For some time, locating lost objects was something expensive and only dedicated to large companies. But with the massification of products such as GPS Trackers or Apple AirTags, the adoption of this technology began to be massive until it was present in our day-to-day life, and they are receiving periodic improvements to the point that it is necessary to update your AirTag periodically. .
Do you want to know more about the Apple AirTag? We will tell you more about the Apple locator, how to use it and how to update it throughout this article.
What is Apple Airtag?
AirTag It is a tracking and tracing device manufactured by Apple. It is a small circular object that can be attached to personal items to help you find them if they are lost.
One of the virtues that it has compared to other trackers is its size: AirTag is a small device little bigger than a coin, so it can go unnoticed in a suitcase, a key chain, a purse or a backpack, which makes it a ideal option to locate your things.
This Apple locator breaks the majority market dynamic: instead of using GPS as a base, the AirTag uses Bluetooth to connect and pair with any nearby iPhone or iPadto use its GPS location and be able to give it to you anonymously.
Suppose that every Apple phone or tablet that is turned on in the world functioned as cell phone antennas. The AirTag would make use of all of them to be able to always provide a GPS location and this would allow Apple to be more competitive than other tracking solutions that use mobile telephony to locate people or things, since it does not require infrastructure deployment to be able to provide the service, in addition to guaranteeing a long battery life due to the Bluetooth Low Energy system that consumes much less than GPS.
What functions does the AirTag have?
In addition to providing location on the map, AirTag has an integrated tracking system. sound notifications: in case you have lost something you can use the function play sound in the application to locate it quickly by means of a sound emitted by the AirTag.
Another of the curious characteristics of the AirTag is the function of lost mode that allows, if someone who is an iPhone or iPad user finds your lost item, they can bring their device closer to the AirTag and, using NFC technology, you will be shown a message with your contact information so that they can contact you securely.
If you are curious to know a little more about how it works and see it in a real-time test, you can watch the following video in which a user puts an AirTag inside his suitcase and decides to track it from one airport to another. Thanks to being surrounded by Apple devices, the AirTag manages to give a very precise location of the suitcase:
What is better, an AirTag or a GPS?
In order to locate something, AirTag is a tool that depends on other people who are Apple users near your device. Outside of this premise, it is quite useless in general and in that respect a GPS tracker like this can be much more accurate than the tracking that the Apple device does.
For example, for fleet management or international package tracking, using an AirTag would not make much sense and the best option would be to use a GPS-based tracking device.
But it can be useful in other contexts, in which, due to the way it works, it would give much more precision than GPS trackers, such as locating a car in the parking lot.
Since it works via bluetooth, if the person moving is you and the AirTag is fixed, it can give you some accuracy rates better than a GPS tracking device that will pass the generic location on a map, without delimiting a very specific area on it.
How to update your AirTag?
Updating your Apple AirTag is very easy, the only premise you need is that you have a fairly modern version of iOS on your phone, at least higher than 14.5 and have bluetooth open and connected to your device.
To update the software of your tracking device, follow the steps below:
- open the app Look for on your iOS or iPadOS device, which as we have said is the application used to configure and manage AirTags.
- in the tab Objectsfind the AirTag you want to update and click on it.
- Once located, select the option object details
- Within that option, a button called Firmware updatewhich will pop up with a notice if a new software version is available.
In this way you can check periodically if new updates have been released for your Apple AirTag.
Why is it important to have the AirTag always updated?
Normally, It is always advisable to have the latest firmware available from all our devices, to ensure that we have all the improvements that Apple has been developing.
But in the case of the AirTag, having the latest software installed is an even more important issue: being a device that works 100% with Bluetooth, it is necessary that you always have the latest protocols implemented to make sure they can be used well and safely.
Suppose, for example, that a way is discovered to “trick” the AirTag software so that it can provide another location or so that someone else can use it if it has been found.
Always have the latest version avoid having to deal with all these security issues that may arise from using old versions of the software that can be exploited in the future, such as jailbreaking.
And with this we end with our small article about the AirTag, in which situations it is useful and how to update it correctly. As always, we recommend that if you have to use it that you periodically check that a new update has not been released, to make sure that it complies with all Apple security standards and that you can use it without fear of anything strange happening.
