APPLE AIRTAGS THE NEW BIKE LOJACK?

[Scarlet/Fire]

After reading About bike locator gadgets and products that were subscription-based that worked and didn’t work for years, I waited patiently.

Working with a prolific 2032 replaceable battery and able to be pinged by a billion IPhones and Android NFC phones, This could be the perfect product to track our bikes down if ever stolen or misplaced.

Was hoping we could find creative places to put these on and in our bikes. Post your thoughts!

I’ll be receiving mine tomorrow- someone crowbarred my back door,stole 6 guitars my beloved road bike but must’ve ran low on meth and didn’t have enough manic demented energy left to take my EBike!! It will be LoJacked and I’ll be ready for any skeezebaggery next time!!! Highly Recommend the Air Tag

 

[Merle Nelson]

Sorry to hear it.

My mind often goes back to a story a guy told me 20 years ago about working the oil fields in S. Arabia for a couple of years. He said a few times he went to this flea market like affair where they had piles of diamonds laid out on tables for perspective buyers to peruse - millions of dollars worth. One fat old security guard with an old M1 Carbine sound asleep over in a chair somewhere. Zero theft. (I'm sure everyone has heard of the custom they have over there of removing the left hand/arm of thieves.)

 

[Scarlet/Fire]

Sorry to hear it.

My mind often goes back to a story a guy told me 20 years ago about working the oil fields in S. Arabia for a couple of years. He said a few times he went to this flea market like affair where they had piles of diamonds laid out on tables for perspective buyers to peruse - millions of dollars worth. One fat old security guard with an old M1 Carbine sound asleep over in a chair somewhere. Zero theft. (I'm sure everyone has heard of the custom they have over there of removing the left hand/arm of thieves.)

These people have already performed lobotomy’s on them selves,others with the help of big pharma are poppy slaves- I lose empathy and perspective-I go for a beautiful ride and see human wreckage writhing amidst garbage and wonder what the hell can be done?? Sorry-ventilation

 

[Dallant]

Was hoping we could find creative places to put these on and in our bikes. Post your thoughts!

The deeper you bury it in the most critical part of the ebike you will want back, the better.
No way am I putting one under the seat.
I see these as a great way to save money, and it’s placement doesn’t even have to be creative for some items. As one of the old farts who has had to spend $500 to replace a single car fob and have it programmed, these things are a steal!

 

[smorgasbord]

I wonder if the folks at Boomerang are worried? More expensive, plus charges per month/year.

It does have features of a loud alarm and it can track where there are no other phones, but it's not hide-able.

 

[Rincon]

I wonder if the folks at Boomerang are worried?

Knockout punch from Apple. Boomerang isn’t coming back this time.

 

[BarnBoy]

OK, I think I am convinced.... (low cost experiment!)
-BB

 

[Merle Nelson]

I ordered four of them to start experimenting but before you consider it a solution make sure to watch some demo videos that show it not working and why.

 

[BarnBoy]

Sorry to ask @Merle Nelson but would you mind spoon feeding me the bad since all I find is positive hype??
-BB

 

[Merle Nelson]

I ordered 4 from Best Buy on May 12th and got notice they are shipped today on May 21.

Not at all BarnBoy. One video I watched tried one on an item and had long pauses before they were notified of a ping. After the fact I realized that one of those times might be explained by running across a grassy area where there were no apple devices. Then there seemed to be an issue of a make believe thief being notified very soon that they were carry an item with apple airtag that was not assigned to them. A different video tracking a bike seemed to only work well because person who had bike "stolen" by a friend could predict where bike was going based on intimate knowledge of bike paths etc.

I'll find them and post. Your keen eye for all things tech will undoubtedly pick up where some things may be non issues and why.

(Missed this from Tuesday when you put @Merle Nelson till today. I must have email notifications on that turned off -sorry.)

 

[Merle Nelson]

2nd video spoken of

1st video I mentioned.

 

[BarnBoy]

@Merle Nelson -Looks like post #67 above…..
-BB

 

[BarnBoy]

@Merle Nelson - thanks for 1st video you mentioned and spoon feeding. Have you ever used Find My (formerly Find Friends)? Tracking family members (my daughter’s!) has about the same performance as this Air Tag.
And if the thief gets notified at home or common travels spots like stash house, hope by then it is too late. And even if they got notified they were tracked after out of my iPhone range, will more likely will drop bike and run than try to locate one buried in a CF frame!
What does have me concerned is it looked like the Thief was given the option to turn the Air Tag off (was not clear)?!?!?!

Thanks again!
-BB

 

[Ebiker01]

Just got mine, NO MANUAL , just a few sentences on how to conect it.

I had 2 FA enabled on Iphone, so i had to do the "reset encrypted data" which on the newer Iphones turns out that it is not a big deal , From the settings / passwords or other important stuff nothing went away so I don't know exactly what it had reset it .....

- Airtags can also be used with ithe older iPhones , iPhone 6s and up but those will not have precision tracking due to the missing U1 chip.


Overall 5stars, took about 3hours of which 2 1/2 just for the 2FA /reset encrypted data research scare...

AND , guess what, this little white buttom now can find any package deem worthy of tracking !!! So next time you ship a battery or your used ebike , and the seller denies recieving it, the Airtag is GOLDEN.

Going to buy the set of 4 and return this one .Maybe 2x4 actually. Is that good. Apples figure out the minor flaws they can do OTA updates.... Brilliant device


PACKAGE TRACKING BY APPLE : Sign up for a limited price of 14.99$/month

 

[Ebiker01]

like the Thief was given the option to turn the Air Tag off (was not clear)?!?!?!

If he/she finds it and WHEN (ping comes after APPLE detects home based on their Iphone most often locations/maps/home info in contacts) the Only way to turn it off is by removing the battery , or if they throw it away....

What i don't get is this : If we activate "lost mode" b4 they get the ping @home , wouldn't their Iphone inform them right away that there is an Airtag travelling with them ??
Or r this 2 totally separate things , and "Lost mode" only tells the owner the location info of whatever Iphones are nearby the airtags ? That could be the case, then the ping activates at the home location.

They can also use a Bluetooth scanner to scan for Bluetooth devices before they take the whatever it ...is bike or luggage but the Airtags change their Bluetooth ID often and if you don't name them "airtag"
they would not now but maybe if you do named it "airtag" they will not bother and not take whatever it is, bike/bag/car...

What i'm not sure of : Once "lost mode "enabled will their Iphone show that He's an Airtag attached near them ? Does that iPhone has to have Bluetooth on ??

This site in depth explanation raises other Q's .

How to find and block an AirTag that's detected near you

Here's how to find an AirTag and disable it if you've had a notification that an AirTag is detected near you.

www.macworld.com

Only a escape for them would be to do this in a place that is not their home so let's say hypothetically they take the bike and then they stop somewhere you know like in a garage / park and they go open the frame and open the motor /battery and dig under the fork headset to look for the Airtag , all within a couple of hours or less. Maybe within 2hours.

B/c the Airtag can easily fit in all of those places ! Actually it looks like a very nice headset If you ask me, i might just paint it red and write the big S aka "SPECIALIZED"

 

[Merle Nelson]

@Merle Nelson - thanks for 1st video you mentioned and spoon feeding. Have you ever used Find My (formerly Find Friends)? Tracking family members (my daughter’s!) has about the same performance as this Air Tag.
And if the thief gets notified at home or common travels spots like stash house, hope by then it is too late. And even if they got notified they were tracked after out of my iPhone range, will more likely will drop bike and run than try to locate one buried in a CF frame!
What does have me concerned is it looked like the Thief was given the option to turn the Air Tag off (was not clear)?!?!?!

Thanks again!
-BB

Have not used that. I'm not quick at learning tech stuff. So there is only a limited number of things I do on the computer or my Galaxy 5(?) and I do those things repeatedly. Being able to know where my WW Hydra is may become one of those things.

 

[Ebiker01]

Done, will add 2 in other places. That comp. was orig. for Gps/Bluetooth device.

Now it is a chirping ebike

Streamable Video

Watch this video on Streamable.

streamable.com

 

[BarnBoy]

At minute 8:15 the gal-theif uses her phone to scan the Airtag and mentions she has the ability to disable it. This feature has me concerned….
Still waiting for wife to say yes. Engraving is 4 characters (??) max. Best to use a single emoji…(IDK!)
-BB

 

[WattsUpDude]

At minute 8:15 the gal-theif uses her phone to scan the Airtag and mentions she has the ability to disable it. This feature has me concerned….
Still waiting for wife to say yes. Engraving is 4 characters (??) max. Best to use a single emoji…(IDK!)
-BB

Disabling an airtag requires the finder (or thief) to physically take the tag apart and remove it's battery. But in the Find My app, the last location will still be displayed for the tag owner.

 

[BarnBoy]

Disabling an airtag requires the finder (or thief) to physically take the tag apart and remove it's battery. But in the Find My app, the last location will still be displayed for the tag owner.

Thank you, but not what the video shows at 8:15 minutes….
So maybe multiple tags???
-BB


or do the instructions say to remove battery??