Here’s how AirTag works with Android

bgrpro65 avril 21, 2021

After more than a year of rumors, Apple finally introduced the AirTag trackers on Tuesday. The circular, puck-like devices have user-replaceable batteries that last over 12 months, and they’re water and dust-resistant. They pack Apple’s U1 ultra wideband chip that increases location precision on compatible devices, a Bluetooth LE chip, an accelerometer, an NFC chip, and a built-in speaker that emits sounds.

They can be attacked to keychains, placed in wallets, and on other objects so the user can find lost or stolen items on a map. The whole process is supposed to be just as simple as tracking missing iPhone, iPad, Watch, AirPods, Mac, and third-party Find My-compatible gadgets. The AirTags leverage Apple’s existing user base of almost a billion Apple devices to detect Bluetooth signals to find the trackers. The whole process happens privately and anonymously. Nobody will know what Apple device was in the proximity of the keys you dropped in the park, allowing you to find them.

If you lose your AirTag-protected devices in an area without an Apple device in reach, you won’t find them. But AirTags will work with Android devices in a limited capacity. Anyone stumbling upon that keychain with an Apple tracker in it could help the owner retrieve them, regardless of operating system preferences. But Android users won’t be able to set up AirTags for their objects.