Responsibility is literally just the duty to respond.
I grew up in a small city in the US and was taught early on to never leave any property in view in your car. The US also has a worse issue than other parts of the world because people often leaves guns in their cars.
By SirMaster 2026-01-2715:42 I grew up in a small town and we didn't even lock the doors to our home. Never had anyone come and steal anything.
did you feel really smart putting that totally made up "because people often leaves guns in their cars" in there?
By matwood 2026-01-2716:37 Not made up at all. In large parts of the US people leave guns in their cars all the time. It ends becoming one of if not the largest source of stolen guns.
https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-thefts-from-cars-th...
By rdtsc 2026-01-2713:38 > did you feel really smart putting that totally made up "because people often leaves guns in their cars" in there?
I can’t tell if you think people obviously do leave guns in their car, and GP should know better than add the phrase in, or, that nobody does, and GP should know better.
I can tell you have seen people do both in different parts of the country.
By I_dream_of_Geni 2026-01-2717:05 You obviously didn't Google this, since there are states in America where the people are PROUD to show off the guns and gun racks in their trucks. Yes, they proudly display these guns. (Texas, looking at you)
It 100% is if you live in or operate in a high crime area known for vehicle break-ins. Like OP of the comment.
Sure but in a less broken society thieves would be apprehended and theft risk would be low. Instead the police do nothing and honest people live like a school of fish trying not to stick out for fear of the nearly-authorized property theft rampant in SF.
In many parts of the world, including major cities, it would be okay to leave your belongings in a locked car.
I regularly leave my backpack with my laptops in it in the front seat of my car in the south US and nothing has ever happened in ten years of doing this.
It's crazy to me other people just live with this. Dramatic action is needed and possible.
By sejje 2026-01-2714:48 Same. I try to remember to lock the door if I'm in a bigger city.
I don't own the key to my house, it's not something we think about here (US, south).
By plingamp 2026-01-2717:52 Shared this in another comment, but my luggage was in a locked truck, nothing visible from the back windows. They broke in by smashing the windows, unlocking the door and using the latch to fold the back seats down to expose the trunk.
By renewiltord 2026-01-2623:253 reply I imagine they see it the way I do: the SF Bay Area has thieves like this because it's part of local native culture. You get the good with the bad. Sort of like going to the elephant graveyard and being eaten by hyena pack. Sure, it's not your fault for walking around graveyard and getting eaten by hyena. But this is where hyena is. I have lost (and sometimes recovered) many items to these hyena. Ultimately, they are not people or anything. They're like hyena. You don't say it is fault of hyena. It is animal and local culture is animal lover. Why stress about it? Like many, GP decided that he leave hyena here and go elsewhere where it is people and not animal.
By trollbridge 2026-01-271:121 reply But the thieves actually are people, not "wildlife". And there is no reason to tolerate this kind of quality-of-life crime. Nobody is better off for it.
By renewiltord 2026-01-274:021 reply One way or the other, local culture is to do this. Yes, I agree it’s a negative sum choice. But they like it. It’s the same school of thought where a prison abolitionist didn’t report her gang rape: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/why-i-didnt-report...
It’s a coastal elite view.
As for whether they’re people and not wildlife as you put it, I suspect I’m more right than you are. Some of them have almost been acquitted because after killing people while robbing them it was offered as an explanation that they are too stupid to know that killing was bad.
https://sfist.com/2024/09/20/sf-jury-convicts-two-for-2017-m...
> Decuir and Mims were convicted last year of armed robbery, but a jury deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge, leading to this second trial… Attorneys also argued that she had a low IQ…
> One way or the other, local culture is to do this. Yes, I agree it’s a negative sum choice. But they like it. It’s the same school of thought where a prison abolitionist didn’t report her gang rape: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/why-i-didnt-report...
How are gangs of thieves reasonably justified as part of culture? Surely civil society frowns on theft?
I read that article and I can (somehow) appreciate an ideal of prison reform so strong that it precluded reporting a crime--I think anyway--however, I did not see an explanation of what sort of remedy or justice this practitioner of a belief "in the abolition of police and prisons" would prefer. What is the appropriate punishment for such a crime? This is missing in the perspective presented. There is a description of a want for the perpetrator to change but no mechanism described for forcing the person to begin to change, just a reconciliation that every situation is different enough to avoid prescribing a template solution.
In the theft context, tolerating people that steal seems to enable theft. Humans can reason and are a product of the choices they've made. One ideal of the courts is exposure to alternatives, in the case of your deadlocked murder case, there are annoying factors from my arm chair: perhaps first-degree was too high a bar, the use of IQ in a legal setting in 2023 is annoying because without knowing how it was measured it should be assumed culturally biased and pointless, what levels of decision making abrogate personal responsibility--in managing a disease or making choices that lead to finding oneself in a particular setting. The resulting life in prison without parole sentence is probably just, but as with the Las Vegas story, I think that's up to those most affected by the crime to decide.
By renewiltord 2026-01-2710:01 > How are gangs of thieves reasonably justified as part of culture? Surely civil society frowns on theft?
Theft is considered acceptable in coastal elite culture so long as it is from a multi-store chain. I haven't yet figured out how many stores transforms a chain from independent (theft-unacceptable) to corporate (theft-permitted, perhaps even encouraged). It is somewhat underspecified but at a sufficiently franchised operation, it is considered moral to steal.
> The resulting life in prison without parole sentence is probably just, but as with the Las Vegas story, I think that's up to those most affected by the crime to decide.
In this case, the person most affected did not make a statement as to his intended outcome. This is probably because he was killed in the commission of his crime, but we have no peer-reviewed studies that have proven that so we must consider it speculation.
> the SF Bay Area has thieves like this because it's part of local native culture
You mean like Coast Miwok or Pomo?
By renewiltord 2026-01-274:03 I’m with you but local culture is to run arbitrary tests to see if you’re a “native” or not. The tests usually go back to high school or something.
By shibapuppie 2026-01-276:03 I'm sure if you were to "take your gun" to where the AirTag is located, the police would care a ton more.
By fsckboy 2026-01-276:01 >the thief would have to invite them in
it wasn't your mistake calling them, but be thankful you escaped: those police were apparently vampires.
By fortran77 2026-01-272:51 > (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place).
It's not your fault. It's California's fault for tolerating a culture of criminality.
By trollbridge 2026-01-271:11 I generally believe it is not a crime victim's fault for being a victim of a crime, and the police services need to stop saying things that perpetrate this mindset.
>Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in.
I mean, isn't that good? 4th amendment, warrants from a judge, and all that.
Presumably they could easily get a warrant with that information, if they cared to ask.
Victim meets with police, signs affidavit, prosecutor goes to judge with affidavit, warrant written specifically for those items only. Should be simple and even digital if we wanted it to be.
By wildzzz 2026-01-273:43 An airtag alone will never be enough for a search warrant. They are not accurate enough and don't prove any actual crime was committed (maybe someone found your looted backpack in the trash). If there was security camera footage of the theft or you knew the thief and the cops could verify where they lived, that could likely be enough.
By jasonfarnon 2026-01-271:15 I guess the question would be how easy it is to fake this evidence. I don't know this tech. Could I throw my airtags in someone's bag and just take that to the police station and say look here on my phone, that's where my bags are, and then it's a he said/she said? Then the airtags aren't really adding anything to just your word "they took my bag".
By insane_dreamer 2026-01-2616:381 reply [flagged]
I don’t deal with Oakland Police specifically but Oakland itself is a sanctuary city.
By seanmcdirmid 2026-01-2617:08 Local police are never supposed to deal with immigration issues anyways, it isn't in their jurisdiction and they would have to call feds in to deal with anything related to it.
Generally, a city is called a sanctuary city if they don't honor hold orders on detainees from customs and immigration, it has nothing to do with police not enforcing immigration rules, which they can't do either way.
By insane_dreamer 2026-01-2619:421 reply Right. Plus local police don't have jurisdiction over immigration issues. My comment was more a reflection on how the gov generally is, sadly (and horrifically in Minneapolis etc), much more responsive to undocumented cases than actual crimes.
Sure, but different agency under a different government (Feds, not City of Oakland).
Oakland PD has their own bad reputation to live down to, let’s not commingle them.
By insane_dreamer 2026-01-270:12 for sure, I was referring to the fed gov
By alexjplant 2026-01-2616:501 reply Depends on the jurisdiction.
One time I was driving down a twoo-lane road with a police car a few hundred feet behind me. An oncoming pickup truck veered several feet over the center line and almost hit me. I flagged the police down to tell them and they were nonplussed even though they literally saw it happen. Drunk driving, a greater threat than property theft, was of little consequence to them.
On the other side of the country my motorcycle got stolen and the police found it the next day. I picked it up from the tow yard shortly thereafter.
YMMV.
By hshdhdhj4444 2026-01-2617:183 reply America is weirdly nonplussed by destruction and deaths caused by a car.
By justinator 2026-01-277:24 checkmate, Airtag on my bicycle.
By watersb 2026-01-2623:52 [flagged]
By throwaway85825 2026-01-272:32 [flagged]
By jules 2026-01-271:22 I was robbed at a gas station in Jersey City and the police retrieved the airtagged backpack in 20 minutes. The police was fantastic.
By spike021 2026-01-2623:52 Unrelated to airtags but last year a couple wheels were stolen off my brand new car. My city in California falls under county sheriff jurisdiction and they actually assigned a detective to the case.
Sadly even once he got the subpoena and other paperwork to track down the criminals through Facebook (they had listed my wheels two weeks later on Marketplace) he couldn't find them since they were using VPNs.
By metadat 2026-01-2615:34 The police in Spain will also not care, in my experience. They acted completely helpless regardless of how much information I gave them.
My solution now is to travel very light.
By VerifiedReports 2026-01-273:251 reply Didn't they start chirping and alert the thief?
The anti-stalking measures with AirTags, while we all recognize why they're in place, also greatly reduce their value as anti-theft devices. I've gouged the speakers out of a few and hidden them in my vehicles, but if Apple makes that impossible to do with the new generation... no sale.
By cluckindan 2026-01-277:031 reply That only happens after 24 hours and only if the tag has been continuously traveling with an iPhone present.
By eloisant 2026-01-2715:49 that works with Android too
> I called the Zurich Police and, as the thief kept moving, I told them where he was. Twenty minutes later I received a call from the police informing me that they had found my suitcase with my belongings, matching the description I had given.
So refreshing to hear. Here in the UK the police would be annoyed by your call and at best would give you crime ref number (usually after mentioning that you will file a complaint if they don't) to take up with your insurance provider.
By aix1 2026-01-276:40 When I lived in London, I once came across a criminal operation that was producing fake documents, in what looked like substantial quantities. British & foreign driving licences, National Insurance cards, passports, ID cards etc. Not especially high-quality, but still.
Try as I might, I could not get the Metropolitain Police interested. From Royal Mail tracking numbers, I was able to figure out which post office the docs were being sent from. I took a pile of those fake docs to a large police station literally across the street from the post office. Got a crime reference number and was told to keep the docs. :)
In Zürich, I once came off my bicycle. No one else involved, no damage to anything except myself. The police were on the scene six minutes later (they responded when a helpful passer-by called for an ambulance). Offered to take my bicycle for safekeeping while I was in hospital, which was jolly nice of them. :)
By jeffbee 2026-01-2623:38 I had a camera stolen on a Zürich streetcar and when I reported it to the police they acted like it was the first crime that had ever been reported in the canton, a very serious matter indeed.
By robertwt7 2026-01-2622:47 yeah this should be the standard, same here in Australia unfortunately the police will just pretend to care by taking more information and then does nothing.
I do use airtags for this purpose. I also expect (and I read) that most police departments won't pay the slightest bit of attention to your reports.
By traceroute66 2026-01-2615:353 reply > most police departments won't pay the slightest bit of attention to your reports
Its sort of a combination of two reasons.
First in many cities, police departments are underfunded. And so running around looking for your stolen phone or whatever minor item is low on their to-do list compared to say, stopping the local drug-gangs from shooting their brains out.
Second, for minor thefts most insurance companies just need a quick box-tick "police crime report number" before paying out. So if the police know they can get you off their backs just by quickly giving you a report number, well....
> compared to say, stopping the local drug-gangs from shoting their brains out
I'm guessing people have that impression from TV, but it doesn't seem to match reality.
> the data suggests that officers spend relatively little time responding to major violent crimes: 4%, 3.7% and 4.1% in the three locations, respectively.
- https://www.freethink.com/society/how-police-spend-their-tim...
Which raises the obvious question: If they're not responding to either violent crimes or nonviolent crimes, what are they doing all day?
By jq-r 2026-01-2622:36 Just like that excellent Yes Minister episode about hospitals - I imagine they have more then enough internal busywork so they have no time for their customers. Which the older am I the more this seems true.
By prmoustache 2026-01-276:19 Anecdotal evidence but they spend a significant amount of time at the burger joint next to my place, while blocking the bicycle lane instead of parking legally.
By reaperducer 2026-01-2621:191 reply If they're not responding to either violent crimes or nonviolent crimes, what are they doing all day?
According to a police administrator I once knew, filling out all the endless paperwork that makes the studies possible so people can complain about what little time cops spend fighting crime.
By eloisant 2026-01-2715:51 The only times were cops were useful to me was to fill a theft report that I needed for an insurance claim.
By justin66 2026-01-270:04 Donuts don't just eat themselves.
By b00ty4breakfast 2026-01-271:25 administration; paperwork et al. Don't you just like the modern technical bureaucratic apparatus?
By edm0nd 2026-01-274:13 >stopping the local drug-gangs from shooting their brains out.
Thats a good thing tho, its the problem(s) solving themselves.
By ghaff 2026-01-2615:49 And it's probably under your deductible anyway. And replacing various cards is your deal with your credit card etc. companies. Relatively few of us carry around a lot of cash.
I also know from experience that Zurich police will chase an AirTag location with vigor.
By piperswe 2026-01-276:56 I had a backpack stolen from me at Zurich HB. The police sent a car out on the freeway to chase the train the thieves were on, and nabbed them at the next station. The thieves tossed the clothes I had in the bag, but I got my laptop back
By seanmcdirmid 2026-01-2615:342 reply Switzerland sends in swat for noise complaints, they would definitely care about a thief that could be caught.
Is it all over or just some parts of the countries? I ask, amused, since I have never been there except a 2 day trip to Geneva in 1992 or so.
By jules-jules 2026-01-2619:221 reply Some Kantons are more easy going than others but overall the police are not to fuck around with.
Exactly! Forgot to run your washing machine so you gonna start it later in the evening? Bam, next thing you know they are bashing in your door.
By seanmcdirmid 2026-01-2715:42 Try doing laundry on Sunday……
By alexalx666 2026-01-2719:17 In Berlin, if a noise complaint was filed after 22:00, a police brigade of 2 will be dispatched, which is a good thing. They are very polite.
That's awesome. I'm glad that trackers have reached a price point, reliability and form factors that I can easily put one in everything I care about. I even have card ones in my wallet, my steam deck / e-reader case, etc.
Also, most of these have usb-c / wireless charging, so I don't have to mess with random cell batteries every 6 months.
Given that the battery in my Airtag lasts about a year, I'd rather have to exchange a CR2032 once per year than to buy a new tracker whenever the built-in rechargeable battery inevitably dies. (I think there are actually rechargeable CR2032s too – best of both worlds?)
By trollbridge 2026-01-271:143 reply There are, and I got cursed with a BMW that uses one of them. Eventually after 10+ years it finally dies, and it's basically impossible to replace and actually make it work again, so I just have to replace the 2032 in it every few months.
By F7F7F7 2026-01-2714:16 My Dad shipped a M car overseas a decade ago. The is fine. The keys are dead.
Since the islands he now lives on has no BMW presence they want him to ship the car back to get new keys.
By fragmede 2026-01-2714:34 FWIW, there's https://a.co/d/gOk1RkB which takes an airtag and AA batteries, and should need replacement in 10 years. Unless they make BMWs a lot smaller where you are, you can fit it somewhere. Now I just need a retailer that sells speakerless airtags.
By lxgr 2026-01-2711:53 Oh, is that what they use in their wirelessly recharging key fobs? I've always wondered what happened if the car were to outlive the key.
By lm2s 2026-01-278:40 Funny story: I actually forgot my backpack in the train at Zurich HB and it went to Basel and back again to Zurich HB, where I was able to get from the train. All the while I was nervously looking at Find My, seeing it travel and just hoping it wouldn’t be stolen.
By prmoustache 2026-01-276:241 reply Reminds me of a Big Lebowski scene. That is surprising because it is an easy win for them. They would be all after it.
I have recollection of french police using civilian appearance to collect a bike thief in a meetup between him and the bike's original owner presenting himself as a buyer.
By prmoustache 2026-01-279:16 yes that one :D
By kavalg 2026-01-2712:16 Same story in Bulgaria. A backpack with an iPhone and an iPad was stolen from a car. Had to go to the police department to file a written complaint. Weeks after that the devices were still visible in FindMy but police could not identify and catch the thieves.
So, airtags/findmy are good, but then it is up to the police to get their job done. I guess Switzerland and Bulgaria are different :)
By hbarka 2026-01-2715:07 I wish I had this in the early 2000s. The theft of my carry-on bags flying with Alitalia turned out to be an organized crime ring of flight attendants and ground crew. They didn’t get caught until 2013, the whole rotten lot. Never flown with Alitalia since then.
By dostick 2026-01-2618:26 Did you tell them that you have a particular set of… tags?
By justinator 2026-01-277:20 haha do that in the States and the police will tell you to go F yourself.
By khana 2026-01-270:23 [dead]
By testfrequency 2026-01-2623:06 Racist
By obmelvin 2026-01-2716:36 And people have economic issues in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
People of all ethnicities all over the world steal. Plenty of immigrants work extremely hard and don't steal.
I truly can't believe my statement was 'controversial' and down vote worthy. I mean who cares about the HN points...but really??
By logicalfails 2026-01-2614:4911 reply > The new AirTag is designed with the environment in mind, with 85 percent recycled plastic in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards. The paper packaging is 100 percent fiber-based and can be easily recycled.
I'm no material scientist, but this seems pretty impressive to me that Apple's economy of scale can pull this off, and upgrade the device capabilities, for less than $30 USD.
Building an attachment point into the tag itself is still beyond current technology though. We just don't know how to do it.
The fundamental issue preventing keyring aperture integration stems from the AirTag’s reliance on inverse-phase magnetic reluctance in the structural substrate. You see, the enclosure maintains a precisely calibrated coefficient offramular expansion. Introducing a penetrative void would destabilize the sinusoidal depleneration required for proper UWB phase conjugation. The resulting spurving bearing misalignment could induce up to 40 millidarkness of signal attenuation. Apple’s engineers attempted to compensate using prefabulated amulite in the magneto-reluctance housing, but this only exacerbated the side-fumbling in the hyperboloid waveform generators. Early prototypes with keyring holes exhibited catastrophic unilateral dingle-arm failure within mere minutes of deployment. Until we develop lotus-o-delta-type bearings capable of withstanding the differential girdle spring modulation, I’m afraid keyring integration remains firmly in the realm of theoretical engineering—right up there with perpetual motion machines and TypeScript projects that compile without any // @ts-ignore comments. The technology simply isn’t there yet.
By nasretdinov 2026-01-2615:362 reply I must say you had me in the first couple sentences :). Also does look like it's not an LLM-generated text either. Good job!
By nerdsniper 2026-01-2615:45 Indeed, LLM's still suck at the cultural nuance required for humor. It's like they're writing for an audience that's too generic, so the joke doesn't truly "land" for anyone in particular.
By thefreeman 2026-01-2720:37 the emdash is right there for all to see
By kstrauser 2026-01-2615:36 You really don’t want to accidentally frobnicate the turbo encabulator.
By port11 2026-01-2619:41 Of course the offramular expansion is what makes all the Fleeb Juice a key aspect of Find My. That and the lack of a substantive in the name.
By next_xibalba 2026-01-2615:35 > attempted to compensate using prefabulated amulite in the magneto-reluctance housing, but this only exacerbated the side-fumbling in the hyperboloid waveform generators
Wrote my PhD dissertation on this. It would've been in the literature for Apple's engineers to find, but unfortunately I lost institutional support to get this into a journal after my college (Mailorderdegrees.com, an FTX University^TM) folded mid-process.
By dmd 2026-01-2622:50 Sadly the polishing cloth doesn't work on that one
By montag 2026-01-277:02 Haha. That was wonderful to the very end.
By qingcharles 2026-01-2722:21 Most people don't even realise the original AirTags were designed by Ria Paschelle, inventor of the statiophonicoxyogeneticamplifiergraphaphonerdelaverberator.
By esafak 2026-01-273:03 It's all ball bearings nowadays!
By dotancohen 2026-01-271:27 Thank you Geordi.
By cluckindan 2026-01-277:08 Aliens fucked over the carbonator on engine four, I’m gonna try to refuckulate it and land on Juniper
By glitchc 2026-01-2615:51 You missed the "strategic use of metamaterials to emanate a negative refractive index"
By stackedinserter 2026-01-2717:40 tldr: users just keep holding Airtags wrong.
I think the point is to make the smallest unit of functionality possible and then people can integrate that into their use case using attachments, casings, etc. in a way they see fit. It's a good approach for this product in my opinion.
I think this argument would work better if the AirTag in its minimal form wasn't so teardrop-shaped. It feels almost like it was designed to be difficult to integrate into other environments because it lacks any edges or openings. It ensures that anything that could hold it must be at least as big as the AirTag itself. It really confuses me why they couldn't even allow for a single small hole in its edge - it would still leave attachment up to the user, but make it far more flexible by letting people just hook it onto things. Is it because design had overpowered functionality in this product? Is it because this shape is somehow mandated by the hardware within it? It confuses me.
By istjohn 2026-01-2623:58 An Apple product in which design takes precedence over usability. Imagine that.
By whynotminot 2026-01-2715:45 I think it’s designed around that easily replaceable and very commonly found battery.
Which is an appreciated and surprisingly un-Apple move. Despite some physical limitations this imposes, I applaud it.
By dotancohen 2026-01-271:30
That shape is symbolic of the tears of those who wish nothing more than to track where they've left their keys.> I think this argument would work better if the AirTag in its minimal form wasn't so teardrop-shaped.> If the AirTag in its minimal form wasn't so teardrop-shaped
I'm a little confused by this, aren't AirTag basically circular discs pretty much just big enough to house a CRT2032 battery?
Form factor wise they don't look teardrop shaped at all in the pictures?
I don't have one so could just be missing something obvious here.
By tavavex 2026-01-2818:39 > I'm a little confused by this, aren't AirTag basically circular discs pretty much just big enough to house a CRT2032 battery?
Kind of. It's definitely the intention, but an AirTag is still considerably larger than the CR2032 within it [1], so they're not at a shortage of space in the shell.
As for "teardrop shape", I didn't mean to imply it had an elongated shape, but that it's rounded off on all sides, like a drop of liquid. The absence of any defined edges makes clip design harder and forces any AirTag enclosure to just act as a mini-pocket that contains the whole thing instead of having a simpler and less wasteful attachment method.
[1] https://www.macworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/airtag-b...
By chrisfinazzo 2026-01-2621:212 reply This might also explain why the first party luggage loop accessory seems to have been (unfortunately) memory-holed. I think third parties still sell them out of excess inventory, but they've been harder to come by in recent times.
My current carry-on doesn't have large enough attachment points to easily accommodate the Apple leather case's keyring, so an updated loop would have been welcome.
Mine is duct taped inside the inner liner of the carryon that has a small zipper for cleaning.
By matwood 2026-01-278:12 This is the way. My AirTags are hidden in my bags/luggage.
By vostrocity 2026-01-284:341 reply It makes no sense to leave your AirTag attached outside. I hide mine in the most difficult to find pocket in my luggage.
By chrisfinazzo 2026-01-2814:33 No argument here.
For some reason, people feel like this should be a replacement for traditional luggage tags.
I do not understand this mindset.
I’d prefer to have a dedicated loop for my bag and the inside attachment points just aren’t big enough. I’d feel more secure if it wasn’t loose in a pocket and could easily fall out or be removed by an unscrupulous (or inattentive) airline or TSA employee.
By leokennis 2026-01-2710:46 And the result is that for every oh-so-sustainable AirTag sold, a keyring doohickey is dieseled/kerosened from AliExpress' China warehouse to the consumer.
By traceroute66 2026-01-2615:482 reply > Building an attachment point into the tag
To be fair, most people I know put their AirTag inside something, e.g. inner pocket of a bag.
At which point the necessity for an attachment point becomes somewhat moot.
By internet2000 2026-01-275:36 You're getting a ton of jokey replies, in true internet fashion, but the real answer is acoustics. For it to sound as loud as it can with no visible speaker grille, it needs to be that shape with no keyring holes.
this is the smallest attachment loop i've found. It's rock solid https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CPTS8JG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...
By dotancohen 2026-01-271:32 That attachment loop costs more per unit than the dual-protocol tags themselves that another commentator mentioned.
By Brajeshwar 2026-01-2615:282 reply I use quite a few varieties, including Apple's, and I have found Belkin’s to be an ideal one — small, secure, with a minimal footprint, and available with a keyring or a lanyard.
https://www.belkin.com/p/secure-holder-with-key-ring-for-air...
By dotancohen 2026-01-271:331 reply That costs more than the AirTag itself.
By Brajeshwar 2026-01-278:30 Hmmm! Nope, it was not. Checking the website again, it says $12.99 for one and $39.99 for the 4-pack. I remember picking up two of the 4-pack for less than the 4-pack of AirTags (including the sales tax in California).
For some reason, though, it is cheaper in the Indian Amazon. Right now, they are selling for roughly $9.70 (₹889) a piece (all taxes inclusive).
By jval43 2026-01-275:49 Yes, these are the best of the bunch. Sturdy too, have had one on my keychain for years now.
By traceroute66 2026-01-2615:302 reply Dude... not cool to put your Amazon `ref` link in there....
By nathancahill 2026-01-2615:392 reply It's not theirs, internal Amazon stuff. Also, plug for Firefox and the Copy Clean Link function.
By MengerSponge 2026-01-271:301 reply My father-in-law is a builder. It is difficult to get his attention in a magnificent space because he is lost in wonder. We were in an Apple Store together years ago and I asked him what it would cost to build an attachment point to the tag itself. I will never forget his answer… 'We can’t, we don’t know how to do it'
By adolph 2026-01-2716:16 Its interesting to see "turbo encabulator" get love that "builder ... don't know how" doesn't get anymore, even though the former is a much more intrusive copypasta. Maybe its a function of recency and "builder" has had more recent use in various places than "turbo?"
Different people want different attachment types (or no attachment point at all), so it makes sense for that to be external. I've used other trackers with integrated attachment points, and because the attachment point has to be very compact it tends to be flimsy or hard to fit.. vs the Apple one where you can add a larger attachment point that makes sense to you.
By peddling-brink 2026-01-2615:054 reply Are you trying to say that the AirTag is so strictly utilitarian, that they couldn’t have found a spot for a lanyard hole?
I disagree, they could have, they didn’t want to. Beyond the look, this sure panders to their accessory partners.
How big of an industry is the phone case? Should it even exist? The audacity.
By wat10000 2026-01-2615:19 Yes, the phone case industry should exist. People want different things. Plenty of people are willing to go without a case entirely. For those who want a case, they want different tradeoffs between bulk and protection. They want different textures. It's OK to sell something that isn't all things to all people.
Right? Nokias had the equivalent of today's "case" built right into the design of the unit, plenty of durable plastic around the vulnerable parts -- the phone would've been considered unfit for sale if it couldn't survive a drop in out-of-the-box condition.
By the time you stripped a dumbphone down to be as vulnerable as one of today's is, it'd be a bare PCB. Nah, probably even in that state, I bet it could handle a drop better than a new iPhone straight out of the box.
What you buy today isn't a complete phone, it's just the guts. One tumble to pavement and you're out a grand. Heaven help you if you fumble it while trying to install the case that should've been part of it from the beginning.
And yet, we still buy them, because the alternatives are from shady manufacturers who never provide updates, and there is no third-party hardware that can run up-to-date iOS. If there was, I'd buy an iNokia in a heartbeat.
I'm carrying my 13 Pro without a case, to see it's Alpine Green glory and feel the matte finish on the back. It's been perfectly fine for the last almost 4 years, some minor scratches on the steel edges I fixed with a sandpaper, there is one recent scratch on the screen and that's all. Otherwise it looks good, just a bit used. Has fallen multiple times from pocket when sitting, and a dozen times from tables, few times onto pavement (that's what needed sanding).
Almost every single one "case" for iPhone is a waste. Waste of material, waste of space, waste of your money, waste of user experience. You've already paid for a perfectly good phone, and then slapped some $[1]0.99 case on it to gain nothing but pain and vanity.
I only had one case on a phone, that made it better - original wooden case for 1+3T. Been looking for same experience on iPhone, but it's not possible due to shape -- they are all bulky. The closest thing is carbon-fiber cases, and I had one, which saved this iPhone when I dropped it onto slanted pavement, where it slid for a few meters screen down, ruining the case, but saving the screen.
Would I drop it if I wasn't using a case, that has parts sticking out, making the phone more cumbersome to use and carry? Unlikely, because it happened in the first year owning it, and I've been going caseless since then and nothing similar happened.
By jval43 2026-01-276:28 If the iPhone wouldn't wobble so much and so loudly when putting it on a table I'd go caseless too. Hoping for the fold to improve on that aspect.
By dotancohen 2026-01-271:38 I dropped my flagship Samsung S24U one time. I was running and it slipped out of my back pocket.
That 1 meter fall resulted in calls unable to be placed, USB charging and ABD does not work, and the microphone for the voice recorder does not work. All that indicates that the daughterboard cable was displaced. But the unworking rear camera indicates that there is a second fault in there as well.
Not to mention the alarmingly large dent in the corner, that shattered the screen protector and likely would have resulted in the screen itself having shattered if no protector were on it.
New phones are designed to break. Contrast with my Note 3 that I carried for 8 years without so much as cracking the screen once.
Somebody take an x-ray so where know where to drill our own holes.
Already been done
https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/05/02/x-rays-show-how-a...
> For the initial disassembly, the AirTag is said to be the hardest to open to access the battery. Though all three could be opened by hand, the AirTag is suggested to be the hardest due to the lack of divots for grip.
Does the author lack thumbs? It’s easy to twist the battery open.
By renewiltord 2026-01-274:29 I get some AirTags opened easily and others are harder. We have more than ten AirTags in the family and I have experienced quite a range of torque and force required. This could be because of gunk over time, though, which wouldn’t be something these guys faced.
The lack of a divot prevents iFixit from selling an overpriced single use tool that exactly matches the divot shape for $50 USD that just so happens to be the exact same shape and material as a $0.05 guitar pick. Totally unacceptable, won't anyone think of the environment?!?!?!?!
By imp0cat 2026-01-276:53 This! The humble guitar pick is an underrated tool. Everybody should have some on them at all times.
There are third-party tags out there compatible with both Google and Apple's network that is roughly the same size and use the same battery, yet have a giant lanyard opening in the design to fit anything.
Apple could trivially have fit a usable hole if they wanted to. They just don't want to because they get to sell accessories with that now. Also, looking cleaner on its own helps sell even if that is an entirely useless quality for a tag tha tneeds to go into a bloody case.
Do the third-party tags have all the same features, size, capabilities, range, durability, etc.? Or have they made other tradeoffs instead of eliding the attachment point?
Nothing related to the attachment point.
I don't know of any third-party AirTag-compatible trackers that have UWB right now, but this applies equally to tags that are much larger than the AirTag. The rest is identical - good battery life, range, loud speaker, ...
I have a few theories on the lacking UWB:
1. Given that UWB is also super slow to roll out to Google Find, with only the Moto Tag available, there might be a technical/regulatory hurdle that manufacturers don't think is worth it
2. Apple/Google might make it a pain to be allowed to integrate with their UWB stuff
3. Cost - maybe the UWB stack is comparatively expensive, with third-party tags aiming for price brackets as low as 1/0th the cost of an AirTag
As a note, I don't know if this is because of regional differences in spectrum limits, but at least with AirTag and Moto Tag v1 EU versions, I could never get UWB to give any meaningful directions until I was already staring at the thing. Once you were in range to even consider UWB, playing a sound would be way more effective.
By vostrocity 2026-01-284:37 I'm pleasantly surprised Apple allows third-party manufacturers to make trackers that work with Find My. I've bought a bunch for as low as $2 per tracker. The only missing feature, like you mentioned, is missing UWB.
Recycled metals have always been cost effective. Recycled plastic is much more expensive than virgin plastic, but it's a very small materials cost to start with, likely totaling only a few cents.
By adastra22 2026-01-287:48 Recycled plastic usually isn't the same quality though.
How does that compare to previous AirTag? Whats the industry baseline for all of those, maybe gold is 100% recycled anyways in most products?
By port11 2026-01-2620:18 This is a great question. For example, the Pixel 10 has a similar recycling profile, although with less recycled plastic.
By colechristensen 2026-01-2614:58 The wholesale material costs for the plastic, gold plating, and magnets is all just pennies, if that.
By vablings 2026-01-2716:11 Apple have pretty good recycling processes. I think they also partner with mobile carriers on trade ins too
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/apple-expands-global-...
This is just green washing on the level of “93.65% natural ingredients”.
What level of materials recycling would be required for you to not consider it green washing?
It’s a genuine question, since I don’t like Apple and agree that we buy tons of stuff we don’t really need. That said, our bicycles can’t be insured anymore, but having AirTags at least alleviates some of the angst over leaving them in public places.
By GoatInGrey 2026-01-272:352 reply Recycled plastics actually produce microplastics more than virgin plastics do. Some studies on recycled polyester garments found that they dump an additional 50% more or so into the environment than non-recycled polyester fabrics. And those non-recycled fabrics already release enormous quantities over their lifespan into the water supply and open air (via your dryer exhaust) already.
Dumb example for the sake of discussion, you could understand why recycled plutonium would not be a healthy thing to weave a sweater out of. It's less about the recycling and more about the material itself.
I’m aware, which is why we don’t buy products with recycled synthetics fabrics for our baby. Ironic, since so many brands are hellbent on promoting the recycled fiber as more sustainable.
But: the AirTag is made of hard plastic (polypropylene?) through injection moulding. I’m not sure it leaks even a tenth of what fiber would. Just a thought :)
By vostrocity 2026-01-284:42 Recycled polyester is crap, just like virgin polyester. It's just a way for brands to make it seem like they're hip and sustainable, when you're basically wearing crude oil on your body.
By adastra22 2026-01-287:49 Plutonium is probably safer than some of the materials we do use in clothes.
If you believe Hank Green (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=325HdQe4WM4), a lot of recycled plastics aren't recycled the way I used to think they were (by shredding them, melting them down, and extruding them into new shapes). Rather, they're chemically decomposed into what's essentially raw feedstock, purified, and then re-synthesized into new polymers.
That's pretty energy intensive, to the point that it may be better to just use new feedstock (which is produced as a byproduct of oil and gas extraction). There are obviously higher-order effects to think about, but for me, plastic recycling isn't an obvious win for the environment.
By port11 2026-01-278:11 Nice video, Hank is always good to watch!
I think we’ve more or less debunked plastic recycling, as nothing more but a way to make consumers feel good about purchasing things made of plastic.
We have to recycle plastic where we live — and do so happily —, but I often joke with my partner about where the plastic will end up, since she insists on first washing the plastic.
By reaperducer 2026-01-2615:302 reply This is just green washing on the level of “93.65% natural ingredients”.
I keep seeing products in the supermarket with big "Made with REAL ingredients!" labels on them.
As opposed to what? Imaginary ingredients?
Classico pasta sauce is the most recent offender.
By sib 2026-01-2718:19 After all, Polonium is a REAL ingredient - but I would't want it in my pasta sauce...
By ExoticPearTree 2026-01-2615:363 reply Chemicals. That’s what they mean by real ingredients: no chemicals.
Like orange juice: can be from a chemical powder or real oranges.
By snowwrestler 2026-01-2615:561 reply This is a good example of how easy it is to fool people if they don’t have their own understanding of how things work.
Highlighting this has been a priority in my parenting. My child is having a great time trying to scare friends about the dangers of the chemical dihydrogen monoxide, which is found in a surprisingly large number of manufactured foods.
By ExoticPearTree 2026-01-2616:573 reply Right. And wonder bread is awesome for your health.
By snowwrestler 2026-01-2617:48 Wonder Bread is horrible for your health, but it’s not because of “chemicals.”
Orange juice is also bad for your health BTW!
By reaperducer 2026-01-2618:461 reply Asbestos is all natural.
By kstrauser 2026-01-2619:28 Don't forget poison ivy, amanita mushrooms, and box jellyfish.
By array_key_first 2026-01-2617:42 Nobody said it was. But it's not bad because of chemicals, because all bread is created with chemicals.
As for natural versus artificial - that's also bullshit. There's many natural ingredients that are poison, and many artificial ones that are good for you.
I mean, if I eat home made fried chicken everyday, you can bet your ass I'm not gonna live very long.
But that's total nonsense. Everything in our physical world (including water, air, food, and human bodies) is made of chemicals. They can be naturally occurring or artificially manufactured.
By ExoticPearTree 2026-01-2616:572 reply You can nitpick and be pedantic about the wording I used, but if you equate artificial flavors or ingredients with natural ones…
Is it really pedantic? Everything is ultimately a chemical compound. H2O is a chemical. Where do you draw the line between "chemicals" and "not chemicals"? Is it more about what you can find in nature? You can find acetone in nature.
By GuinansEyebrows 2026-01-2623:073 reply yeah, this is kind of a definitional example of pedantry. you probably understand what people are trying to say when they talk about "chemicals" but instead of engaging with the actual conversation, you spin off a metanarrative to pick apart the word choice as if that's directly relevant to the point they're trying to discuss.
not trying to pick on you specifically, because sure everything's a chemical, and i don't really care to fight about that, but you asked :)
"Chemical" is just a really, really vague and poor word choice. I honestly don't understand what people are trying to say when they use it. Food and chemistry are inextricably intertwined. You can't even talk about food without talking about all of the various components food is made up of. Not a single food item out there isn't made up of chemicals. Some found in nature, some created in a lab or factory process. Some healthy, some not. Some with long names, some with short names. Some have effects on food taste, longevity, appearance. Some are inert. It's really a meaningless word to use in the context of one's food.
>I honestly don't understand what people are trying to say when they use it
Like, banana-flavoured milk product vs banana yogurt - seed oil and potato starch compound with artificial flavorings vs REAL milk yoghurt with REAL banana.
It tastes different, it has different nutritional value and overall "chemical" product feels scammy because it tries to mimic proper one.
This is all about words, like, why do we use "Artificial" in Artificial Intelligence?
What is real banana? How much processing is allowed for it to be still real? Considering the selective breeding of banana, is banana even still real?
Chemical is just a bad word choice. Artificial, or ultra processed get closer to the issue. They still are vague with a lot of grey area. If you cook at home, you're also highly processing your food. The fruit in winter is likely also artificial, in some sense: Grown against the will of god/nature with pesticides, in a tent, in a climate that doesn't naturally feature them, devoid of flavour because they were artificially bred for yield, color and size, etc.
>What is real banana? How much processing is allowed for it to be still real? Considering the selective breeding of banana, is banana even still real?
This is arbitrary subjective qualifier, goes somewhere between "isoamyl acetate" flavoring chemical and organic wild forest bananas. I would subjectively say that any grown bananas is REAL while isoamyl acetate made by rectification of amyl acetate is not REAL banana.
Is Baking Powder considered a “chemical”? How about sodium bicarbonate and monocalcium phosphate?
Maybe people are simply reacting to chemical-sounding words.
By u8080 2026-01-2717:19 Add some artificial bacon flavouring, starch and you will get "beef flavoured product" which most people would call "chemical".
By jkubicek 2026-01-2714:31 > you probably understand what people are trying to say when they talk about "chemicals"
My understanding is that when someone complains about "chemicals" in their food, it's because they've seen something they don't understand on the ingredient list and are scared of it.
By LinXitoW 2026-01-2711:30 I think it's actually a great example of very very important non-pedantry. The entire crux of their argument/issue is dependent on their definition of "chemicals". I would even go so far as to say it's just the nature fallacy in disguise.
With the nature fallacy, the definition (or more like the lack of) of what is natural is the entire crux of it. In both cases (natural and "non-chemical") it's the very non-defined-ness that reveals the problem with it: You cannot create a sensible definition.
For nature, what's the definition that puts "rape" and "artificial insulin" on the morally correct side?
For chemical, what's the definition that puts "fortification with iodine, flouride, or whatevers in flour" and "arsenic" on the right side?
By ben-schaaf 2026-01-2623:161 reply Could you describe the difference between the artificial flavour vanilin made in a lab, and the natural flavour vanilin extracted from a vanilla bean?
OK for vanilla, however most of the fruit artificial flavors are compound that have nothing to do with the elements from the natural fruit but at some point, someone in the food industry decided it tasted "similar" to the natural fruit.
For some of them, like cherry or coconuts, the artificial flavor tastes nothing like the natural flavor.
By ben-schaaf 2026-01-286:57 To my knowledge benzaldehyde is the most common cherry flavor, and I agree it doesn't taste much like cherries. It's also a naturally occurring compound we produce from cassia oil, and it's naturally contained in almonds, apricots, apples and cherries.
As for coconut there's Lactones, which - you guessed it - occur naturally.
> OK for vanilla, however most of the fruit artificial flavors are compound that have nothing to do with the elements from the natural fruit but at some point, someone in the food industry decided it tasted "similar" to the natural fruit.
Care to provide a source?
By prmoustache 2026-01-276:27 Cooking is chemistry anyway.
It’s never possible for things to be good with people like you. It’s not 100% recycled, which would be better. But surely, this is better than 0% recycled??
By GoatInGrey 2026-01-272:421 reply Ironically, it's worse. I just wrote another comment about this. Recycled plastics carry more toxic load and shed more (and more fragmented) microplastics into the environment. Recycled plastics only win out on carbon emissions.
Moral of the story: plastic is just not good. Avoid buying things made out of ANY kind plastic if you are going to regularly wash and mechanically agitate them. You won't eliminate 100% of washed plastic in your life, but it's surprisingly easy to get rid of 80% of it without sacrificing quality of life.
That's good to know. My understanding though is that they don't use 100% recycled plastic to prevent that? I thought the ~20% non recycled plastic was kinda "stabilizing" the whole thing but maybe that's not true
By adastra22 2026-01-287:51 Nope that's not true. All recycled plastic is bad.
By CGMthrowaway 2026-01-2616:081 reply I don't see old-gen airtags for sale on the website. Are they throwing them all out?
By mambo_giro 2026-01-2616:16 Apple rarely offers direct discounts of closeout or excess merchandise. Instead to clear out back stock they’ll work with partner retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, etc.) who don’t mind the brand perception associated with offering deeper discounts.
First-gen AirTags have been on sale on Amazon frequently over the last year, and they’ll probably drop the price again soon.
By ghm2199 2026-01-2716:33 > They are then combined with scrap from select manufacturing sites and, for the first time, cobalt recovered through this process is now being used to make brand-new Apple batteries — a true closed loop for this precious material.
Do they disclose who the manufacturers are and what standards do they adhere to when recovering cobalt from scrapped batteries?
Just stating the obvious that not buying one of these things that we never seemed to need until they told us we needed it is the only way to have "the environment in mind".
By reaperducer 2026-01-2615:281 reply Just stating the obvious that not buying one of these thing that we never seemed to need until they told us we needed it
I never thought I needed one until my wife lost her car keys, and the Fiat dealer charged $1,200 for a replacement.
And it's not even the electronics that makes them so expensive. Modern car keys aren't like the 1970's where it's just a piece of metal with the edges shaved off. Those little key cutting kiosks at Home Depot can't cope with today's complex engraving.
By kstrauser 2026-01-2615:39 I have cats. I can’t count on things being where I left them.
By actuallyalys 2026-01-272:30 This feels like a good tradeoff as far as gadgets go. It doesn’t take finding that many objects for it to make up the energy cost to manufacture the AirTag.
They do require periodic battery replacements but I imagine it’s still a net savings or pretty negligible cost. I’d love to see a more formal analysis, though.
By stephenr 2026-01-270:47 > one of these things that we never seemed to need until they told us we needed it
Found the guy who literally never leaves his studio apartment and has thus never lost baggage, keys, etc.
By insane_dreamer 2026-01-2616:401 reply but then the fob also costs $30 :/
By vostrocity 2026-01-284:42 Just buy a generic Find My tracker on Amazon for about $5.
By lucideer 2026-01-2615:03 I'd be a little wary of these numbers as regulation around advertising these kinds of figures normally permits mass balance systems[0] (which imo is tantamount to straight-up lying).
Mass balance is better than nothing I guess, & I understand the practical challenges with going further, but ultimately it's not what's implied by the marketing.
[0] https://www.iscc-system.org/news/mass-balance-explained/
Unfortunately the anti-stalking features have made Airtag mostly useless for theft prevention. You have less than an hour to retrieve your item before the tag alerts the thief they are being tracked. I've seen it trigger as quickly as 30 minutes.
To me, the bigger problem is the lack of ability for Android phones to register an AirTag as recognized. They've never done anything to address the problem of "drive your wife's car and her AirTag is beeping at you and your Android phone is beeping at you and there's no way to tell either one to stop".
As the owner of many airtags and some Airpods who has switched to Android, this is infuriating. I get beeps and unknown tracker notifications multiple times a day.
There are technical limitations in Apples design that prevents Android or anyone else from fixing it.
I left iOS because of degrading UX, and the UX of these products has got even worse as a result.
Vendor/ecosystem lockin, all on purpose, to give as much friction and annoyment as possible without flatly refusing the service which is generally bad for PR and apple does care about keeping their image up. This is their typical behavior for a long time, their primary mission is to force you into their ecosystem, not selling specific hardware (with 30% margin but still at the end they don't care about that).
Try running airpods pro against any android phone. Severely degraded experience on purpose to the point of rendering them worse than chinese 10$ aliexpress buds and practically useless. Wife had them, worked fine with iphone mini 13 but she hated iOS with passion so eventually reverted back to samsungs. She had to give airpods pro to her sister who still has apple phone and bought some cheapish buds for 50 bucks which work flawlessly and she is happy again.
Maybe engineers at apple are consistently incompetent to implement basic bluetooth unlike any chinese sweatshop, but somehow I refuse to believe so.
By danpalmer 2026-01-2822:38 I agree with the lock-in, but FWIW I love using my AirPods with my Android phone. They basically work great. I can't change settings on them, but I haven't done that since I set them up. They sound nothing like $10 aliexpress ear buds, they remember and auto-pair to my phone, two laptops, and an iPad. Totally usable.
By pests 2026-01-2720:21 Not the best solution but you could turn off "Unknown tracker alerts" on your phone temporarily when you're driving your wife's car etc.
I developed a device that turns an Airtag on and off at specific intervals (roughly 80% off 20% on). While the AirTag is off, it can’t be detected, and when it turns on again, you can locate it and with it your stolen item: https://undetectag.com I'm about to order the new version to check whether it works on it too
By framapotari 2026-01-2710:491 reply Given how tracking stolen items is technically identical to tracking a person, wouldn't this also be a device for undetectable stalking?
By sejje 2026-01-2715:02 You already know the answer to your question
By rahimnathwani 2026-01-2714:36 You may want to update the marketing copy until you've tested it: "The device is guaranteed to work with the current version of the AirTag."
By vostrocity 2026-01-284:48 This is brilliant just like Elevation Lab's 10 year battery for the AirTag. Do you think they'll work together?
By wumms 2026-01-2715:35 Combining Pareto and Murphy might result in 4 hours head start for the thief though.
By LeoPanthera 2026-01-274:052 reply > Unfortunately the anti-stalking features have made Airtag mostly useless for theft prevention.
While this is true, Airtags are not designed for theft prevention, and never have been. They're designed to locate lost items.
Apple should be applauded for making the only tracking tags with literally any kind of anti-stalking features at all.
I'm not fully onboard with the logic that we just have to live with a certain type of criminal behavior because the technology that could prevent it can be misused to enable another type of criminal behavior. We should aim to stop any kind of criminal behavior.
> I'm not fully onboard with the logic that we just have to live with a certain type of criminal behavior because the technology that could prevent it can be misused to enable another type of criminal behavior. We should aim to stop any kind of criminal behavior.
I don’t think anyone is making a claim that we should live with this according to first principles. I think people are saying this trade-off currently exists because it doesn’t seem to be economically or technologically feasible to solve both well.
How do you propose making an improvement to tracking technology that reduces theft while at the same time not assisting stalking?
One idea: if you report your AirTag as stolen, then it can continue to track the item, but you lose the ability to see where it is. In so doing you hand off tracking capability to some authority. This could be an improvement to the extent that the authority is trustworthy and well behaved. Unfortunately, such properties are not guaranteed across the globe. This would create more incentives for bribery for example.
By eloisant 2026-01-2716:06 Even in most first world countries the police won't help for the theft of an item of small value like a bag or even a bike.
We should, but also we should prioritise more harmful behaviour being prevented over less harmful behaviour, and stalking/harassment is in my opinion more harmful than property theft.
Not on Earth, no.
It would be if stalking happened at the same frequency as property theft, but the rates are ridiculously lopsided.
So much property theft happens that we don't bother reporting almost any of it.
By threetonesun 2026-01-2715:422 reply Frequency isn't really an issue here. I don't care that much if someone steals my luggage. I'd be a little mad if someone took my bike, but I have redundant protection for it, along with other things of more importance, or I keep them on me.
But I'd really, really not like to find out someone was following me around.
If society didn't have to spend the amount of resources that it does dealing with the consequences of personal theft then it would have more resources to direct towards issues like stalking.
I bet Apple could produce some really interesting data from these tools and others that could be used to proactively target stalkers and investigate them before their actions escalate to violence.
By sejje 2026-01-2814:51 Hell yeah, thoughtcrime!
Let's get Tom Cruise in here and whoop some ass!
Now try traveling with $30k of equipment in your luggage, like millions do every year.
By threetonesun 2026-01-2718:30 You're well beyond the scope of an Airtag at that point. Either you've insured the gear, or you ship it in some more secure fashion, or you have a satellite tracker in it, or whatever other mitigation you can do here. Airtags are great things you might misplace more than anything.
By throw0101a 2026-01-2719:18 > It would be if stalking happened at the same frequency as property theft, but the rates are ridiculously lopsided.
But the impact of the two activities is also lopsided:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_matrix
Stalking can potentially result in rape and death, even if there's a low probability of stalking happening in general.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
Initially they didn’t have it, people complained, now they do, and people still complain.
Considering theft is a property crime and stalking is often a prelude to much worse, I think they made the right choice.
By GoatInGrey 2026-01-272:301 reply I'm not taking any position on this, but some data to chew on concerning the US. There are roughly fourteen million cases of larceny in the US every year, and between three and four million cases of stalking in the US every year. Rate of violence with larceny is roughly 1% whereas rate of violence with stalking averages 30%. Threats of violence with stalking occurs in about three out of every four cases, if I recall.
Of course, there is an implicit bias with measuring stalking as "peaceful" stalkers who never get caught leave no evidence. Unlike theft which always leaves evidence by its nature (the thing is gone).
By sejje 2026-01-2715:06 Most property theft isn't reported, and won't be in your statistics.
By mock-possum 2026-01-276:366 reply Hard disagree. I am not and would not use an AirTag for stalking, and yet I am being punished for others doing it. It’s not fair to me.
By slg 2026-01-278:29 It's wild to see someone this forthcoming with their selfishness. You literally said "It’s not fair to me", as if a just world would prioritize your inconvenience over the safety of others.
I personally wouldn't use a rocket launcher for anything nefarious. It's super unfair.
By GaryBluto 2026-01-2710:27 Do you really think rocket launchers and airtags have the same risk?
I'm sorry, but that's silly. The argument is the other way around: would you like to be stalked by an airtag?
By eknkc 2026-01-2713:30 You can be stalked by 100 different devices on the market though. Not like this is the only possible way to track someone.
This is like nerfing knifes because they can kill people.
By collinmcnulty 2026-01-2716:26 Have you even considered the possibility that you or someone you love could one day be the victim of stalking?
By adastra22 2026-01-287:54 I don't think you understand what the word "fair" means.
By thebruce87m 2026-01-277:11 > Initially they didn’t have it
They did have anti-stalking from the start btw. People still complained that it wasn’t good enough so they reduced some of the timings.
By framapotari 2026-01-2710:50 Maybe it's different people.
By snarky_dog 2026-01-2717:28 fortunately stalkers can now use Flock, so they don't need to buy airtags.
By burnt-resistor 2026-01-272:27 Wrong bothsidesism. The right choice was making a functional product. This is not that.
> Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
So you can either keep a tag on your stuff that lets anyone know where you are at all times, or just not misplace your keys. It really doesn't seem that hard to not use something this privacy intrusive if that's your threat model.
By ZekeSulastin 2026-01-272:57 That's not the complaint at all - the complaint is that, because of the anti-stalking measures added at the original launch, the AirTags can't be used to track stolen items because the thieves will be notified that they are being "stalked".
By fortran77 2026-01-272:54 I disable the speaker in the ones I attach to luggage. (For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vAQNedIa0o )
Can it alert of my item being moved? Because it seems quite useless for the bicycle example in their screenshot.
My Samsung SmartTag gives me a notification if the bike changes position and I'm not nearby. Actually giving me a chance to track it down.
By clayhacks 2026-01-277:49 Not that I’ve found. Seems pretty reasonable trade off to me if it notified both parties rather than just the person with the tag
By johncolanduoni 2026-01-270:213 reply How useful is a GPS position for theft prevention? IME cops are not interested in doing more than filing a report after a theft, even if you have a live GPS location of the item for them. Do you try and go get it yourself?
By h00kwurm 2026-01-272:07 i can speak to this as i had my motorcycle stolen on NYE last year in Santa Monica with an airtag in it. the Santa Monica police said “smart, but it’s in LA so we can’t help you get it. tell the LAPD.”. it took me seven hours of calls to the LAPD while personally hunting down my bike in the shadiest areas of LA, and being a block away from getting it myself, did they come. so yes, if you’re in LA, you basically get it yourself.
in my case, the damage was so much i wish i had just left it stolen and taken the bigger insurance payout.
By Cthulhu_ 2026-01-279:44 GPS won't prevent theft, but can help in recovery. Can.
But Apple does more stuff as well, like encrypting your phone and making it so even harvesting a stolen phone for parts is unattractive (everything has serial numbers and you can't just swap a part out).
By burnt-resistor 2026-01-272:24 In Austin, they won't lift a finger because they're underfunded and don't have the resources to address nonviolent crime.
Interesting, I hadn't considered theft recovery to be a use case for Airtags before. I've only used them for "where the hell did that X go".
By GoatInGrey 2026-01-272:231 reply To be fair, you'd likely ask that exact question if your X was stolen!
By epistasis 2026-01-275:03 Good point! But the only thieves I need to worry about are my past selves, who are always stealing time from my future self by not properly cementing the memory of where things get put down...
By WheatMillington 2026-01-273:043 reply How would airtags work as theft prevention? Airtags only enter the equation once something has already been stolen.
By thereisnospork 2026-01-273:23 Setting expectations and thinning the herd. If even half of items had a well hidden air tag, and the cops successfully followed up even half of tagged thefts:
There would a. be less dumb criminals around to repeat offend and b. The smarter would-be criminals will do the calculus and and not steal items which could have tags.
By vostrocity 2026-01-285:13 Something like this product could potentially be a small theft deterrant.
You can tell there's an AirTag, and there's no easy way to remove it.
https://www.elevationlab.com/collections/airtag/products/tag...
By crazygringo 2026-01-273:20 I think "theft recovery" is probably meant.
In addition to this, AirTag also makes a sound when on the move.
This is also quite ridiculous, as it literally gives away that there is an AirTag there. I have seen people removing the speaker to eliminate this flaw.
By eloisant 2026-01-2716:08 That's not a flaw, that's an anti-stalking feature
What happens after that? It goes dark? Or it just alerts the thief (stalker victim)?
I have only seen the Google side, just a single time when one of my Chipolos threw an alert on my passenger's Samsung.
My Chipolo certainly still works.
There are [cheap] tags being sold that are compatible with both Apple Find My and Google's Find Hub. I would rather have a dual-network device than Apple's improved model.
Would it be so difficult for Apple to put a hole in the Airtag so it could be directly attached to a keychain?
Here is an example of dual-network tags:
https://www.amazon.com/Tracker-Locator-Android-Bluetooth-Fin...
By dotancohen 2026-01-271:251 reply Do these tags need to be configured on both networks to support both protocols? If I own an Android device and configure it there, will Apple devices still find the tag? How does that work?
The Chipolos that I have purchased appear on my phone when first presented, then do not offer to pair to other users' Find Hubs unless I deregister.
I imagine that Airtag functionality is disabled when Find Hub configures these tags.
I have heard in the commentary here that Chipolo is now making dual-network devices, but only one can be active at a time.
Apple has a larger and more sensitive network, so uses requiring tracking quality would lean that way.
I would prefer to find a tag that can be provisioned on both networks. I don't know if any actually work that way.
I'd also like a tag that would let me take it apart and disable the speaker. For my car, that seems appropriate, if I can also find a placement location which is extremely difficult to access.
Edit: Google is saying that "they generally require switching between networks rather than operating on both simultaneously."
By vostrocity 2026-01-285:19 There are YouTube videos for disabling the speaker.
Some ideas for location: behind the glovebox or under the spare tire.
By dotancohen 2026-01-277:54 Thank you.
By lysace 2026-01-270:08 Seems like apple is licensing usage of their Bluetooth protocol/scheme via the "MFi program".
https://developer.apple.com/find-my/
> Would it be so difficult for Apple to put a hole in the Airtag so it could be directly attached to a keychain?
Yes. It is surprisingly a near impossible engineering challenge at the levels Apple hardware is being done. Have you even considered the wear and tear that a mere hole in an ABS plastic molded detail would be subjected to over the lifespan of...several years?
(Just kidding, obviously they just want to upsell their customers with extremely overpriced accessories.)
By venusenvy47 2026-01-272:401 reply Do the Apple/Google "multi-tags" support the UWB precision finding from the phones?
By chasil 2026-01-2715:12 For as inexpensive as they are, likely not.
I am planning to purchase one, cut the speaker connection, and put it in my car.
It sends alerts to the thief's iPhone or Android (if you have Apple's Tracker Detect Android app) that they are being tracked within 30 to 60 minutes. It also enables the beeping so the thief can find and remove the Airtag.
If the Airtag can't reach the thief's phone, it starts chirping by itself within an 8-24 hour window.
By markeroon 2026-01-272:08 Do you have more info about this? Never heard it before
By DeathArrow 2026-01-275:59 It is morally wrong to stalk the thieves.
