AirTag Helps Reunite Lost Dog with Her Pet Parent — But Not in the Usual Way
Credit: MobileFun
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Even though Apple makes it clear that AirTags aren’t designed to track pets, many folks use them for this, and it’s not a bad idea as long as you understand the limitations involved.
For one thing, an AirTag can only be tracked when other iPhones and iPads are nearby, as they’re what reports its location. If your beloved pooch wanders off into the woods, there’s a good chance the AirTag will be just as far out of range of civilization as they are.
The second thing is that you do have to remember to check the battery regularly and replace it when needed, as one pet parent almost found out the hard way.
As Kevin Purdy shares at Ars Technica, a lost canine companion was reunited with their family thanks to an AirTag on the dog’s collar — but the story only had a happy ending because the dog happened upon a stranger who was tech savvy enough to know what to do with it.
My wife and I were sitting with our dog on our front porch on a recent weekend morning. We were drinking coffee, reading, and enjoying DC’s tiny window of temperate spring weather. I went inside for a moment; when I came back, my dog was inside, but my wife was not. Confused, I cracked open the door to look out. A dog, not my own, stuck its nose into the door gap, eager to sniff me out.
I secured my dog inside, then headed out to meet this fast-moving but friendly interloper. She had a collar, but no leash, and looked well-groomed, healthy, and lightly frantic. The collar had a silicone band on it, holding one of Apple’s AirTags underneath. I pulled out the AirTag, tapped it against my phone, and nothing happened.Kevin Purdy
Knowing well how AirTags work, Purdy correctly surmised that the AirTag battery was dead. Under normal circumstances, tapping your iPhone (or any NFC-capable device) against an AirTag will open a web page (at found.apple.com) that displays its serial number, at a minimum. If the tag has been marked as “lost” by its owner in the Find My app, it can also provide contact information.
When that didn’t happen, Purdy went into his garage, grabbed a CR2032 battery, and popped it into the AirTag. Once it beeped and powered back up, he was then able to access the NFC link to the information page and view the serial number and the last four digits of the owner’s phone number. Sadly, the person either didn’t realize their beloved friend had wandered off or didn’t know to engage the lost mode, but at least the AirTag was now actively broadcasting the pooch’s location.
Sure enough, a lady showed up soon after asking if Purdy and his wife had found her dog:
Then the doorbell rang. The dog’s owner, led by the AirTag, asked if we had her dog. She explained how the dog got loose and pledged to keep a fresh battery in there from now on. My wife said goodbye to her temporary charge, and I came home to find both her and my dog far more relaxed.
Kevin Purdy
In addition to being a heartwarming story, it serves as a great example of why sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective. Purdy declared his article “an ode to replaceable batteries,” noting that “Apple chose wisely” in designing the AirTag to use one, and I’ve often said the same thing.
In the months leading up to the release of the original AirTags, there were reports that Apple was considering using rechargeable batteries, possibly with wireless charging. It’s unclear if Apple ever seriously considered this, but a rechargeable cell in any form would have likely increased the size of the AirTags, either via a USB-C or Lightning port on the side of the AirTag for wired charging or the necessary coils and circuitry for wireless charging. It also would have pushed up the cost. Plus, since an AirTag is designed to be attached to an item and left there, nobody is going to want to deal with the hassle of plugging it in somewhere to recharge it when you can pop in a new battery in a matter of seconds. It also allows for extended-life solutions like ElevationLab’s TimeCapsule.
However, Purdy’s experience demonstrates another benefit of using replaceable batteries. While not everyone will necessarily have a spare CR2032 battery lying around, it’s still the most common coin battery on the planet. Replacements cost less than a buck, depending on where you buy them, and they can be found at most convenience stores and dollar stores (I pay $1.25 for three-packs at Dollarama). “When something important goes missing — especially something that likes ear scritches and pumpkin treats — it is best not to have to find a charging cable or magnetic charging pad, or discover the cells inside are dead,” Purdy says — and he’s right.
