Will Nearby AirTags Appear in My Bluetooth Settings?
The short answer is no. For the same reason that you don’t see other people’s headphones, in-car audio systems, or even other smartphones showing up in your Bluetooth settings, you won’t see AirTags there either — at least not once they’ve been paired with somebody’s iPhone.
The Bluetooth settings on your iPhone only show devices that are in “pairing mode” (also called “discoverable mode”), waiting to be paired to another device. A brand-new AirTag will appear in Bluetooth settings until you’ve actually paired it with your iPhone, but chances are you’ll get the normal setup prompt before you have a chance to go into your Settings app. Once paired, it’s invisible to most normal Bluetooth hosts, whether that’s iPhones, Android smartphones, or even Macs and PCs.
That said, if somebody is using a special Bluetooth scanning app like this one, they will technically be able to see all nearby AirTags, along with every other Bluetooth device within range. That can be a pretty big list, however, and the AirTags don’t specifically identify themselves even as “AirTags” much less provide any info on who they belong to.