AirTag Preorders Are Now Open, And There’s Still Time to Get Your Hands on One

As expected, Apple opened preorders for its AirTags this morning at 5:00 a.m. PDT (8:00 a.m. EDT) to the usual rush from early adopters eager to be first in line to get one of Apple’s new tracking tags.

In fact, the preorder lineups may have been even more pronounced this year due to the ongoing global health pandemic. While AirTags will go on sale in Apple Stores next Friday, April 30, not everybody has the option of visiting an Apple Store in person, and arguably people probably shouldn’t if they can at all avoid the need to do so.

So, it didn’t take more than about 10 minutes before ship dates for the individual $29 AirTag were getting pushed back into early May, however as of this writing, you can still get one within 5–7 business days, or around the May 3–6 timeframe.

If you’re interested in grabbing a $99 4-pack, however, those actually remain available for April 30 delivery even now, and depending on where you live, you may even be able to reserve them for in-store pickup on the same day.

Note that engraved AirTags will still take a bit longer to arrive, but that’s no surprise anyway. The April 30 ship date was never intended to cover those with engravings, as they ship directly from the factory, while standard AirTags will be coming from local warehouses where Apple has already been stocking them for the past several weeks.

If you want your AirTags engraved, you’ll be looking at delivery dates between May 17 and May 24. You can also get a 4-pack with a different engraving on each AirTag. In this case, it makes no difference whether you’re ordering a single AirTag or the 4-pack.

Lastly, if you were hoping to splurge for one of the ludicrously expensive AirTag Hermès versions, it looks like you’re going to have to wait even longer — those aren’t expected to arrive before June 2, at the earliest, and the Bleu Indigo Bag Charm and orange Fauve Barenia Key Ring aren’t available for preorder at all.

At this point it’s hard to judge how much demand this represents for AirTags, since it’s fair to say that Apple probably has an abundant supply of the little $29 trackers. By all reports they went into mass production last fall, and have been ready to go on sale since October.

What About Accessories?

At this point, Apple is only selling its own first-party AirTag Loop ($29), AirTag Leather Key Ring ($35), and AirTag Leather Loop ($39), along with Belkin’s $12.95 Secure Holder with Key Ring and Secure Holder with Strap accessories.

These have already slipped to delivering on May 3–5, although in-store pickup still appears to be available at some Apple Stores for April 30.

Belkin’s $12.95 Secure Holder with Key Ring seems to be the most popular option right now, at least in the black and blue colours. You won’t be able to get your hands on either of those until May 10. Belkin is also offering these for preorder from its website, but simply describes it as “Ships in May” so you likely won’t get one any sooner by going that route.

Of course, there are numerous other AirTag accessories that aren’t being sold directly by Apple, however most of the better ones aren’t expected to arrive for at least another month, even if you preorder them now.

If you’re really in a hurry, however, and don’t like the options that Apple has available, you can find a wealth of sellers hawking off-brand versions on various online marketplaces like eBay, Walmart, and Etsy. Although we’d obviously recommend some caution when it comes to third-party accessories like these, it’s arguably pretty hard to screw up a holder for something as simple as an AirTag, especially when it comes to stretchy silicone cases that don’t require a precision fit.